Lagos State governor, Mr Akinwunmi Ambode, has said that no fewer than 50,000 athletes from across the world are expected to participate in the second edition of Access Bank Lagos City Marathon billed to hold on February 11.
Ambode made this known on Sunday at the Lagos House in Ikeja while addressing a world press conference on the event.
He disclosed that necessary logistics have been put in place to make the event a huge success, and as well promote the tourism potential of the state.
Ambode said that the 2017 edition, would also feature the top 10 men and women marathoners in the world, who would also be joined by many gold label, silver label and bronze label marathoners from different parts of the world.
According to him, the appearance fees for gold label runners is $50,000, silver label $20,000 and bronze label $10,000, adding that invited local and foreign elite runners would be paid 50 per cent of their appearance fee ahead, while the balance would be paid to them when they arrive in Lagos for the tourney.
He stated that winner of the 2017 Lagos City Marathon would also go home with a cash prize of $50,000, while second and third place winners would bag $40,000 and $30,000 respectively.
“The Lagos City Marathon is at present ranked 68th in the world, but our desire is to make it the top ten in the world and that is what we are working on with the next episode of the event.
“Unlike the one held on February 6 this year, where we had over 30,000 athletes who participated, we are targeting a minimum of 50,000 runners who will take the city of Lagos by storm and put the city on the world map for coming up with such a huge event.’’
“We look forward to something exciting happening in Lagos. We are going to use sports as a vehicle to help develop our youths and when you talk about youth development, you have to talk about recreational sports, about how you mentally activate younger ones and we just think that this marathon is one of those vehicles that we should use to galvanise sports in younger ones and even Lagosians at large,” he said.
Ambode also expressed optimism that the Lagos City Marathon “may get the CAA Label before February 11, 2017; this will be another feat. We have put the necessary machinery in place to have a more elaborate start and a grand finish for this edition. There will also be entertainment at the finish for runners and spectators”.
In his remarks, Mr Herbert Wigwe, Managing Director of Access Bank, the major partners of the Lagos City Marathon, expressed optimism that the 2017 edition would be bigger and better noting that the success of the first edition did not only showcase Lagos to be an avenue for sports development, but also for the growth of tourism and youth development.
