Making of Champions to hold 2nd MoC Grand Prix in Lagos

Nigerian athletes have been presented with an opportunity to showcase their readiness for the upcoming African Games and World Championships, at the 2nd Making of Champions (MoC) Grand Prix set to hold on Saturday and Sunday, June 15th and 16th, at the Yaba College of Technology, Lagos State.

The competition is coming a year after the inaugural MoC Grand Prix and Relays was staged in Lagos to commemorate the company’s fifth year anniversary. Athletes can now register for the competition via this link until Wednesday, June 12th: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2ndMoCGrandPrix

The 2nd MoC Grand Prix is the second domestic competition organised for Nigerian Senior/Elite athletes this season, following the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) All-Comers Meet held in Ijebu Ode, Ogun State, on April 5th.

Having had no competition for two months, the Grand Prix is to provide home-based athletes with a chance to compete before the National Trials which has now been scheduled for July 22nd to 27th in Kaduna.

Once again, MoC has partnered with the AFN to ensure that the races would be electronically timed, ratified by the AFN and recognised globally by the IAAF. The event promises to be an exciting ‘Gathering of Champions’ as many athletes are expected to hit the qualifying times for the African Games and who knows, possibly the World Championships in Doha and the 2020 Olympics as well.

MoC Founder/CEO Bambo Akani says it is necessary to provide Nigerian athletes with an opportunity to run electronic times, which could in turn improve their world rankings.

He said, “We all know that competitions in Nigeria have been few and far between this season; there’s only been one senior event and the athletes need a chance to compete. We felt that it was imperative that we create that opportunity; it’s already mid-season and not much has happened. That was really the reason that we said lets have this 2nd MoC Grand Prix.”

Akani believes that Nigerian athletes can qualify for some of the upcoming international competitions from this meet:

“Well, this year is going to be really interesting. There’s the African Games and the World Championships, and I believe that some athletes will qualify, definitely for the African Games from this event and some may even qualify for the World Championships. Olympic qualification is open as well, so that will be the icing on the cake if anyone made the Olympics from this event.

“The athletes should be expecting an opportunity to compete, some of them hitting the standard and some of them getting much needed electronic times that are going to be ratified by the IAAF. As we know, there’s the new world rankings and the more you compete, the better you’re going to be ranked, so it’s really important that this competition happens”, he said.

28 Track and Field events will be featured at the meet. The Track events at the 2nd MoC Grand Prix are the men and women’s 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m, 400m Hurdles, men’s 110m Hurdles and women’s 100m Hurdles.

The Field events comprise the men and women’s Shot put, Discus, Hammer throw, Javelin throw, Long Jump, Triple Jump and High Jump.

Watch out for more information as the event approaches!