By Daily Sports Nigeria on February 14, 2025

Organisers of the Access Bank Lagos City marathon are targeting a clean finish plus a faster time of two hours, 10minutes finish in the 10th edition holding on Saturday, as they hope to get the World Athletics’ platinum label for the event after a decade.

General Manager of the race and Olympian, Yusuf Ali, said during a symposium for accredited journalists at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos, on Thursday that the organisers are working hard to be the first in Africa to achieve the platinum.

“The most important thing is for us to get better. We are changing to a platinum label. There is no single platinum label in Africa and I think if we can have a clear finish. Right now, we have good numbers of elite runners participating this year. We have seven gold medal runners in male category, two in platinum, five gold label for female and one in platinum,” he said.

“We have ticked all the boxes needed for qualification for the platinum label. We are changing the status quo this year. Achieving the Platinum label category will be the first of such in Africa among other countries staging marathons. For this 10th anniversary, we have the elite athletes that can give us the Platinum Medal and also have our cross record which is two hours and 10 minutes.”

Ali, a former Director General of Edo State Sports Commission, also disclosed that some issues that arose from the last marathon had been fully addressed to put the race on good standing.

“Last year, the issue of water came up which we have also addressed. The organisers have added other incentives to make the 10th anniversary more memorable which include the appointment of pacers. In the area, we have a very big plan of having three pacers for the men category and one for the women category. The three pacers can also finish the race.

“We will be having a meeting with the athletes to discuss the issues about the pacers that they can also finish. One pacer will drop at 30km, the second pacer at 35km and the last at 40km.”

The 42km race will commence at the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos by 6:30 am while the 10km marathon will start at the Grace Garden Event Centre in Lekki by 9:30am with both races terminating at Eko Atlantic City.

The race which started in 2016 enters its 10th year with a World Athletic gold label and the vice president of WA, Jackson Tuwei, said last year that the body would consider giving the event a platinum label after a thorough review of this year’s edition.

Source Punch Ng

Posted February 14, 2025

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