AFN President lauds Rite Food, others over Bigi Abeokuta Race

The President of Athletic Federation of Nigeria (AFN), Tony Okowa, on Saturday lauded the title sponsor of the Bigi Abeokuta Race, Rite Foods Ltd, and other sponsors, for backing the marathon race.
Okowa gave the commendation in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on the sidelines of the race at the Moshood Abiola Stadium, Ibara, Abeokuta.
He said that important marathons such as the Abeokuta race were needed in the country as ithey engender future stars in the long distance races.
“We are happy with what the Rite Foods Ltd and others are doing by sponsoring this type of event which is aimed at supporting the indigenous runners.
“We of course also want them to do more because this is our own thing; we are also looking forward to other corporate sponsors to key into this important event as well.
“I spoke with the Director of Sports in Ogun State on how we can preserve and nurture the talents discovered here because they are the future stars in Nigeria.
“We will also look at a way of encouraging the new discoveries; as a matter of fact, I discussed monitoring their progress,” he said.
Okowa said that Nigeria had enough runners to dislodge the East Africans from dominating the long distance races.
“We should start training our own because in the past and recently, the East African countries have been dominating the long distance races.
“We will see how we can develop our own to compete with them since we also have a place in Plateau State, where they can train better.
“We will try and monitor the discoveries here,” he said.
The Brand Manager, Rite Foods Ltd., Boluwatife Adedugbe, told NAN that the company was proud to be the title sponsor of the race after a second attempt, adding that the brand would do more for sports development.
“We are happy to have emerged the title sponsor of the Bigi Abeokuta 10Km race after a second attempt.
“We are happy for this because the race being an indigenous race portrays us as good supporters of good initiatives by the organisers.
“We are 100 per cent indigenous company and that goes with the alignments of the Abeokuta race; we want to create a top impact in sports.
“We are open to more sponsorships of other sports as well; we want our presence to be felt in sports like football, and others as well,” she said.
Speaking on the gains of the marathon, the main organiser and the Chief Executive Officer of Nilayo Sports, Bukola Olopade, said he was excited with the prospects that the marathon had brought to the long distance race.
“We are happy that we are seeing new kids on the blocks for this long distance race.
“I am happy that the new kids got instant endorsement and they will be traveling to the hub of the long distance race in Kenya which will further expose them,” he said.
NAN reports that Ismael Sadio from Calabar, Cross Rivers State returned a time of 31:03:81 to emerge winner of the race.
Plateau’s Stephen Payop emerged second with 31:47:87, while Emmanuel Gyang returned the time of 32:12:13 to take the third position.
In the female category, the first position went to Rose Akusho with a time of 36:33:30, Vera Yohanna with a time of 37:10:17 came second, while Patience Dalyop with time of 37:4:02 came third.
The trio are all from Plateau.
The Wheelchair race had Sefiu Ojeleye as champion, with Jelili Akanni and Shola Opaleke in second and third places, respectively.
The Female Wheelchair race had Olajumoke Olajide as winner, Chika Enwerem in second place and Nofisat Adefala in the third.
The prizes for the race are: 2,000 dollars for the overall winner, while the first runner-up and second runner-up will received 1,500 and 1,000 dollars respectively.
In the Special category, the overall winner will receive N500,000, while the first runner-up and second runner-up receive N300,000 and N100,000, respectively.