Organizers of the Access Bank Lagos City Marathon are aiming for a faster finish time of 2 hours and 10 minutes in the 10th edition of the event, set to take place tomorrow.
Olympian Yusuf Ali, the General Manager of the race, shared this goal during a symposium for accredited journalists at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos.
He emphasized that the Gold Label race is on the verge of reaching the prestigious Platinum Label status after its 10th anniversary.
Ali stated that all necessary criteria for achieving the highly coveted Platinum Label have been met, and the marathon is determined to be the first in Africa to secure this distinction.
“We have a strong field of elite runners this year, including seven male gold medalists, two male Platinum Label runners, five female gold label runners, and one female Platinum Label athlete,” Ali said.
He also mentioned that World Athletics (WA) has updated its ranking system, now requiring runners to be among the top 300 to qualify.
“We have checked all the boxes needed for Platinum Label qualification, and this year, we’re breaking new ground. If we achieve Platinum status, we will be the first marathon in Africa to do so.
With our elite athletes, we’re confident that we can reach our goal of a 2:10 finish time and secure Platinum recognition.”
Ali, who previously served as the Director General of the Edo State Sports Commission, also addressed issues from last year’s marathon, assuring that improvements have been made for the current race. “Last year, water distribution was a concern, but we’ve addressed it.
We’ve also added new incentives to make this anniversary race memorable, including the introduction of pacers.”
“We have a big plan for pacers this year—three for the men’s category and one for the women’s. These pacers will also be able to finish the race.
We’ll meet with the athletes to discuss the strategy, where one pacer will drop out at 30km, another at 35km, and the final one at 40km. If they have the endurance, pacers may even finish and potentially win the race,” Ali explained.
As of today, there are over 100 elite runners registered for the marathon, with more participants in the 10km race than in the full 42km event, Ali added.
