Sigma Run giving back for 25 years
Published:Saturday | February 11, 2023 | 1:04 AMKeisha Hill/Senior Gleaner Writer
The Sagicor Sigma Corporate Run is a unique road-running event designed to inspire fun, fitness, and camaraderie among Jamaica’s business and fitness communities. Since the start of this charity road race in 1999, over $550 million has been donated to numerous beneficiaries with a focus on health, child-related, and educational initiatives.
In 2023, the Sagicor Sigma Corporate Run will celebrate 25 years and will feature three events to commemorate the milestone anniversary while providing the public with multiple opportunities to support the cause. The Sigma Run 2023 series of events will include the Sigma Run Church Service, the Legacy Awards and Fundraiser, and the in-person Sigma Race Day on Sunday, February 12.
Christopher Zacca, president and chief executive officer of Sagicor Group Jamaica, said the organisation was proud to be celebrating the 25th staging of the Sigma Corporate Run.
“This year is particularly special as we celebrate our silver anniversary under the theme ‘The Legacy Run’. Since its first staging in 1999, the event has been known for charity, raising over J$550 million for numerous organisations, primarily in the areas of health and education,” he said.
“We are proud of the Sigma Run not only for bringing corporate Jamaica and individuals together for a common cause, but for the strong legacy of giving back, kindness, camaraderie, and national development that it represents,” he added.
The event will seek to raise $75 million for charity this year. This figure will be the largest target for Sagicor in the 25 years of the event in which it has previously raised over $50 million.
The beneficiaries this year will be the University Hospital of the West Indies’ Paediatric Unit (UHWIPU) and the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts. The fundraiser typically focuses on health facilities across the island, but Edna Manley was considered because organisers decided to think outside the box this year.
The road race marks the organisation’s full return to an in-person event, after two years of scaled-down events due to the pandemic. The team is pumped and excited to see a return of over 20,000 participants in New Kingston as we look forward to raising J$75 million for beneficiaries – the Paediatric Unit of the University Hospital of the West Indies and the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts,” Zacca said.
The ‘Corporate Run’ is a 5.5K (3.4 mile) run, walk, and wheelchair event that began in downtown Kingston at Breezy Castle with a target of $500,000 for the Jamaica Foundation for Cardiac Disease. The event was held under the theme ‘Straight from the Heart’, and saw 279 finishers.
The Sagicor Sigma Corporate Run is now held annually in New Kingston and has become the Caribbean’s largest 5K road race.
This year the 5K will take a familiar route through the streets of St Andrew. The starting line will be placed on Knutsford Boulevard. Participants will then turn left on to Trafalgar Road, continuing to Waterloo Road. From there they make a left turn on to West Kings House Road, then another left on to Constant Spring Road. The race then continues from Constant Spring Road up Hope Road, then right on to Winchester Road. Participants then turn right on to Ruthven Road and then make a left on Half-Way Tree Road. They then move on to Oxford Road and finish the race at Emancipation Park in New Kingston.
This is the first running of the race with a full complement of participants since February 2020, just before the COVID-19 pandemic.
The highest standards, globally, will be maintained at the event with the electronic timing system, and the marshalling from the Jamaica Constabulary Force and the Jamaica Combined Cadet Force.