Team MoC wins 6 Medals as curtain falls on Lagos Relays!

It was an eventful day for Team Making of Champions at the Lagos Athletics Relays after winning six medals on the final day of the competition. Team MoC won 1 GOLD, 3 Silver and 2 Bronze medals to sum up a good outing in a packed two-day relay events that was very entertaining.

Competing against established teams like the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), Customs and Police, it was a very rewarding outcome for Team MoC racing against opposition athletes already running for the National teams.

Lagos was agog for the Athletics classics, with so many athletes coming in from different parts of the country to compete at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, and there was maximum excitement guaranteed in all the events. Over 400 athletes took part, and there were pupils who thronged the stadium to cheer their colleagues in the school competitions.

Team MoC won its first medal of the day, a Bronze in the Boys 4x100m final. The quartet of James Ubong, Deji Akhigbe, Chinedu Akhigbe and Ekemini Offiong teamed up together to finish in 3rd position with a time of 45.53s behind Igbobi College (44.82s) and Methodist Boys (44.83s) who finished in 1st and 2nd positions respectively.

In the men’s 4x100m, MoC had two teams in the final, and Team A finished in 4th position with a time of 41.55s while Team B came in 6th with a time of 42.80s. Teams Police (40.52s), Customs (40.68s) and Civil Defence (41.02s) finished 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively. Meanwhile in the women’s category, team MoC finished 5th with a time of 47.91s.

Team MoC won its second medal of the day, running a spectacular race in the women’s 4x400m to win the Silver medal. Starting from Lane 2, it was a bit difficult for Chinenye Chukwu who had a lot of gap to close before handing the baton to Glory Nyenkie, by then the gap was widening and Team MoC had a mountain to climb.

Oluwatobi Ashamu closed the gap and entered into 2nd position with Bukola Abodunrin running the race of her life to secure 2nd spot in 3mins 47: 50s , behind Team Civil Defence who claimed GOLD in 3mins 39:51s while Team Defender took Bronze in 3mins 48:05s.

In the men’s 4x400m relay race, Team MoC comprising of Precious Moses, Andrew Gonap, Afeez Abdulrahman and Seun Olaniyi finished 4th with a time of 3mins 17:11s. Team Custom that had national champion, Isah Salihu running the anchor leg, won the race in 3mins 09:08s, while Team Civil Defence, with other national athletes in their ranks, Tobi Ogunmola and Noah Akwu, settled for the Silver medal with a time of 3:10:10s. Team Unilag finished 3rd with a time of 3:16: 70s.

Team MoC won its GOLD medal in the Boys 4x200m event. The quartet of Ubong, Chinedu, Segun and Saheed executed a perfect race to run the fastest time that won them the top spot. With so many teams participating in the three different finals, it was Team MoC who emerged tops with the best time of 1min: 34: 15s to win. Quatob Private School finished 2nd with 1min 36: 95s while Igbobi College came 3rd with 1min 37: 40s.

In the men’s 4x200m, MoC got another podium finish, securing the Bronze medal in 1min 27:40s, behind Customs (1min 25:78s) and Police(1min 26:24s) who came 1st and 2nd respectively. MoC’s women’s team finished 5th in the 4x200m with a time of 1min 42: 81s. The women’s Customs team replicated the performance of their male counterparts to win GOLD in 1min 38: 30s while Civil Defence won silver in 1min 38: 84s.

The sprint medley was another race that team MoC carted the two Silver medals in both categories. The female team led by Asamu, Abodurin, Nyenkie and Oluwabukola Alagbe came from a losing position to claim Silver. Asamu in particular showed her experience in the anchor leg of the 800m, closing the gap and powering past teams Unilag and Defender to secure Silver for her team in a time of 3.52: 88s.

In men’s sprint medley, Adeyemi Sikiru covered the gap from the time he got the baton from Victor Peka to hand Precious Moses a lifeline, and running neck to neck with Tobi Ogunmola of Civil Defence, he was able to help his teammate Afeez Abdulrahman not have much gap with the leaders in the race. Afeez did his best in the 800m and ended up leading his team to Silver.

Overall, it was a good outing for Team MoC coached by one of the Top Sprinter coaches, Deji Aliu at the relays in Lagos. Taking part in our very first competition and accounting for six medals, surely we are headed in the right direction.