IAAF former world champion arrives as LOC holds media seminar

Former IAAF World Half Marathon Champion, Godfrey Chirchir Kiprotich will be one the first international elite runners to arrive in Nigeria for the 2018 Access Bank Lagos City Marathon, which holds on Saturday.

Kiprotich will arrive in Lagos tomorrow aboard an Ethiopian Airline flight, the organisers of the race said yesterday.

According to the General Manager, Access Bank Lagos City Marathon, Yussuf Alli, most of the foreign elite athletes and their Nigerian counterparts, mainly from the Northern part of the country, will arrive in Lagos on Wednesday.

Alli said the 2018 field was very rich, adding that he would expect a new record for the Access Bank Lagos City Marathon.

“Starting at 6.30 a.m. will give the runners a huge advantage as they would have covered a lot of ground before the sun rises,” he said

Alli also stated that top officials of the IAAF and AIMS would arrive in Lagos on Thursday,

“We are now a label race so everything we do is of special interest to the IAAF, the governing body of athletics in the world and AIMS. Our biggest selling points are our route, which is very smooth and the crowd, so the world will be looking up to Lagos this weekend,’’ he added.

Meanwhile, the orgainsers have disclosed that about 1000 Nigerian and international media practitioners have applied for accreditation for race.

According to Head, Communications and Media, Olukayode Thomas, this is a new record as only 300 applied for accreditation at the first edition, while a little over 400 applied for accreditation in 2017.

Thomas revealed that the accreditation for athletics reporters would be distributed on Wednesday, while the others can pick up their accreditation on Thursday at Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, Lagos.

“Marathon is a new culture here, most of our reporters are used to short distances and field events, so the core stakeholders:  the organizers, the sponsors, and the athletics reporters need to have a good understanding of what we are doing and how we can make the work of the reporters easier.’’

Speakers expected at the seminar include the Executive Chairman, Lagos State Sports Commission, Kweku Tandoh, Project Consultant, Access Bank Lagos City Marathon, Bukola Olopade, Yusuf Alli, Tony Ubani, President, Guild of Sports Editors, a representative of both the medical and security committee, a speaker from Kenya and representative of athletics reporters.
Thomas said the seminar was strictly for athletics reporters.