Abiodun Jimoh
About 50,000 athletes from across the world are expected to participate in 2017 Lagos City Marathon, organized by Access Bank.
Briefing journalists about the marathon slated for February 11, 2017, the Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode stated the event will promote the tourism potentials of the State.
According to him, necessary logistics have been put in place to make the event hugely successful.
He noted that the 2016 edition of the marathon hosted 33, 753 runners including 65 elite marathoners from different parts of the world and over 100 local elite runners.
Ambode disclosed that the government was working to ensure that the 2017 edition of the Lagos City Marathon sees a major improvement compared to first edition.
He said, “The Lagos City Marathon is presently ranked 68th in the world, but our desire is to make it the top ten in the world and that is what we are working on with the next episode of the event.” he said.
He noted that as a result of success recorded from the maiden edition, several individuals and corporate organisations have contacted the organisers for partnership towards ensuring a successful tourney.
He also mentioned that the 2017 edition would feature the top ten men and women marathoners in the world and appearance fees for gold label runners is $50,000, silver label $20,000 and bronze label $10,000.
The Governor said, “The winner would go home with a cash prize of $50,000, while second and third place winners would smile home with $40,000 and $30,000 respectively. Invited local and foreign elite runners would be paid 50 per cent of their appearance fee now and balance up when they arrived Lagos for the tourney.
“Route education plan will be released early so that Lagosians can plan their movement on race day. There will also be live transmission for the local and global audience. There will be clearer and bolder kilometer marking along the route. Our target is to also make Lagosians proud of this event and make them look forward to it every year.”
Also, Managing Director of Access Bank, Herbert Wigwe, major partners of the Lagos City Marathon, expressed optimism that the 2017 edition of the race would be bigger and better.
He said Access Bank was glad to partner with Lagos State, noting that the success of the first edition did not only showcase Lagos to be an avenue for sports development, but also for the growth of tourism and youth development.
