GraceKennedy handed over a whopping $80 million yesterday to the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA) for the 109th staging of the Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championship that will see a record 221 schools participating.

GraceKennedy has been the title sponsor for the Championships since 2007 and commits an additional $40m for marketing through partnership with its subsidiaries Western Union, Grace Foods and First Global Bank.

GraceKennedy’s sponsorship deal runs until 2025 and Don Wehby, Group CEO, reiterated his company’s commitment to the event at the launch at the Spanish Court Hotel yesterday.

“This again is a very special occasion for the GraceKennedy Group and as you have heard me say year over year that is in fact the largest sponsorship for GraceKennedy anywhere in the world. This year GraceKennedy’s sponsorship for Champs will be eighty million Jamaican dollars,” said Wehby.

“$120 million is really big money. It’s an investment in Jamaica, it’s an investment in our schools, it’s an investment in our future,” he added.

The Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championship will be held inside the National Stadium March 26-30 with Calabar High and Edwin Allen High girls defending their titles.

There will be 113 boys schools and 108 girls schools with over 3,000 athletes registered to participate at an event that is arguably the biggest high school athletics event in the world.

This year, there will be four Champs Ambassadors in outstanding throws coach Julian Robinson, former star athletes Neil Gardner and Brigitte Foster-Hylton, along with official Lincoln Eatmon.

Premium season tickets will now cost patrons $15,000 with regular season tickets up to $13,500.

It will cost $7,500 to enter grandstand on Saturday’s final day and $1,500 for bleachers. On Friday, patrons are asked to pay $3,500 for grandstand and $500 for bleachers. On Wednesday and Thursday, it will be $500, while Tuesday’s opening day will be free.

Tickets go on sale on Tuesday, March 26 at the ticket office located beside the Bob Marley Statue on Arthur Wint Drive. There will also be ticket sales at ISSA’s satellite locations islandwide at Titchfield High School, Cornwall College, St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) and Manchester High School.

Colleen Montague, organising committee chair, encouraged patrons to “purchase tickets from authorised locations as there are risks associated with purchasing tickets from non-authorised vendors”.