You can’t help but admire the industry, dedication, and penchant for professionalism displayed by Racers Track Club each year when it stages its Grand Prix.

From the first staging in 2016, we had got the sense, based on how it was organised and executed, that this event would grow into a major meet on the world athletics calendar. And now it has.

The club’s chairman, Mr Glen Mills, announced at Thursday’s launch of this year’s event that Racers Grand Prix has been promoted from a World Athletics (formerly International Association of Athletics Federations) Area Permit Meet to the World Athletics Continental Tour Gold Series for the next 10 years.

As our story on the announcement pointed out yesterday, Continental Gold level is the highest in the competition series and one level below the Diamond League. That, therefore, means Racers Grand Prix, which is scheduled for June 13, is now the second-highest meet within North America, surpassed only by the Prefontaine Classic in the United States.

But just as significant is the fact that the designation makes Kingston one of only 10 cities worldwide that will host a meet in the series, and the only city selected in this hemisphere.

Now that, we hold, is worth more than its weight in gold and is an achievement that should not only be celebrated, but capitalised on by our tourism authorities, the city’s managers, and indeed, all Jamaica.

We have repeatedly pointed out in this space the advantages of major events to cities. A boost to tourism is among those benefits, so too are long-term investments that create jobs and a raising of the city’s profile globally. Of course, hosting major sporting events will lead to economic benefits via an influx of visitors, athletes, and media that will provide an injection of money into the local economy. However, we must acknowledge that this increase in spending is short-term, but we are not aware of any instance in which such an injection of cash is not welcomed.

Readers will recall our previous reference to a KPMG analysis of the business of sport, published in 2018. In that report KPMG, one of the world’s major accounting firms, told us that globally, sports events had an estimated value of US$80 billion in 2014, approximately 12 per cent of the overall sports industry.

“This was expected to grow at an annual rate of 4.6 per cent to reach a value of US$90.9 billion by the end of 2017,” the report said, pointing out that this value comprises ticket sales at 27 per cent; sponsorship, 35 per cent; broadcasting and media rights, 35 per cent; and merchandise, three per cent.

These are not numbers to ignore. In fact, we believe that they should stimulate the administrators of this city, as well as the Jamaica Tourist Board, to give even greater focus to marketing events like the Racers Grand Prix in their already admirable push to promote Kingston as a major visitor destination.

We have no doubt that this year’s Racers Grand Prix will prove an excellent event. We congratulate Mr Mills and his team on their achievement and encourage track and field fans to give the event their full support.