Lagos City Marathon: Elite runners arrive from Kenya, Ethiopia

The strong cast of elite runners invited for the 2021 Access Bank Lagos City Marathon is now in town for Saturday’s eagerly-anticipated race.

According to an official statement released by Olukayode Thomas, head, communication and media for the Access Bank Lagos City Marathon, over 95% of the elite runners have already arrived in Lagos while a few others are scheduled to jet in early Thursday.

Thomas confirmed that the 2019 Women champion, Meseret Dinke, and fellow Ethiopians Sechale Dalasa, Motu Megersa, and Obse Abdeta have all arrived from their respective bases.

Obse was among the top 10 finishers at the last Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon where she posted an impressive time of 2:29:30.

The 21-year-old was also present at the 2019 Toray Cup – Shanghai International Marathon where her 2:27:47)finish time was good enough to make it to the podium

Thomas also confirmed the arrival of the Kenyan quartet of Jane Seurey, Winny Jepkorir, Esther Macharia, and Salina Jebet who will all be jostling for the thousands of dollars up for grabs in the Lagos race.

Salina was the winner of the 2019 Marathon Eiffage de Dakar, Dakar, and was also part of the 2019 International Peace Marathon, Kigali and Asics Firenze Marathon, Firenze in the same year.’

Aside from eyeing the top prize in Lagos the elite women runners will also be gunning to erase Sharon Cherop’s course record of 2:37:52 set in 2020.

For the men’s category, Cosmas Kyeva, Jackson Kotut, Evans Kipkosgei Ruto, Julius Tuwei, and Emmanuel Naibei, all from Kenya are among the early arrivals in Lagos for Saturday’s World Athletics Silver Label Race.

Now in its sixth edition, the Access Bank Lagos City Marathon, the biggest one-day event in Africa usually attracts
Organisers have, however, perfected plans to have many others be part of the excitement by participating in its virtual race.

Runners can participate by signing up for the Virtual 10km on Finerge, all they have to do is download the mobile app on either Google Play or Appstore, register for the Virtual 10km.