The battle between Jamaica's top distance runners, Royalty Track Club's Tanice Barnett and Manchester High's Natoya Goule, looks set to continue in the latter's hometown at this year's 26th annual High Mountain Coffee 10k on January 27.

Apart from Barnett and Goule, who will race in front of her home crowd at this distance - 10k (3.2 miles), for the second time in Williamsfield, Manchester, American Christine Clifton will also be among the women to beat.

Clifton, along with Edmund Burke of the Shore Athletics Club in New Jersey, U.S., will again return to defend their titles at the race, which takes athletes along Winston Jones Highway, down Kendal, Kirkvine and back to the Williamsfield roundabout.

Kemoy Campbell of Bellefield High, along with Goule, who both finished second last year, should come blazing this time around in their home parish.

More than $300,000 is up for grabs in cash and prizes. A 3.2k walk has been added to the event due to overwhelming requests from corporate sponsors and the community at large.

For the first time in the race's history, an entry fee of $500 will be required for the walk.

The proceeds from this will go towards developing a fitness programme at the Manchester Infirmary.

The HMC Road Race will host a Lucozade-sponsored runners' clinic today at Kirkvine, Manchester. Road race participants will be given hydration tips on preparing for the 10k and 5k events, as well as rehydration remedies for the body after the race.

Volleyball AGM

The annual general meeting of the Jamaica Volleyball Association will be held today.

The meeting is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. at the Sports Development Foundation (SDF), 31 Phoenix Avenue, Kingston.

Wayne O. Robertson, general secretary, and Andre McLean are the front-runners for the post of president of the association.

Elections will also be held for the the posts of general secretary and treasurer.

Portmore to continue roll

Portsmouth FC are set to continue their unbeaten run in the Colin Fagan-sponsored Portmore Division Two Knockout football competition when they take on Caymanas Gardens Site D at the Greater Portmore playing field tomorrow.

Portmore have won five games in a row, including four league games and one knockout encounter. Last week Portsmouth sent defending champions Christian Pen crashing.

However, it will be interesting to see how Portsmouth will fare playing their first contest outside the warmth of their home field but, on paper, they should prove too strong for Caymanas Site D.

In the feature game at the venue, Greater Portmore take on Caymanas Gardens at 3:00 p.m.

If past performances are any indication to go by, this should be a cakewalk for Greater Portmore as they spanked Caymanas Gardens 4-0 in an earlier league match.

MultiCare Sports series continues

Students from the 31 MultiCare-assisted schools are now preparing for the MultiCare Inter-Schools girls' football competition and basketball competition slated for April.

Coaching is now being scheduled in schools in east, west and central Kingston and Greater Portmore in anticipation of both events.

The competitions follow on the success of the MultiCare Inter-Schools' football, netball and volleyball competitions held in November .

As part of the preparation for the MultiCare Inter-Schools basketball competition, the MultiCare Train The Trainers Basketball Clinic will be held on February 14 to update physical education teachers on competition rules and regulations.

Chess resumes

The Jamaica Chess Federation (JCF), in association with INC Limited, will stage the first John Powell Memorial Chess Open at the Campion College Auditorium this weekend.

The tournament will be divided into two sections - an Open section in which anyone can play and a section for entrants with a JCF rating under 1,600.

The tournament, which was previously called the New Year's Open, was renamed in honour of National Master John Powell, a founding member of the JCF and former president who passed away in October of last year.

Powell was considered to be an extraordinary chess administrator who was a one of the main catalysts for the growth and development of the sport in Jamaica, particularly at the secondary school level during the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Powell was also one of the strongest players in Jamaica at th of his chess-playing career during the 1970s and 1980s, achieving the title of National Master in 1975. He was widely considered to be the strongest Jamaican player never to have won the National Championship outright. He tied for first three times - 1973, 1980 and 1988. However, he lost on tiebreak to NM Harold Chan in 1973, NM Robert Wheeler in 1980 and Wheeler again in 1988.

Powell represented Jamaica at many Chess Olympiads, winning a silver medal for Jamaica on board four in the Olympiad of 1984, which was held in Thessaloniki, Greece.

Powell left Jamaica to live in the United States during the 1990s but returned in 2005. He started playing again and was a member of one of the teams in the 2007/2008 Lasco Chess League up to his death.