Sanwo-Olu promises better 2026 Lagos City Marathon

Gov. Babajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State on Saturday promised a bigger and better Access Bank Lagos City Marathon in 2016.

Sanwo-Olu made the pledge in an interview on the sidelines of the 10th Access Bank Lagos City Marathon finishing point ceremony held at the Eko Atlantic city.

The governor, to the surprise of many, had previously participated in a 6km race of the Gold Label marathon to the finish line in company of his cabinet members.

Speaking on the impact of the 42km race and contributions to the socioeconomic and tourism areas, Sanwo-Olu emphasised the need to make it more prominent globally.

“The 10th edition has gone fine and the last three hours have been great from what I have seen.

“I have also taken part in my own 6km race and the level of organisation, and I must say, the turnout has been impressive.

“I was told that over 25,000 people started the race this morning, but we don’t know how many completed the race.

“The thing we are looking at is how to make the race much more a global brand for the 11th edition,” he said.

Sanwo-Olu added that Lagos State had been supporting the race since its inception and would continue to support in a bigger way.

“We have done it with Access Bank and Lagos State for the last 10 years; it is now time to make it bigger and that is what we are looking forward to making a federal appeal.

“We have the federal government backing and the state government backing, we hope that Access Bank will also allow more sponsors to come in because it will get bigger next year.

“We need to go back to the roots and develop grassroots sports from the primary and secondary schools because there is no two way to sports.

“We can’t start training a 25-year-old for football. We have to start from a very younger age,” he said.

Sanwo-Olu added: “Coincidentally, we are taking the initiative of identifying schools that will make sports a priority.

“We also want to be ready with the infrastructure training and also talk with the parents to encourage their children and wards because sports is a way of life now and not a backdoor industry.

“Sports is a frontline in revenue generation now and not recreation because it brings about tourism, funding, improved economy, just imagine the number of people present today it is a way of boosting the economy.

“Sports has its place in the global market and we need to take it seriously,” he said.

NAN reports that Edwin Kibet won the 10th edition of the Access Bank Lagos City Marathon as he breasted the tape at 2:14:19:73.

Another Kenyan, Kypgon Nehemiah, came in second ,finishing at 2:16:37:47 while his compatriot, Bernard Sang , claimed the third position, finishing at 2:17:17;13.

In the female category, an Ethiopian, Guta Hirpa finished ahead of other runners while her compatriot, Alemenesh Guta, finished second and Kenyan Jeromo Peris finished third.