The inaugural Premium Trust Bank Abuja City International Half Marathon will hold today, with a record 57 elite runners. The 21km road race will take off at the Abuja City gate at 7;00 am and finish at the Area 10 Old Parade Ground, Garki.
The race, which is being organised by the Nilayo Sports Management Limited, will see the elite winner smile to the bank with five thousand dollars ($5,000) while the first and second runners up will smile home with three thousand dollars ($3,00) and two thousand dollars ($2,000) respectively.
According to the organisers, the first finisher among the Nigerian runners will go home with the cash prize of N1million (N1, 000, 000:00 and while the second and third finishers will earn N750, 000 and N500, 000.
Addressing a press conference in Abuja on Friday ahead of the race, the race director and former Nigerian international, Yusuf Alli, assured participants of a seamless event, saying all the routes have been measured, marked and certified in line with international best standard.
He said 57 elite runners comprising 15 foreigners and 42 Nigerian runners will race for the ultimate cast prize of $5,000 on offer.
He said three different sets of times monitoring will be used for the race.
“We are keeping every runner and we are going to have three sets of times monitoring, all the three cannot fail. In Lagos, we started with two timing but here, we are starting with three, we are a step ahead.
The routes have been measured and certified, I can assure you that the race will be seamless and all runners that finished the race must have medals, we are going to do that,” Alli said.
The managing director/CEO of Nilayo Sports Management Limited (NSML), Chief Bukola Olopade, commended the headline sponsor, Premium Trust Bank, described them as the biggest brand in Nigeria’s athletics right now.
“Premium Trust Bank is the biggest brand in Nigeria’s athletics right now and it will be unfair for us not to acknowledge that Ese Brume and Tobi Amusan are their ambassadors, they’re the sole sponsor of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria ((AFN) and now this one. So, if you look at it is a 360 approach towards athletics and I want to specifically thank the Premium Trust Bank for all they have been doing for Nigerian athletics.
“When you look down towards the headline sponsor you will understand that today is a special day. Road racing has become the fastest growing phenomenon in athletics and it has to be taken seriously as a business or lifestyle to empower even our athletes,” Olopade.
Director of sports development, Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Mr Istifanus Luka, is confident that the Premium Trust Bank Half Marathon race will open the eyes of the FCT administrators and residents of Abuja to the a lot of benefits of marathon race.
“It is now that I, Mr Istifanus, is getting to know what marathon race is all about. I want to thank Chief Olapade for bringing this Marathon to Abuja and it is going to open the eyes of many parents, FCT administrators to a lot of good things coming on our way through this marathon.”