THE third staging of the Ardenne Alumni Foundation Optima 5K walk/run has been hailed as a huge success by organisers, with registration numbers surpassing the 1,000 figure that was targeted for this year.

The event, which was held on February 1, featured Garfield Gordon, who retained the men’s title, while first-time entrant Dandi Williams took the female section.

Flo Darby, chairperson of the alumni foundation, was pleased with the growth of the event.

“It was amazing. We got a lot of people, a lot of support. We have grown! Every year it gets bigger and bigger, and so this year I was so delighted at the number of persons who came out,” she said.

Darby handed over the plans for the wellness centre, to be built from proceeds of the 5K, to the school’s acting principal.

“We got the approval on Friday from the KSAMC [Kingston and St Andrew Municipal Corporation], and it was such a delight. We have been waiting a long time for it because, as you know, schools have special particulars that they have to deal with and so we had to make sure that everything was in place,” she beamed.

Jacqueline Pinto, acting principal of Ardenne High School, praised everyone who participated in the event.

“For this year, the Optima 5K, I am very, very grateful for the attendance of the members who participated — it is much more than we had last year. We are aware that over 1000 persons have registered and we should have had about 800 here.”

Pinto spoke of plans to commence building the wellness centre this year.

“We got the plans for the construction of our wellness centre… and we will be, with board approval, commencing the construction in this school year. We are grateful for all the financial and human resources support that we can get because this wellness centre will be a benefit to the children of Jamaica — not only Ardenne High School and the staff members. We are going to have a wellness centre that is state of the art and the best in the Caribbean, that can be a model for other educational institutions,” she noted.

Westwood High School was also one of the beneficiaries of the 5K. Westwood Principal Karen Francis did not hide her delight at the support provided by Ardenne High to their rebuilding efforts, after the devastation sustained during the passage of Hurricane Melissa in October last year.

“I am truly elated as Ardenne Foundation has donated to us $1.1 million for our post-Hurricane Melissa relief efforts. We are truly thankful to the foundation… This will definitely be used to assist us in our rebuilding efforts and we are truly, truly grateful. We give God thanks,” she said.

Race Director Alfred Francis of Running Events Jamaica endorsed the event.

“We have seen significant growth with this event and I know that it will continue to grow. The energy that’s here is just all positive, and it has turned out to be a wonderful morning,” he said.

Gordon, the men’s 5K run winner, was happy to retain the title.

“This year I was cautious, and the breeze made the route a bit harder because it was heavy, but I feel good that I got the win. The main aim was to come out and defend the title so I am feeling really good. The cause is going towards wellness, so it’s a good cause,” he said.

Williams, the winner of the women’s 5K run, was pleased to win on her first try.

“I love the route, I love the uphill challenge. I think the uphill was at the right time and so the ending was good as well because I was coming down, so it was a good race overall. I didn’t mind the wind, to be honest,” she said.

Westwood High Principal Karen Francis (second right) accepts a symbolic cheque from (from left) Ardenne Alumni Foundation Chairperson Flo Darby, Ardenne Optima 5K Run/Walk Coordinator Esther Tyson, and Ardenne High Acting Principal Dr Jacqueline Pinto, at the end of the 5K run/walk at Ardenne on February 1, 2026.