Yinka Olatunbosun
Marathon-runner, Dayo Akinbode may have retired from a robust corporate career but her passion for adventure is unparalleled. The Museum Hall at Freedom Park will come alive with her fresh photography in the three-day exhibition titled, “Colours and Flavours of Lagos’’ from today till Sunday July 11.
Akinbode always thinks of herself as a girl–next-door. The graduate of Materials and Metallurgical Engineering at University of Ife, is also a chartered accountant and a Supply Chain Specialist. As a management trainee in Cadbury Nigeria Plc, she rose through the ranks to become the Planning Manager. Thereafter, she was head-hunted by Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company where she rose to become the Low Risk Contracting Team Lead.
“I had always loved to travel and stumbled on running while still working in Shell. I loved my new passion so much that I started buying off leave days in addition to the free 30 working days leave I need was entitled to annually in other to satisfy my need to travel to run marathons. I would rather earn less and be free to travel, I reasoned. Eventually, I took an early retirement when I turned 50 to pursue my passion of running to travel and traveling to run,’’ she explained.
Through the years, she had embarked on a series of adventures documented on camera. For instance, in 2014, she joined some friends to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest lone standing mountain in the world. Prior to the pandemic, she had run marathons in 60 different countries including the first marathon race in Yemen held in March 2020.
“The highlight of every race is flying the Nigerian flag as I cross the finish line. My friends call me Run4Fun but in 2018, but I decided to do more than run for fun. The Ile-Ife Heritage Marathon was birthed and I used the platform to showcase the culture and heritage of the Nigerian Yoruba tribe,’’ she revealed. She then raised funds for the Osun State Branch of the Nigerian Red Cross under the watch of Oba Adeyeye Enitan Ogunwusi.
The current exhibition ‘Colours and Flavours of Lagos’ is a collection of photographic prints drawn from sights encountered during her running and cycling the streets of Lagos. The works were all captured with a phone camera, giving insight into the elements that make Lagos a unique city. It includes special moments of sunrise, sunset and blue hour frozen in time and documented to be shared with generations yet unborn.
