MONTEGO BAY, St James —All is set for Saturday’s second staging of the Montego Bay Night Run, which will start and end at Harmony Beach Park on the Jimmy Cliff Boulevard in Montego Bay.

Up to yesterday, hours before the deadline for entries, over 4,500 participants in the run/walk event to help raise funds for needy students had been registered, according to Suzette Brown, director of the Howard Ward Benefit Foundation, organisers of the event.

At the launch held last month at the Hilton Rose Hall hotel, Brown indicated that the organiser was targeting 5,000 participants and $15 million for education.

The event was held at Fairview last year but was moved to start and finish at Harmony Beach this year and they hope to improve on the 3,200 participants last year which helped raise over $8 million in scholarship money for students from western Jamaica.

Yesterday, Brown said preparations were going well and they were expecting record numbers to show up.

“The difference between our scholarship programme and others is that we see the students through the life of their studies once they maintain a B-plus average. We have a relationship with you once you perform creditably,” Brown said Brown.

In addition to the new route which the organisers hope will cause less traffic congestion in the city, Brown said there would also be a “fresh and exciting twist to the event, a carnival themed night run”.

“As you come for the run and stay for the fun…imagine the energy, the music, the colours and the vibes all infused into a race that celebrates movement, culture and community,” she said.

Mayor of Montego Bay, Councillor Richard Vernon and newly-elected president of the Montego Bay Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Jason Russell, were present and endorsed the event.

-Paul Reid