Lagos Marathon Meets Requirement

By Mohammed Adekola

Organisers of the Access Bank Lagos City Marathon met conditions to be upgraded to Platinum label and are hoping for a faster finishing time of 2 hours and 10 minutes in this year’s race, which will takes place tomorrow, 15th February.

The Race General Manager, Olympian Yusuf Alli, speaks when meeting with journalists at Teslim Balogun Stadium that the marathon, which has a gold label, is getting closer to earning the platinum label, which is the highest recognition in world marathons. If successful, it will be the first marathon in Africa to achieve this.

Alli explained that the marathon has met all the conditions needed for the platinum label and has attracted top-level runners:
Male category: 7 gold label runners, 2 platinum label runners.
Female category: 5 gold label runners, 1 platinum label runner.
 
He also added that the World Athletics (WA) has changed its ranking rules, requiring runners to be among the top 300 in the world.

He emphasised that the World Athletics (WA) has changed its ranking rules, requiring runners to be among the top 300 in the world, Improvements from Last Year.

Alli said some issues from last year, such as water supply, have been fixed. The organisers have also introduced pacers (runners who help set a steady speed).
Three pacers for men and one for women.
 
The first pacer will stop at 30km, the second at 35km, and the third at 40km, If a pacer has enough strength, they can complete the race and even win.

Over 100 elite runners have registered for the main 42km race, while more runners have signed up for the 10km race.