FORMER Ardenne High School Principal Esther Tyson says the Ardenne Wellness Centre, valued at $64 million, is on course to be completed by 2027.

This follows the second staging of the Ardenne Optima 5K Run/Walk last Sunday.

The organising committee, of which she is the vice-chairperson, deemed the race successful.

“We are building the Ardenne Wellness Centre because we recognised the importance of giving support to our children — with all the pressure from social media, our society and the world, there are so many challenges,” Tyson said.

“In 2027 Ardenne will be 100 years old and we hope by that time we will have that wellness centre up and running.”

Tyson had high praises for all the support headed by the alumni chapters in Toronto, Florida, New York, Canada and England, and all the participants.

“We will be going at it again next year and also be doing other events to raise funds to give support to the centre,” she said.

Around 825 persons registered and over 400 turned up for the event. The course started on Ardenne Road then moved to Hamilton Road, then Trafalgar Road, onto Lady Musgrave Road, and finished at the school gate.

Garfield Gordon of UCT Steppas and Sheree Bryan of Trainfit emerged as winners of the men’s and women’s run sections, respectively.

Gordon won in 17:37.00 minutes, ahead of Kemar Leslie, who clocked 17:57.00 with Marvin Hamilton finishing third in 17:58.00.

However Gordon was slightly disappointed with his time, caused by an unfortunate situation, but was nevertheless grateful for the win.

“The race was not too bad but a marshal led us to the wrong route so I had to turn back, but I am grateful that I won,” he said.

“It’s a good feeling for me to come out and support a great cause. These events are important to me as I use them as training.”

Bryan, an Ardenne past student, outlasted her 213 opponents to win in 26:55.00 minutes, ahead of Wolfpack’s Kaelyn Lawes (27:22.00), and Pacers’ Therese Saunders (27:37.00).

“For me, it meant a lot. It was a big deal,” Bryan said.

“While here at Ardenne, I spent a lot of time in the nurse’s office so it’s good to know I can contribute to the school this way.”

Paula Sinclair of UCT Steppas won the 5K Walk ahead of Carlene Wallace of Dufflebody and Jullite Reeves of Jamaica Public Service.

Duwell Allen of Creation Foods was the men’s winner of the 5K Walk, with second place going to Hassawney Roberts while Omroy Samuels of St Elizabeth Fire Brigade was third.

Hiitbox Fit was the Champion Team and Ardenne High School was the Champion School.

Another past student, France-Roy Brown, a financial advisor at Guardian Life, donated $200,000 to the cause.

“Guardian Life is a proud sponsor of this event and for me, especially as a past student, I am a proud representative to give this cheque,” Brown said.

“The company loves the alumni and what they are doing. To think that this will be an amazing part of the foundation, anything we can do to help, we will try and do.”