MTN promises better Lagos marathon

NIGERIA’s largest GSM telecoms operator, MTN Nigeria has promised a much improved 3rd MTN Lagos International Half Marathon event next November with an appeal to Nigerians to respect the rules the event and give the runners a right of way, reports nigeriasports.com

Abass Umoru, General Manager of the Lagos Half Marathon event told nigeriasports.com in Lagos Tuesday that the desire to improve on their previous outing led the telecoms company (title sponsors) to introduce a four-regional road race event spread across four cities of Enugu, Kaduna, Port Harcourt and Ibadan as prelude to the Lagos half marathon.

“This year we have introduced several innovations which include the four regional marathon races. We have already done the Enugu race with well over 5000 participants in attendance. It was a well received event, and this weekend, we are going to the Northern city of Kaduna, which I believe will even be an improvement on the Enugu race,” Umoru told nigeriasports.com

He maintained that Nigeria abounds with “great marathon runners, especially in the Northern states because of their high altitude. Sometimes, I wonder when people say we are basically a sprints nation; It makes me feel they don’t understand this country. All we need do at this moment is to engender interest among our Northern athletes and before long, we’ll be a force to be reckon with in the world.

“The Kenyans make so much earnings from marathon events, and I believe we too can reap from this booty,” Umoru said. 10 runners - 8 men and 2 women - are to qualify from each of the four regional events for the November 20 Lagos half marathon. Isa Fwatshak,(men) Plateau state and Geneveve Njoku, (women) Imo state both won at the Enugu marathon.

By Onyinye Anyanwu