THE Digicel Grand Prix Athletics Championships begins today with the Eastern Championships which has attracted 10 high schools and is scheduled to begin at 8:30 am at the National Stadium.

The Grand Prix series will take place across five championship meets from today through to March 10. The fifth and final meet, the G C Foster Classics, will serve as the ‘finals’ for the championships where the ‘qualifiers’ will vie for cash and prizes.

A number of changes were announced by Bruce James at the launch, including the addition of two events to the Grand Prix package. The 400m hurdles and the medley relay for girls and boys are the new events, bringing to 10 the number of championship events. The other eight events are 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, long jump, high jump, discus, and 4x400m relay.

The Eastern Champs will be followed by the Anthrick Corporate Area Meet on February 15 and 16, also at the National Stadium. The Grand Prix then goes to the other end of the island for the Western Champs on February 17 at Catherine Hall in Montego Bay, and then moves to G C Foster College on February 21 for Central Champs.

Eastern Champs will feature schools from the parishes of St Thomas, St Mary, Portland, and sections of St Andrew and will include St Mary High, Oberlin High, Buff Bay High, St Mary Technical, Titchfield High, St Thomas Technical, Port Antonio High, Morant Bay High, Yallahs High, Glengoffe High, Tacky High, Seaforth High, Oracabessa High, and Robert Lightbourne High.

Nine finals are scheduled to be completed today, and the events scheduled are 1,500m metres open for boys and girls, shot put open, discus open, javelin open, while the long jump and high jump will be for classes, one, two and three.

St Mary High and Buff Bay High are expected to battle for supremacy for the overall championship title, while former many-time champions Oberlin should be the main challengers.

At the end of the Grand Prix there will be a champion male and female school as well as champion coaches. The champion schools will receive $1 million each, while the top coaches will receive, for first, second and third, $50,000, $30,000 and $20,000, respectively. This is the first time that winning coaches will be rewarded financially.