The third staging of the rebranded Corporate Area Championship to be held on February 20 and 21 will honour administrator Ian Forbes and coach David Riley, and include a special tribute to the deceased race starter Vinton Powell with a 21-gun salute.

The launch of the event was held at the NHT Sports Club on Tuesday, February 10, and Ricky Martin, CEO of the organising committee, said they will be implementing changes to make patrons experience a Diamond League setup.

“I think it’s something not to miss, it’s going to be something exciting,” said Martin, noting that the two-day championship for urban schools will be held at the Ashenheim Stadium at Jamaica College.

“We will have the announcers call the athletes one by one from an area to their blocks to give them a feel, a professional feel and a look of discipline, and I know it brings some excitement, especially in the stands,” said Martin.

He continued: “For the first time, all the 100 metre winners will get flowers at the end. You can do whatever you want with it; you can throw it to the crowd and die from the inside, or you can keep it as a souvenir. Winners will be presented with signs of congratulations and also for record breakers. There will be fireworks at the end of the 100 metres. We’re going to turn off the lights at the start line, and we’re going to bring the time on the style. So, the aim is to carry it to a level,” said Martin.

A couple of events for the Corporate Area Championship were completed at the Youngster Goldsmith Classic last Saturday. The Steeplechase open for boys and girls, and the boys’ pole vault open.

Jamaica College have raced to 29 points, 15 ahead of defending champions Kingston College on 14. Excelsior Boys are third with eight points.

In the girls’ section, Alpha is 16 points ahead of The Queens School on nine points. Excelsior High and Immaculate Conception High are on six points each.

Kingston College and Excelsior are the defending champions. KC piled up 463 to JC’s 414.5 and Calabar’s 381.  Excelsior Girls tallied 351 to Immaculate’s 336 and Wolmer’s Girls 286.