The 10th edition of the Access Bank Lagos City Marathon is set to take place on Saturday, with organizers targeting a faster finish time of 2 hours 10 minutes.
According to General Manager of the Race, Olympian Yusuf Ali, the Gold Label category race is close to achieving its Platinum Label category after the 10th anniversary.
Speaking at a symposium for accredited journalists at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos, Ali revealed that the Access Bank Lagos City Marathon has fulfilled the indices required for the Platinum Label, and is working hard to become the first in Africa to achieve this feat.
“We have good numbers of elite runners participating this year, including seven gold medal runners in the male category, two in Platinum, five gold label for female, and one in Platinum,” Ali said. “The World Athletics have changed the ranking modalities, and the runners must be among the top 300.”
Ali also disclosed that issues that arose from the last marathon, including water supply, have been fully addressed. To make the 10th anniversary more memorable, the organizers have added incentives, including the appointment of pacers.
“We will have three pacers for the men’s category and one for the women’s category. The pacers can also finish the race. We will be having a meeting with the athletes to discuss the issues about the pacers,” Ali explained.
With over 100 elite runners participating, Ali expressed optimism that the 10th edition of the Access Bank Lagos City Marathon will be a success.
