NewzOCHO RIOS, St Ann — Sandals Foundation’s Island Challenge Jamaica got off to a strong start on Friday, with approximately 30 participants from the United Kingdom testing their endurance along Jamaica’s north coast. The event forms part of a four-day fundraising effort aimed at strengthening neonatal and paediatric healthcare. The opening day saw participants complete a 10-kilometre run from Rio Nuevo Fishing Beach in St Mary to Sandals Ochi Beach Club, before taking to the water for a five-kilometre kayak along the White River Fish Sanctuary.
The challenge, which runs from October 2 to 5, has brought together athletes, travel industry figures and community supporters, with a target of raising £100,000 to purchase essential medical equipment and strengthen paediatric and neonatal services at Falmouth Public General Hospital in Trelawny. Sandals Foundation Executive Director Heidi Clarke sounded the horn to officially start Friday’s competition, sending participants off on the first leg of what is expected to become an increasingly demanding journey over the next three days. For Clarke, however, the physical test is secondary to the lives the initiative is intended to impact.
“It’s really all about raising money to buy equipment for our hospitals here in the Caribbean,” she said. “For this one, the Falmouth General Hospital is going to benefit. “We’re really thrilled to be able to support the doctors and nurses working there who are working in conditions that have not been ideal since Hurricane Melissa.” The intensity off the challenge is expected to increase on Saturday when participants climb the world-famous Dunn’s River Falls before embarking on a 10-kilometre rainforest trek and tree-planting exercise in the Bogue 11 Forest.
“This challenge is everything from running to kayaking to hiking… to Trelawny up to Blue Hope then into the Blue Mountains for a hike and sampling some great Blue Mountain coffee on Monday,” Clarke said. On Sunday, the group will be joined by 13 local participants for a 21-kilometre half-marathon through Falmouth. The route will take them past Falmouth Public General Hospital before continuing through the historic town, Hague and on to Good Hope.
The challenge culminates on Monday in St Andrew, where participants will face a military-style endurance test in Newcastle before taking on a partial hike of the Blue Mountains, reaching app…
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