Duro Ikhazuagbe
20 November 2008
Lagos — Obudu Mountain Race:
The Local Organising Committee LOC, for the fourth Obudu International mountain race has confirmed that all the 55 elite athletes registered for the race are scheduled to arrive in Lagos next week Tuesday before jetting out to Calabar the next day en-route the Obudu Ranch Resort.
According to William Archibong, chairman of the Local Organising Committee of the race, top on the list of athletes expected are the reigning world men and women mountain running champions, Jonathan Wyatt of New Zealand and Andrea Mayr of Austria.
Interestingly, both Wyatt and Mayr are staging a return to the race after debuting in 2006 at the second edition. Wyatt was fifth in the race won by Kenya's Francis Kibbiwot while Mayr, earlier involved in a car crash on her way to the ranch was fourth in the women's race won by Ethiopia's Rehima Kedir.
Mr Archibong declared that a full scale accreditation of all participants is being undertaken to enhance security and make the event fulfil all the criteria necessary for it to be regarded as the best mountain race in the world.
"The LOC has decided to accredit everybody that is relevant to the success of the race including the athletes and the media," began the committee's spokesman, Patrick Ugbe.
"Accreditation was limited to just a few participants in the previous editions but going by the charge of His Excellency, Governor Liyel Imoke who wants this year's race to serve as the benchmark for future races, we have decided to make sure all the participants for the race are accredited to fall in line with international practice," he explained.
Ugbe is optimistic the LOC will organise a perfect event come next week when the athletes are scheduled to start arriving, hinging his optimism on the fact that the same group of people have been in-charge of the race since the inaugural edition in 2005.
"Our best weapon is experience and this has earned us commendation from His Excellency who paid an unscheduled visit to the Obudu Ranch Resort in Obudu, venue for the race a forth-night ago. The Governor was quite impressed with the enthusiasm the committee is showing towards organising the best mountain race in the world as well as the facilities for the race."
The Obudu international mountain race enjoys the full backing of the International Association of Athletics Federations, IAAF, the body responsible for regulating all athletics activities worldwide. This means that the race enjoys the status of an IAAF event, and also adhere to the strict IAAF rules.
A letter, conveying the approval was signed by Pierre Weiss, Secretary General of IAAF in 2006 and sent to LOC Chairman, William Archibong.
Last year's race, which had the sponsorship support of Coca-Cola, was dominated by the East Africans. Ethiopian Habtamu Fikadu Awash took home the $50,000 for the men with a time of 42.50-minutes, while Rita Jeptoo Sitieni of Kenya took the $50,000 for the women, with a new course record time of 51.42.
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