Athletes hunt cash prizes tomorrow

Prize money will be awarded to the top performers when the island's senior athletes continue their preparations for next month's National Track and Field Championships at the National Stadium tomorrow.

Treasurer of the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA), Ludlow Watts, announced the cash incentives at a recent press briefing.

The series of pre-championship meets, dubbed the JOA/JAAA Olympic Destiny Series, will see the top six athletes in specific events vying for cash prizes divided into two sections, Premier and Classic. The top prize for a Premier event will be $100,000, while for the Classic event it will be $70,000. Second to sixth for the former will be $60,000, $40,000,$20,000, $14,000 and $12,000, respectively. The respective prizes for Classic events are $35,000, $20,000, $15,000, $12,000 and $10,000.

While all these cash incentives are at stake, finishing in the top six does not guarantee that the prize money will be handed out, as the association has laid out specific standards to be reached in each event.

The prize money will only be offered to local athletes. At each meet, the organising committee will select the 10 disciplines, six Premium and four Classic, which will be used as qualifying events for the respective incentives.

Eleven track and field events are down to be contested tomorrow. Action starts at 8:15 a.m. with the women's 100m. The meet is set to end at 10:30 a.m. with the men's 400m.

The following are the events and standards laid down by the association:

MEN

100m - 10.40

200m - 20.70

400m - 46.20

400mH - 50.40

110mH - 13.60

Long jump - 7.50m

Shot put - 18m

Discus - 60m

WOMEN

100m - 11.30

200m - 23.10

400m - 52.20

400mH - 56.00

100mH - 13.30

Long jump - 6.00m

Triple jump - 13.50m