Edo restates commitment to Okpekpe

The Edo State Government has restated its support for the Okpekpe International 10km Road Race.

The state’s Deputy Governor, Phillip Shaibu, assured the event organisers of the backing of the State government when the promoter of the race,Mike Itemuagbor, and his team paid him a visit at the weekend.

“We are delighted Edo has been playing host to this historic race,the first road race in West Africa to get an International Association of Athletics Federations label status.We are committed to making the race the first IAAF gold label race in West Africa next year after scoring another first as the first IAAF silver label race to be run in Nigeria and the West Africa sub-region in 2018,” Shaibu said.

In his response,Itemuagbor said, “This year’s race will be different from the IAAF silver label race we had in Nigeria last year. Although it is still technically an IAAF silver label race,what Nigerians will witness will be a gold label event because we want to upgrade to a gold label race. We want to be the first IAAF gold label race in West Africa and the second in Africa after the marathon race in Cape Town,South Africa.”