The organisers of the Lagos Media Marathon on Thursday provided details of plans for the event.
At a press conference held at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Surulere, Lagos, the modalities and motivation behind the 10km Road Race were revealed to journalists.
Tony Ubani, the Chairman of the Lagos Media Marathon committee, said it was necessary for journalists and indeed the public to give a closer look to their health and fitness.
Mr Ubani noted that the planned marathon race is just one of the several programmes being put together to help media practitioners stay healthy.
“We are opening the event to all our members… we want to try as much as possible to show the world the wonders that Lagos State has been doing.
“Our aim is to prolong the life of our journalists. Lagos is the Mecca of journalism in Nigeria and we want to take advantage of that,” the journalist said.
SETTING THE PACE
On his part, Qasim Akinreti, Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Lagos noted that a media marathon is quite novel. He expressed delight that Lagos is blazing the trail yet again.
“This is first of its kind in the whole world because we have never heard of it before and that’s why it is extremely unique and with the support of the state government, we believe we are going to get the best.
“I am looking forward to the success of the media race. We want to add our own little contribution to the development of tourism, arts and culture in Lagos State.
“For Lagos journalists, we want to add value to marathon in Lagos and Nigeria,” the Lagos NUJ chairman stated.
In his own remark, Kweku Tandor, Chairman Lagos State Sports Commission, assured that the Lagos Media Marathon will be well supported by the state as it falls into the action plan of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode.
Mr Tandor noted that marathon is a culture and not just an event. He said culture is already finding its roots in Lagos.
He said: “We are ready to be part of as many marathon events that come up, we have the Lagos City Marathon, Lagos Women Marathon and now the Lagos Media Marathon. In the next one year, we are going to be having divisional marathon races, Badagry Marathon, Epe Marathon, Ikeja Marathon, Ikorodu marathon and so on. As time goes on, we will begin to have sectorial marathon, just like we are having the media marathon, we can have the medical personnel marathon, the banker’s marathon and so on.”
Standard Race
Yusuf Alli, the General Manager for the Access Bank Lagos City Marathon who will also oversee the maiden Lagos media marathon, assured that the planned 10km race will follow the world’s best practices.
“Every route must be measured and certified. It has been measured and will be certified before the date. We are going to have water stations and every other thing like medical that applied to all marathon races. Because the media men are not topmost athletes, we are going to have more water stations along the road,” Mr Alli explained
Damilola Pedro, a representative of Nilayo Sports Management Company as well as Brand and Communication Manager for the Access Bank Lagos City Marathon hailed the Lagos Media Marathon as a step in the right direction.
“We are very excited when we receive the call on the media marathon. It’s a thing of joy to see media people come together to do something for themselves through this. It is something that will bring everyone together and drive unity. We will do everything within our power at Nilayo Sports Management to support this initiative,” she said.
Debo Oshundun, the Chairman of the Lagos State branch of the Sports Writers Association of Nigerian (SWAN) enjoined all journalists to do all within their reach to support this innovation.
The first edition of the Lagos Media Marathon has tentatively been fixed for December 1, 2018.