The third edition of the Access Bank Lagos City Marathon came to an end with former IAAF half marathon winner, Godfrey Chirchir Kiprotich, emerging the overall winner.
The Kenyan clocked a record time of two hours, 15 minutes and four seconds to cross the finish line, according to the organisers, Access Bank. He takes home a handsome cheque of $50,000, which is the prize for the winner.
In the women’s category, it was won by another East African country, this time, an Ethiopian, Herpa Guta, who won with a time of two hours, and 38 minutes.
She also takes home a prize money of $50000, as reward for her hardwork.
The third Access Bank marathon began at the main bowl of the national stadium in Surulere, with the finish line located at Eko Atlantic City, Victoria Island.
However, asides the competition being dominated by Kenyans and Ethiopians, Nigerians have something to celebrate as Iliya Pam emerged the first Nigerian to complete the 42km race.
Meanwhile, while Iliya was making Nigeria proud, eight-year-old Oluwaseyi Damilola and another 11-year-old did show that the marathon has a future in Nigeria, after they completed a distance of10km.
Perhaps, Lagos state Governor, Ambode Akinwunmi, has a place to start from after he had this to say;
“We’re tired of giving these trophies to the East Africans,” he said. “We’ll be committing resources to training our Nigerian athletes so they can win the marathon,” he added.
““We want to get it to the Gold level, in the next two years,” he said.
Additional reporting by Izu Akawor
