Organizers gun for gold league status

Okpekpe Road Race May 4, 2019 Blog, Event, News

BENIN CITY – ORGANISERS of the annual 10-kilometer Okpekpe race yesterday said they were organizing this year’s event to promote the annual race to golden league status from the year 2020.

To achieve this, they said the year preceding when such status would be achieved is to be organized using the golden league status and that not less than 100 athletes were being expected from 15 countries including China, United States of America, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Kenya, Ghana, Eritrea, and others.

Addressing a press conference in Benin City, head of operations of the event, Zack Amodu said logistics and improved organization from the previous edition have been put in place to ensure a hitch-free exercise. On his part, head of the technical issues, Yusuf Alli said the race would live up to its bidding.

On his part, the security coordinator of the race, Austin Gbaraba said Sniffer Dogs, Choppers and Horses, would be deployed as part of security measure for the 7th edition of the annual marathon race.

He said the deployment of Horses and Dogs, is in addition to hundreds of security personnel that would be engaged to man strategy points, before, during and after the race which would take place on May 25.

“We are fully ready in the area of security preparation for the race. We are working with the Police and other security agencies to guarantee safety for everybody for the race.

“Aside the sniffer dogs and horses that will be available, choppers will be deployed for area surveillance and will take record of everything. “As for the sniffer dogs and horses, they are also for security purposes as well as crowd control,” he stated.

Similarly, the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), said they will make available two of their ambulances fitted with emergency equipment and Para-Medics.