Duro Ikhazuagbe
2 December 2008
Lagos — Winner of the women category of the Obudu International Mountain Race, Andreas Mayr was still smirking nice and waxing sweet song over the $50,000 windfall she got for breasting the tape at the finish line ahead of the ladies field.
Reminiscing about it the morning after, she said that now she knows it was not a dream and that she had not been dreaming, she was ready to plan how to use her new wealth.
This is the biggest race of my career. $50,000 is cool money for me. I think it should be for any other runner. I am going to use this cash to build a house and give myself a treat. $50,000 is not the kind of money one picks often from races," gushed an elated Mayr shortly after crossing the winning line.
Mayr was humble enough to confess she was not expecting to be the candidate for the top position of the podium at the end of the race. She said: "I never thought like that (that I was going to win). Even after we got off, I was not thinking of winning. Also, I could see there were many quality legs in the line up. The one thing I knew from the start, however, was that I would do well, and that I would try to acquit myself well. After all, I am one of the top athletes in the sport and the current world champion. So, I could not afford to disappoint myself.
"Although I was running around the eighth position soon after we got off the starting line at the base of the mountain, I knew there was nothing wrong with that. It was the pace I wanted to do early in the contest. I was not under any pressure. For me, the heat was much anyway and I saw so many good runners in my front. So, I was not running for the money. I was just running my race, enjoying every moment. So, I have to thank God that it paid off handsomely at the end of it.
Mayr beat a whole field of quality oppositions to emerge winner of the fourth edition of the Obudu Championship. Her win could just become the last of a series as plans have already being concluded to turn the championship into an Africa Challenge.
If this is done before the next edition, it would mean in the 2009 , the competition would be at nations level with athletes competing under the flags of their various countries as a team.
Although the sponsor of the championship has insisted there would still be a prize tag attached to it if eventually it becomes a Challenge, but the emphasis would then be on countries, rather than individual, as the case is presently.
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