LIME pumps $8m into Champs

LIME, the exclusive telecommunications sponsor of the 2010 Inter-Secondary Schools Association's (ISSA)/GraceKennedy Boys and Girls' Athletics Championships, has provided more than $8 million for the staging of the meet, which will run from March 24-27 at the National Stadium.

The amount represents a 60 per cent increase over LIME's sponsorship last year and is the first allocation in a three-year agreement, which will see the telecoms company pumping more than $20 million into the Championships.

"For us at LIME, Champs is not just an athletic meet, it's a national institution and we are thrilled to be associated with it because it gives us a chance to make a major contribution to the growth and development of track and field, which is a sport that has done so much to put Jamaica on the international map," said Geoff Houston, LIME's managing director for Jamaica and Cayman.

"We consider this sponsorship to be an investment in the development of the next generation of great Jamaican athletes, so it will definitely be money very well spent," he added.

Opportunity to win

In addition to the allocation to ISSA, LIME is also giving students, faculty members, parents and other supporters the opportunity to win cash and other prizes for their schools through a special Champs text promotion.

Supporters are able to vote via text for the school of their choice and the school with the most votes will receive $250,000. In addition, the runner-up boys and girls schools will each win $100,000 and the third-place male and female schools will each win a computer.

Schools will not be the only winners, as LIME is also providing prizes for the top voters each week. The person who sends the most text messages each week will win a BlackBerry 8520, while the person in second place will win a Nokia 5800 Music Xpress handset. Third prize is a Nokia 5610.

To vote, members of the public can text the name of the school they are supporting to 444-4204. Each text will cost $20.