The organisers of the annual Lagos Women Run have confirmed that about 8,000 fun runners have registered to participate in the November 11 race, while 300 professionals have indicated interest in the race.
The 10km race will begins from Tafawa Balewa Square (TBS), Lagos Island, through to Nitel road, to Ahmmadu Bello way and end at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena (formerly Onikan Stadium), Lagos Island, aimed at promoting good health, empowerment and support for girl-child.
According to the convener, Lagos Women Run, Tayo Popoola, “As at the time we checked our platform, over 8,000 fun runners have registered and over 300 professional athletes have indicated while the registration portal is still open.”
Popoola revealed that this year’s event will see the main winner take home N1.5m as against N1m in the previous editions while the veteran category cash prize moved from N300,000 to N500,000. In the same vein, 20 winners from the open run and 20 winners in the veteran category will be rewarded.
“We believe this is a unique year. A year of employment and supporting women. We felt that women have done a lot for this country particularly Lagos State and we feel there should be a platform where we can recognise them,” Popoola added.
Technical director, Lagos State Athletics Association (LSAA), Enefiok Udo-Obong, described the initiative as a welcome development, saying LSAA has been moving to bring more and more young girls to compete in Lagos Women Run.
“One of our goals is to have more girl-children participate in sport. Girls have been dominating our national youths game and even youth sport festivals and even in national teams. Even footballers can attest to it that the women’s team are representing us well and this way we try to motivate more girls to participate in Lagos Women Run and this has been part of our core development over two years.”