There will be an increase of US$1,000 each to both the men and women winners of the 2018 T&T International Marathon Festival (T&TIMF) marquee event, the 26.2 road race when the 37th edition comes off on Sunday January 27, 2019.
This was revealed by Anthony Harford, Managing Director of All Sports Promotion, which has been hired as the event’s secretariat at the launch of the three-part event at T&T Olympic House, 121 Abercromby Street Port-of-Spain, yesterday
Last year, equal prize money of US$5,000 was provided to the winner of the men and women category, however this time around US$6,000 will be up for grabs when the marathon begins from 5am at Freeport, with the finish outside White Hall, Queen’s Park Savannah, Port-of-Spain.
According to Harford, the other prize structures for positions in the marathon, 5K and Relays are yet to be finalised as discussions between the organizing committee, potential sponsors and government agencies are still taking place.
In addition to increase prize money, Harford noted that the T&TIMF has now been expanded into a three-part event.
To start of the weekend, Harford stated that the Relays have been taken out of the Marathon and will take place separately on Friday January 25 around the Queen’s Park Savannah, starting and ending outside White Hall.
The Relays which will feature one full lap of the QP Savannah by each competitor will be contested in three different categories as well, Open, Schools and Women with teams comprising of six individual.
For the Open relay, a new twist has been added in that as part of the six participants, each team must include a youth athlete and one master (over-40).
The Kiss Baking Company-sponsored 5K entitled the Healthy Balance National 5K will come off on Saturday January 26 starting at Woodford Street, opposite All Saints Church and ending outside White Hall.
And on Sunday January 26, marathon walkers will begin their journey to Port-of-Spain from 3am followed by the marathon runners, two hours later.
With regards to the composition of entrants, Harford said it is still early days yet as registration for the event has now opened but a lot of interest in the event is expected to come from Central and South America.
As an part of an incentive to possible participants, race organisers have started off registration with an early discounted price for each of the categories, ending October 31, 2018.
For the 26.2 miles T&T marathon, early bird registration will cost US$45 or T&T$ 315 while for entrants starting November 1, 2018, cost of registration for marathon entrants go up to US$50 or T&T$350.
Likewise, for the Relays, registration starts off at US$30 or T&T$210 but for late comers, the cost will increase to US$35 or T&T$245.
And for the 5K event, registration begins at US$15 or T&T$100, but will climb to US$17 or T&T$120 after October 31.
Registration can be done online via www.ttmararthon.com or persons can call All Sports Promotion at
Last year, Kenyan-born Stephen Mburi Njoroge of Mexico won the men’s marathon in two, 23 minutes and 04 seconds holding off his brother Simon Kariuki Njoroge (2:34.36 hours) while Leah Kigen, the women’s event in three hours, 00.11 minutes
Among the sponsors of the event are Kiss Baking Company Limited, Gatorade, Subway, Blue Waters, Namdevco.