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Wellington pays tribute to Wehby at Champs launch
March 13, 2025
ISSA PRESIDENT Keith Wellington is anticipating an exciting 115th staging of the ISSA/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls' Athletics Championships, set to take place at the National Stadium from March 25-29.
The media launch for the five-day high school athletics championships was held yesterday at Stadium East. Speaking ahead of this year's staging, Wellington said the resurfacing of the running track is expected to bring new waves of excitement for fans and athletes alike.
The running track has been resurfaced in the national colours - black, gold, and green - instead of the familiar blue which had been used for the past 15 years.
"I'm sure there will be some level of pride and excitement around being inside the stadium in the national colours and the colours of their schools all over the place," Wellington told STAR Sports.
"I'm sure the athletes, when they see their images on social media and on the television, and when they see the setting that they are participating in, I'm sure that will also create some amount of excitement for them."
Wellington sought to pay tribute to title sponsors GraceKennedy's retiring CEO Don Wehby, who he described as a man that has played a significant role in the successful staging of Champs since 2007.
"ISSA has been blessed to have developed a great partnership with GraceKennedy. Undoubtedly, the key driver of this partnership has been the retiring CEO Mr Don Wehby," he said.
"As Don leaves GraceKennedy to focus on another phase of his journey, we want to pay tribute to his significant contribution to not just Champs as an event, but indeed to Jamaica's track and field."
GraceKennedy also paid tribute to Wehby, announcing a new scholarship worth $500,000 which will be named in his honour.
The scholarship will be given to a select athlete who has shown both sporting and academic excellence at Champs.
The five-day championships will see 118 boys' teams and 117 girls' teams, fielding approximately 2,500 athletes, competing across 88 events for the top spot in the points standings and the Mortimer Geddes Trophy.
Preliminary action begins on Tuesday, March 25 before the finals begin on Wednesday, March 26, with 17 finals set to take place, key among them being the 100 metres.
Kingston College (KC) and Edwin Allen High will enter the championships as defending champions.
