Some participants at the Jos leg of the MTN CHAMPS have continued to savour their experience at the championship, which gave them the opportunity to express their talents and also win some money in the process.

Some of these participants, including Benjamin Magaji and Mercy Ugonna also commended MTN for allowing them to balance education and sports while pursuing their dreams.

The three-day event drew about 20,000 athletes and over 500 schools nationwide, who came to compete for a share of N20 million prize money.

Speaking on his experience at the event, Magaji said he was elated to compete alongside the best rising athletes in the country, saying that the MTN CHAMPS has given him a platform to work hard for stardom.

“I want to thank the organisers for this project and I call on them to continue to help us to live our dreams,” he said.

Earlier, MTN’s Chief Customer Experience and Relations Officer, Ngonwa Nwoye, had disclosed that the company enhanced the rewards to make the competition more attractive to athletes.

She said: “This year’s edition introduced enhanced rewards, with individual winners receiving up to N2 million for first position, second place N1.5 Million, third place N1 million and fourth N500,000, while winners in the school category went home with N5 million (first position), N3 million (second position), N2 million (third position), N1.5m (fourth position) and N1m (fifth place), while schools in the sixth to 10th positions got N500,000 each.”

She acknowledged that the competitors pushed themselves to the limit to achieve personal bests despite challenging weather conditions.

“While some participants were understandably disappointed, many achieved personal bests. It has been inspiring to watch these young athletes push themselves to the limit,” she said.

Looking ahead, Nwoye expressed excitement about the finals scheduled to hold in Ibadan and encouraged even greater participation from athletes across the country.