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By Anthony Nlebem.
Ahead of the maiden Lagos Athletics Club Series organised by the Lagos State Athletics Association, clubs from Togo and Benin Republic have confirmed interest in participating in the event, The PUNCH reports.
This was disclosed at a media briefing on Wednesday to herald the event’s commencement and also honour athletes that represented Lagos at the last National Sports Festival in Delta, as well as unveil the N10m prize money Athletics Club Series.
Technical Director of LASAA, Enefiok Udo-Obong, said the state finished fifth in the athletics event of the NSF with two gold and three bronze medals, with 21 athletes.
Udo-Obong disclosed that the first leg of the Athletics Club Series begins February 19 at the Yaba College of Technology, adding that LASAA had gotten World Athletics nod to recognise the records set by the athletes.
“We are excited to pioneer this kind of event and we believe it has come to stay, as this would afford athletes across and outside the country to get ranking points on the World Athletics rating as well as win cash prizes on every leg of the tournament,” Udo-Obong told The PUNCH.
“The top three relay teams will share N200,000 on each leg and we are hoping that more clubs will join the tournament as we have also fixed February 15 as the deadline for registration of teams. You can only compete as an athlete through your club and we hope that our athletes will avail themselves of this opportunity to up their game and join the Athletics Club Series,” Udo-Obong added.
According to LASAA chairman Solomon Alao, the essence of the event is to engage the athletes meaningfully.
The one-day championships will have athletes compete in 100m, 200m, 400m, 400m hurdles, 800m, 4X100m relay and long-distance races: 1500m, 3000m and 5000m.
Winners in each event will garner points, while the top 12 in each event will earn bonus points for their efforts.
