By Goodness Ndukuba, Akwa on November 1, 2023

Nigerian marathoners says they are looking forward to participating in the forthcoming Onitsha City Marathon reschedule for Nov. 25 despite the outstanding debt to them in the last edition.

Adamu Shehu Mohammed, who came fourth in the last edition made the disclosure exclusively to  our Correspondent in Onitsha on Wednesday.

"We are ready and preparing for the event, but our outstanding payments have not been paid. Yes, we will come and run, even if the outstanding debt is not paid.

"The organisers said the sponsors have not release fund up till now, as I am talking to you,. I am yet to get my money.

"We have an understanding that before this second edition holds, they will pay all the outstanding money. We are still preparing for the coming event by God's grace," the Plateau state born marathoner said.

Confirming the athletes willingness to participate in the event, the Director-General, Onitsha Business School, Prof Olusegun Sogbesan and organisers of the event said that many marathoners have indicated interest to feature in the 21km-road-race.

"The athletes that have registered so far are many. If you know the numbers, you will marvel. The people that are saying that the athletes have not been paid, are the people using it as excuses to destroy it.

"You want me to call some of the athletes for you to ask them questions, we, the organisers are doing the much we can to restore their confidence and ensure the event holds," he said.

 Sogbesan regretted their inability to seal a five-year N400m sponsorship deal for the Onitsha City Marathon.

He said that the deal broke down due to the state government’s attitude towards endorsing the Marathon.

He said the state government’s approval was a precondition for willing sponsors to enter into agreement with the organisers and put down their money.

He said, “Lack of cooperation from the previous administration affected the sponsorship of the programme.

“We lost huge amount of money, Anambra State lost that money, just one bank alone had agreed to sponsor the marathon to the tune of N400m for a five-year period," he said.

Sogbesan said the maiden edition of the marathon held in 2019 was a huge success in spite of the challenges, noting that it could not hold in 2020 due to COVID-19.

“We have not had the second edition of the Onitsha City Marathon because of the dysfunctional society and the people who are in positions that would have played the right roles that could have added value to the society.

“Not that the state will sponsor it, but some of the corporate organisations that indicated interest to sponsor it wanted to have confirmation from the state but, that, we lost,” he said.

The renowned professor said that the Onitsha City Marathon organisers had started a conversation with the new chairman of the Anambra Sports Development Commission, Patrick Onyedum.

He said the commission’s chairman had shown tremendous interest in the marathon and that negotiations were ongoing on how to return the marathon so that local and international long distance runners could compete for glory on the streets of Onitsha.

“We still have our certification; a visiting assessor from IAAF said Onitsha had the best marathon route in Africa. We are willing to work with the Anambra government to develop the sector,” Sogbesan added.

The year's marathon will feature five international elite athletes, who are top 300 in the world coming from various countries, and up to 20 other foreign athletes will participate.

Sogbesan said the aim of Onitsha Business School in establishing the Onitsha City Marathon was to bring economic dimension to sports, for many local athletes.

Source Daily Sports Nigeria

Posted November 1, 2023

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