40,000 Runners Expected at Maiden Asaba International Road Race
*Event to showcase Delta’s capital on Asagba Azinge’s 1st anniversary
Omon-Julius Onabu in Asaba
At least 40,000 athletes, made up of local and international elite male and female athletes, are expected to participate in the inaugural Asaba International Road Race scheduled for October 5, 2025.
Cash prizes as well as trophies and certificates worth millions of naira and thousands of dollars would be won by male and female athletes in 10 different categories,
The Asagba of Asaba, Obi Prof Epiphany Azinge, disclosed this at a press briefing held yesterday at the palace of the Asaba monarch in Asaba.
The decision to make entry for the road race free to all the categories of participants was based on the advice of the World Athletics, the legal luminary-turned-monarch revealed.
The road race would serve not only as one of the activities lined up for the celebration of the first anniversary of the coronation of the scholarly Asaba monarch in 2024, but also to showcase to the global community Asaba culture and traditions as
The initiator of the road race said that the segmentation of the race into categories was deliberately as the crown was intent on rebranding Asaba, to bring to fore why Asaba has been growing exponentially as host of the state’s seat of Government.
“The Asaba International Road Race was also aimed at promoting tourism and improving the economy of Asaba Kingdom through the influx of thousands of participants as well as sports scouts and investors pouring into Delta capital city”, Obi Prof Asinge further said.
While the his royal majesty was driving the inaugural sporting event, he assured that the door was open for partcipation by the Delta State Government, corporate organisations and individual sponsorship.
The Chairman of the Asaba Sports Promotion Committee, Wing Commander Peter Iweze (retired) noted that the event would also complement government and private efforts at developing grassroots sports in the country, adding that he was a beneficiary of grassroots sports in the then Mid-West as far back 1964 when he emerged the tennis champion in the state.
