The Edo State Government has restated its support for the Okpekpe International 10km Road Race.
The state’s Deputy Governor, Phillip Shaibu, assured the event organisers of the backing of the State government when the promoter of the race,Mike Itemuagbor, and his team paid him a visit at the weekend.
“We are delighted Edo has been playing host to this historic race,the first road race in West Africa to get an International Association of Athletics Federations label status.We are committed to making the race the first IAAF gold label race in West Africa next year after scoring another first as the first IAAF silver label race to be run in Nigeria and the West Africa sub-region in 2018,” Shaibu said.
In his response,Itemuagbor said, “This year’s race will be different from the IAAF silver label race we had in Nigeria last year. Although it is still technically an IAAF silver label race,what Nigerians will witness will be a gold label event because we want to upgrade to a gold label race. We want to be the first IAAF gold label race in West Africa and the second in Africa after the marathon race in Cape Town,South Africa.”
Meanwhile, the organizers of Okpekpe 10-kilometre Road Race in Edo, said athletes from 15 countries, including the U.S. would participate in the 7th edition of the race on May 25.
The Chief Organizer, Mike Itemoagbo, made this known while briefing journalists in Benin.
He listed some of the countries where the athletes would come from as Nigeria, South Africa, China, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Kenya.
He said that the 7th edition would not allow vehicles and motor bikes on the road track “to save the athletes from air pollution”.
Head of the technical crew of the race, Yusuf Alli, said that 100 athletes would participate in the race, but did not name them.
“For you to have a good label you must have a minimum of seven gold label athletes from 10 countries but we are having from 15 countries; I think it is a very good thing.
“And, the most important thing in this year edition is that we must have a very good start and a good finishing,” he said.
In his remarks, Deputy Governor of Edo, Mr Philip Shaibu, assured that the state government was ready for competition, adding that the organisers were quite conscious of the rules and regulations of the competition.
Shaibu reiterated that vehicles and bikes would not be allowed in the race track to avoid pollution for the athletes.
Meanwhile, Sniffer Dogs, Choppers and Horses, would be deployed as part of security measures for the race.
The deployment of horses and dogs are in addition to hundreds of security personnel that would be engaged to man strategy points, before, during and after the race.
