In its effort at encouraging athletes from the state, Lagos State Athletics Association, (LASAA), yesterday hosted the athletes and coaches to the recently concluded National Sports Festival (NSF), to thank them for a job well done and launch of the Lagos Club Athletics Series.

Speaking at the press conference to herald the Athletics Club Series, the Chairman of LASAA, Solomon Ajao, thanked the athletes and coaches for making the state proud at the last NSF.

"We will continue to provide an enable environment for the athletes to thrive. We are not perturbed by the cancellation of a number of athletic meets. We will ensure we keep working hard to put the athletes in good shape because the life span of an athlete is very short," Ajao noted.

The Lagos athletics boss noted that the association may not be very financially buoyant, but it will keep pushing at ensuring that athletes from the aquatic state not only win medals but fulfill their life dreams.

Ajao however charges the athletes to shun performance enhancing drugs as it would only bring them shame.

On his part, Nigeria's Olympics gold medallist, Enefiok Udo-Obong, said one of the reasons for the Club Athletics Series is for clubs and coaches to be given the deserved recognition.

"We want clubs and coaches to be well recognised as against the athletes alone," Udo-Obong reasoned.

He said the Club Athletics Series is a national competition open to all cubs in Nigeria, with over N10 million in cash prizes at the end of the series.

The competition is an avenue for athletes to have their rankings improved and it is set to change the face of athletics in Nigeria, " an optimistic Udo-Ubong said.

Several athletics clubs in the country and the Republic of Benin have expressed their desire to participate in the competition.

The first leg of the four series is scheduled to kick off on February 19, at the Yaba College of Technology sports centre.