Oshiomhole relishes historic Okpekpe race success story

Former Edo State Governor, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole, has expressed his delight at being part of the historic Okpekpe International 10km Road Race’s success story.
  
Oshiomhole, now a senator-elect, also commended the race’s organiser, Mike Itemuagbor for his determination to see the race grow from a bronze label event to its current gold status.
  
Speaking at the weekend, Oshiomhole said: “Thank you Mike (Itemuagbor) for being consistent in your determination to see Okpekpe Race become an international reality, something that anyone who knows how it started, will really commend you.
  
“In this country, it is easy to start programmes, but what is often the challenge is sustaining it and upgrading it. I am so proud that in such a short time, you have elevated the status of the Okpekpe race to an international status.”

“It is now the first gold label 10km road race in Nigeria just like in 2015 when it was the first road race in Nigeria to be granted a World Athletics label status.”
 
The former Edo State governor said he is proud to be associated with the race, the first to have its race course measured by a World Athletics accredited course measurer.
  
“The race has helped me to tell people of my age, that age is not a barrier to exercise. I am still able to run 10km anyhow, what matters is not the time I spent doing it, but the fact that I covered the distance,” he said.
 
Reflecting on the effect of the race on its host community, Oshiomhole said Itemuagbor deserves all the accolades for positively projecting the image of the Okpekpe community, Edo State and Nigeria to the world.
 
He said: “One of the imports of the race is exposing international elite athletes to come to rural Nigeria, where the real Nigerians, the people I refer to as the forgotten majority, those guys that smile whether they eat or not and are happy to see people from other parts of the world, different colours come to their community… you cannot imagine the joy in my heart when I see the smiles on their faces.
  
“One day, we might get bigger people from the political leadership of this country to come and see how you have used a rural community to elevate the status of the country. I am very proud to be part of this history.”
 
The ninth Okpekpe International 10km Road Race is on May 27, 2023.