GraceKennedy Limited to Receive Corporate Sports Award

The Comets Club International (CCI) Corporate Partnership Award for 2009, will be presented to GraceKennedy Limited, for its outstanding contribution and exemplary leadership in the development of athletics in Jamaica.
The presentation will be made during the CCI’s annual charity and reunion dinner, on Saturday, April 4 at La Bella Vita Banquet Hall, Queen’s, New York in the United States of America (USA).
“With a corporate vision that is second to none, the company has aligned itself with one of the most positively visible sectors of human development through its sponsorship of the annual national scholastic – Boys and Girls – Championships in track & field athletics in Jamaica,” noted President of CCI (USA), Inc, Judith Hutchinson.
Sharing the spotlight with GraceKennedy Limited (Grace Foods USA) on April 4, will be four former athletes, whose performances at “Champs” in the mid to late 1970s, provided the inspiration and catalyst for the establishment of the Montego Bay ‘Comets’ Athletics Club in October 1977. The club was instrumental in establishing the Comets Relays, now the Milo Western Relays, in 1978. The relays have evolved into one of the key developmental meets on ISSA’s Athletic calendar annual.
The individuals are: Barrington ‘Boca’ Campbell, Clement ‘Tino’ Bowen, Paul ‘Pablo’ Tomlinson, and Clive ‘Cornbread’ Walters. Three of the four, Campbell, Bowen, and Tomlinson, competed for Cornwall College in Montego Bay, St. James and enjoyed ‘above average’ success against their more vaunted Kingston rivals.
Campbell won back-to-back titles in the 3,000 metres, and added silver and bronze at the Junior CARIFTA level. Bowen created a stir in the 400 metres that year, recording a personal best, 46.7 seconds, while Tomlinson clocked 10.5 seconds over the 100 metres, in helping ‘CC’ to sixth position overall. Walters, who was a student at Harrison Memorial High School, also in Montego Bay, dominated the 400 metres., on the Social Development Commission (SDC) club circuit. Each will be presented with the CCI Certificate of Merit.
Past recipients of this award include: Western Union, Victoria Mutual Building Society (VMBS), the Inter-Secondary School Sports Association (ISSA), Team Jamaica Bickle, and former Montego Bay businessman and sports administrator, Wesmore Thomas.
CCI, with headquarters in New York City, provides vital and pivotal support in the administration, as well as the provision of scholarships, funded through a number of charitable endeavours.