Sandals backs 2026 Jill Stewart MoBay City Run with $6m

WESTERN BUREAU:

Hotelier Adam Stewart, chief executive officer of Sandals Resorts International, has committed $6 million to this year’s staging of the Jill Stewart MoBay City Run (JSMCR), which will be held in Montego Bay on Sunday, May 3.

Speaking at Tuesday’s launch of the 10th annual staging of the event, named in honour of his late wife Jill, Stewart said the run – introduced in 2013 to provide financial assistance for students in western Jamaica – holds deep sentimental value. “For a long time, Jill had a huge love for running and a belief in running, and she was a trained educator, a preparatory school teacher, and Jill’s whole life was about community,” he said. “It is a huge honour for us as a family to have her name on this run.”

He explained that Sandals has contributed $3 million to this year’s staging and that he would personally match the sum. “Because it is our 10th staging of this event, I personally would like to double that and give $3 million on top of it,” he said. Stewart added that private-sector leaders “want to associate ourselves with progress, purpose, and people that are doing the right things for the right reasons.”

Jill Stewart, who died in 2023, was a long-time supporter of the run – formerly known as the MoBay City Run – and was a multiple-time winner of the event’s 10k race before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Stewart noted that the JSMCR continues to play an important role in Montego Bay, promoting health and community development alongside its educational mission. He said these goals are especially important in the wake of Hurricane Melissa’s devastating passage on October 28.

This year’s staging aims to raise $10 million to support students from five high schools and five tertiary institutions in western Jamaica. The high schools include Cambridge High School and Herbert Morrison Technical High School in St James; Rusea’s High School in Hanover; Belmont Academy in Westmoreland; and Maggoty High School in St Elizabeth. The tertiary beneficiaries are the University of the West Indies Western Campus, the University of Technology Western Campus, Montego Bay Community College, Sam Sharpe Teachers’ College, and the Caribbean Maritime University’s Western Campus.

“The backbone of this event is education, and also supporting education and those who have less opportunities than many of us to allow them to thrive,” Stewart said. He added that his passion for education comes from seeing its impact within Sandals’ workforce of 20,000 team members across ten Caribbean islands. When people are given opportunities through education, he said, “they go to the next level.”

Stewart also highlighted the run’s wellness focus. “Without our health, we really have nothing more in front of us, and this run is a healthy do-good feel-good activity that drives endorphins,” he said. The event, he added, strengthens the sense of community in Montego Bay. “Everywhere you go, and at every event, just like today, it feels like family, and that togetherness will allow us to overcome any of our obstacles, including Hurricane Melissa, which we are moving upward and outward of.”

editorial@gleanerjm.com