Lagos — Former World and Olympic champion in the women's 5000m and IAAF Athlete of the year in 2007,Ethiopia's Meseret Defar and president of World Mountain Running Association (WMRA), Bruno Gozzelino arrived Nigeria Tuesday evening for this weekend's fifth Obudu international mountain race and the first African mountain running championships.

Defar, one of the world's best long distance runners in the last decade arrived the Murtala Mohammed international airport in Lagos Tuesday evening aboard Ethiopian Airways and will depart for Calabar enroute Obudu today aboard Arik Air. The 2009 IAAF World Championships 10,000m bronze medal winner is among the 76 elite athletes who will be participating in the race that will hold on Saturday at the Obudu Ranch Resort in Obudu, Cross River state.

Gozzelino arrived much later and will join over 40 elite athletes who also arrived Tuesday on the trip to Calabar this morning.

The WMRA president is in town to provide technical support for the race his predecessor; the late Danny Hughes had supervised since the inaugural edition in 2005 up till the fourth edition last year before his demise early this year. Chairman of the local organizing committee for the race, William Archibong reiterated his committee's determination to organize the best mountain race ever in the history of the event. " We are ready", begins Archibong. 'I am happy to tell you that we are going to host the biggest and the best mountain race ever this year. We already have a record number of entries and participants of non-Nigerian professional mountain runners for this edition. The best mountain runners in Africa have also confirmed for the race. We have

sorted out the accommodation challenges which have given us slight headaches in past editions and I can boldly and confidently say we are ready to host the world again", Archibong further informed.

Elenda Osima Dokubo, the acting head of the Cross River Tourism board who is also a member of the LOC added that athletes who are in town for the race will leave with the experience of having participated in one of the best destination races in the whole of Africa.

'What the LOC is offering is much more than the $50,000 top prize for both men and women which has made the race the richest and the highest paying mountain race in the world but also the warmth and peace of the Obudu Ranch Resort. They will savour the experience of the beautiful location and also enjoy the warmth and hospitality of the people of Cross River state", says Mrs. Dokubo.

'It's going to be a total experience for the athletes and visitors. I am sure most of them will feel they have experienced something closer to paradise after the race. They will see the canopy walk way, honey making factory, the diary farm, a golf course and of course the longest cable car in Africa. The cable car brings guests from the base camp or 'bottom hill' to the summit of the ranch. The venue for the race is simply exotic.

Meanwhile Athletic Federation of Nigeria (AFN) Secretary General, Maria Wophil says her federation has concluded all arrangements for the technical organization of Saturday's two-in-one race.

The AFN has been in-charge of the technical organization of the race since 2005 when the inaugural edition took place and Wophil, a former Nigeria Handball star says the federation is ready to organize its fifth mountain race in Nigeria. "Statutorily, the AFN is responsible for the technical organization of the race in Obudu and we are ready for this year's race", said the AFN secretary general fondly called Aunty Maria by athletes.