MARTIN
JAMAICA'S AREITA Martin and three-time champion and course record-holder Pamenos Ballantyne of St. Vincent and the Grenadines aim to repeat their 2004 successes at tomorrow morning's fifth staging of the Reggae Marathon in Negril, Westmoreland.
Like last year, Martin, who represented Jamaica at the World Half Marathon Championships in Canada, should have things her own way in the women's section but not so Ballantyne, who will have to battle it out with Michael Wardian of the United States.
Again, the male and female winners will take the Bob and Rita Marley Trophies and prizemoney of $96,000 each.
The second-place finisher will walk away with $64,000, while third gets $48,000.
Race director Alfred Francis said things were on target for a great fifth event.
"I am very comfortable with the way things are shaping up," Francis said. "We have a well-experienced team and we are working quite comfortably in setting up," Francis said. "A lot of the groundwork was done way beforehand and we have expectation of greater numbers this year," he said.
Francis, who is also chairman of the Jamaica Amateur Athletics Association's (JAAA) Road Racing Committee, had announced at the press launch over a month ago that live music, provided by five bands, would be on the course for this year's four-star rated event.
Meanwhile, the 2005 Central America and Caribbean (CAC) Half Marathon Cup will be staged in the Reggae Half Marathon event.
Teams from Trinidad & Tobago, St. Kitts, Martinique, Jamaica and Guatemala will take part in this section.
Jamaica will be represented by Sean Pitter, Wainard Talbert, Hurley Stewart, Phillip Edwards and Rupert Green in the male category while Annmarie Shaw, Tamica Thomas, Nadine Henry and Merrecia James make up the female team.
