A number of overseas high school teams have been confirmed to participate in this year’s 47th staging of the Gibson McCook championships, scheduled to be held at the National Stadium on Saturday, February 24.

Canadian high schools Flying Angels and Brompton Racers, along with two teams from Trinidad and Tobago, are to be joined by several teams from St Kitts and Nevis.

The men and women 1500m open events will be contested at the championships for the first time, replacing the customary 800m event on the card.

Speaking at Thursday’s press launch held at Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston, Dr Marion Bullock DuCasse, acting chairman of the Gibson McCook Relays, expressed commitment to making the event a massive success.

Dr Ducasse highlighted that the addition of these teams would bring more excitement to the championships.

“For the Gibson McCook Relays for 2024 the organising committee expects to put on one of the best events ever. We will have over 2200 athletes competing in 42 events, and we are also looking to have much more participation in terms of the audience,” she said.

Dr Ducasse also emphasised that there would be numerous prizes and surprises at this year’s championships, anticipating a massive turnout of spectators.

“We are looking at a full grandstand, and [even] more persons in the bleachers, and to facilitate this we will be doing giveaways. We are trying to encourage our schools to come out because we will be providing tickets free of cost to all the schools participating in the championships,” she stated.

Elon Parkinson, head of communications and corporate affairs at Digicel, one of the main sponsors of the event, said the company is delighted to be associated with the championships.

“Our ongoing commitment to supporting Jamaica’s athletics prowess continues through this staging of the Gibson McCook Relays. As the digital communications sponsor and enabler to this prestigious annual event Digicel is using the power of our vast LTE and fibre networks to bring a new kind of energy and excitement to the relays,” he said.

The other main sponsors of the event are the Wisynco Group and Puma.