SOME participants who featured at the 4th Access Bank Lagos City Marathon rated the organisation of the 42km poor.

Some of them told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)that they were disappointed with the way things were handled after finishing their race.

Doyin James, a second time participants, who works for Coca-Cola, said that the way runners were treated was not commendable.

“I will not participate in the race again, to me, everything was a fraud. Why were they hoarding the medals after the race. They should have given us our medal as we were finishing.

“After the race, I could not get water to drink, some athletes were even treated like nobody just because they came to run,” he said.

Abayomi Adelani, who ran the 10km race said he was disappointed but it would not deter him from participating in the next edition.

“This is my fourth year of participating, for me, one year to another is always problematic. After you finish running, no proper direction to where you are supposed to go.

“I was even dragged by a security personnel because I did not know where to go to. If it were to be a civilian, I know what I would have done,” he said.

Adebisi Alimi, who ran the 42km race also decried the manner in which most runners were treated.

Alimi, who resides at Mushin also said she might not participate in the 2020 edition.

NAN reports that Gideon Goyet was the first Nigerian male to cross the finish line. He achieved the feat with a time of 2:30:20 seconds.

Deborah Pam, who placed sixth in the international category was the first Nigerian female to cross the finish line with a time of 2:52:58secs.

Fadekemi Olude placed second in the Nigerian female category with a time of 2:58:43secs, while Elizabeth Nuhu came third with a time of 3:01:26secs.

The first Nigerian will go home with a token N3 million, second place with N2 million, while the third position got N1 million. (NAN)

– Feb. 2, 2019 @ 15:52 GMT |