Former winners taste victory as Sigma raises $92m
Published:Monday | February 13, 2023 | 5:16 AMAinsworth Morris/Staff Reporter
When Sagicor SIGMA Corporate Run organisers previously announced the rule that entrants needed to be vaccinated in order to participate in the 24th staging of the event in 2022, Garfield Gordon – this year’s overall winner – was determined not to enter.
The sworn anti-vaxxer said nothing could deter him and he painfully watched others painfully watched others run, walk, and wheel while he skipped the race last year.
However, when the organisers reopened the annual race to the unvaccinated, he pledged to reclaim the overall 5K walk/run champion prize which he had won in 2020.
After running the fastest time on Sunday, with 17 minutes and 32 seconds, while representing running club UCT Steppas, Gordon was elated to taste victory again.
“It’s a great feeling to come back on the road and start dominating again, because, since COVID, I’ve not won much races. More people can come and run now,” the 26-year-old sports massage therapist and track and field coach at St George’s College told The Gleaner.
“Mi nuh really trust the vaccination thing.”
Approximately 748,000 people, or 26 per cent of the Jamaican population, is vaccinated against COVID-19 - making the island the least-compliant English-speaking Caribbean country.
Gordon, who blamed his eighth placing in 2021 on a lack of training, said that he would be more prepared for upcoming 5Ks in Jamaica.
Sagicor Group outstripped its target of $75 million, raising just shy of $92 million in the charity road race.
This year’s beneficiaries will be the University Hospital of the West Indies’ Paediatric Unit and Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts.
Last year, the financial services company surpassed its fundraising target of $50 million, gifting $52 million to 2022 sole beneficiary Kingston Public Hospital.
More than 21,000 people registered for this year’s edition of the race, including runners, walkers, and wheelchair participants.
Dwayne Graham of Rainforest Seafoods and Noel-Jonathan Ellis – last year’s overall winner – placed second and third, respectively on Sunday.
Graham finished in 17 minutes and 36 seconds while Ellis closed in 18 minutes and five seconds.
The first female runner to cross the finish line for the Sagicor SIGMA 25th Legacy Run was Jozanne Harris, who clocked 23:20.
Harris, who was also the top female runner in the 2021 and 2020 SIGMA Corporate Run races, was happy to cop the prize for another year.
“It was a challenge as always, but it was good to be back ... . I was just hoping to come back and win this year. So, after this, I feel like I should retire,” she told The Gleaner.
Harris said she is getting battle-ready for the annual SunCity triathlon race on March 18 in Portmore, St Catherine, before heading off to North Carolina for the Ironman 70.3 race in October.
Christopher Zacca, president and CEO of Sagicor Group Jamaica, expressed gratitude for the thousands of supporters who made the historic raise possible.
Prime Minister Andrew Holness was among the high-profile participants, while sprinting icons Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce and Asafa Powell served as patrons of the event.
“We here at Sagicor are beyond thankful to have the full support of our sponsors, donors, race participants, volunteers, and well-wishers, as we celebrate and commemorate our silver anniversary and our legacy of giving back,” Zacca said.
“It is because of them why we are able to do this year after year,” he added.