The Okpekpe International Road Race is expected to feature more foreign runners than the first Lagos City Marathon. PHOTO: FEMI ADEBESIN-KUTI.
Organisers of the annual Okpekpe Road Race have disclosed that eight countries have indicated interest in participating in next month’s fourth edition of the 10km event billed for Okpekpe, Auchi, Edo State.
Spokesman for the race, Dare Esan named the countries as Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Israel, Uganda, Morocco, Bahrain and Nigeria.
“Our international elite athletes manager, Walter Abmayr, has confirmed the participation of athletes from seven foreign countries for the May 7, 2016
race.
“This is in fulfillment of the IAAF conditions for a label race. The rules state that all label races, from gold to bronze, must have a certain number of international elite field spread across four or five countries depending on the class of the label,” Esan explained, adding that the desire of the Okpekpe Race organisers is to move to the silver label rating by next year.
“Bronze Label races must have an international elite field with a minimum of five men and five women participating in the competition and a minimum of four different nationalities must be represented.
“For gold and silver labelled races, the international elite field is a minimum of five men and five women from at least five different nationalities,” he said.
- Guardian