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I Am Battle Ready for Access/Lagos City Marathon, Says Olamide
“It’s a shame I finished eighth last year,’’ she said. ‘’I was just recovering from injury; but this time I am injury free and psychologically I am in the right frame of mind as I won the two road races I competed in recently. The races were part of my build up for the Access Bank/Lagos City Marathon.â€
With the increase in the Nigeria prize money from N1million to N3million, and the ultimate prize of money of $50,000, Olamide definitely is looking at a big pay day.
“Winning the prize money will be a good thing, but my aim is to show the world that Nigeria is not just a sprint nation and that we have very good marathoners who can compete against the best in the world.’’
She is equally not scared of the foreign elites, saying: “I am happy running against foreign elite athletes because each time I did, I always run a new personal best. So, I am looking forward to competing against them and winning on Saturday.’’
She posited that the only advantage the foreign elites have over Nigerians was that their societies provide the enabling environment for their talents to blossom.
According to Alli, “we need about 250 technical officials to run a successful race, but we shall be training about 350 in case we have emergency need for more technical hands; then we will have a pool of trained officials who can replace them.â€
Alli also revealed that police men and other security operatives that would be working before and during the marathon will be trained.
“We are not training security officials how to do security job; rather we shall be teaching them the work ethics during a sports event. We will ensure they are familiar with accreditation and who get access to certain restricted places.’’