UWI Offers Package to See Champs in Jamaica
(January 18, 2010): If you are in New York or its surroundings areas and would like to witness Jamaican high school track and field at its best, the University of the West Indies (UWI) could make it somewhat financially easier for you.
This year, the high school athletics championships, known simply as ‘Champs’, will mark its centenary and promises all the bells and whistles of a 100-year celebration in addition to the high-tension excitement that this meet usually provides. The UWI knows well the strong following Champs has abroad, especially in the US, as well as the tight economic situation globally that have caused cutback in travel, and is, therefore, arranging a package for those who want to come to see the event live: a 3-night stay on campus, transportation, two meals and airfare.
“We are looking at a base cost of $1200-$1500; however, we might be able to reduced the amount a little, depending on numbers,” says Dr. Rachael Irving, sport researcher and scientist in the Faculty of Medicine at the University.
The University reasoned that whilst visitors will primarily come to Jamaica for
Champs, they will somehow find time to experience its high performance and sport facilities recently launched. Visitors may even meet Usain Bolt who trains at the facilities and his coach Glen Mills, who is the University of the West Indies athletic coach.
For more information, call Dr. Rachael Irving at: 876-93-58676 ext.228 / 876-54-1667 or email her at:
rachael.irving@uwimona.edu.jm
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Book to Commemorate 100 Years of Champs
(January 18, 2010): The Jamaican ISSA/Grace Boys and Girls Athletics Championships or Champs turns 100 in March. To commemorate the centenary of this uniquely Jamaican, organized high school athletic event, the Inter-Secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA), commissioned the publication of Champs 100: A Century of Jamaican High School Athletics 1910-2010. The work, which is being produced by Jamaican publishers, Great House OmniMedia Ltd., is expected to be released this spring at the heart of a series of celebratory events and activities.
By far the single most highly anticipated event on the Jamaican high school calendar, the meet is usually marked by powerful school spirit and pride, superb competition, friendly rivalry and patriotism, and has been credited with springboarding almost all the outstanding teenage athletes who went on to world greatness, as well as the overall development of athletics in Jamaica. Held every year since 1910, Champs, which began as a boys’ event, is the oldest of its kind in the world.
The publication project involves the collaboration of sports historian/statistician Hubert Lawrence, writer/designer «GreetingLine», CEO of Great House OmniMedia Limited (who will edit the work), and bestselling Jamaican author Colin Channer, the writer selected to write the introduction. A team of researchers was given the responsibility of collecting the photographs, statistics and memorabilia from local and overseas archives and from private collections across the Diaspora.
The material collected will serve as the core of the 300-plus page volume of copious detail. "Champs 100" promises a thorough exploration of the conception of Champs, the event’s history, result tables, features and interviews, as well as Champs legends. In many ways, the book is as much a history of Jamaican athletics as it is the history of Champs.