Kenya’s Abraham Kiptum successfully retained his Access Bank Lagos City Marathon title, narrowly beating his closest challengers to be the first athlete who crossed the finish line at the Eko Atlantic.
In a race spanning through 42km, Kiptum clocked 2:15:23 to take the win, proving that his win last year was not a fluke. In fact it was a Kenya 1-2-3, as Ronny Kipkoech Kiboss came in 2nd with a time of 2:15:25, while Kiprotich Kiroi was 3rd in 2:15:30.
For his effort, Kiptum won the prize money of $50,000 with Kiboss and Kiroi getting $40,000 & $35,000 respectively.
Both Kiptum and Kiboss ran a technical race, matching each other’s pace and endurance when they steered clear of the chasing pack after the first 32km which was just after the new Lekki link bridge.
In fact it was Kiptum’s longer strides towards the home straight that helped him beat Kiboss by just 2seconds, with Kiroi arriving 7 seconds later.
Meanwhile in the women’s category, another Kenyan, Rodah Tanui took the win, being the first female athlete to get to the finish line clocking a time of 2:37.50. This is Tanui’s first appearance at the Access Bank Lagos City marathon and she told Making of Champions after her triumph: “It’s so amazing and I am so happy. When You win, it is an achievement. I thank the people of Nigeria for their support, they were on the way cheering us.”
On what she intends to do with her prize money, she added:”I’m going to invest and I’m building my rental houses, I’m going to complete them with $50,000″. Fridah Lodepa finished 2nd with a time of 2:38.21, with Alice Timbilili completing the podium placements in 3rd clocking 2:39.02.
In other categories with prize monies, Iliya Pam was the first male Nigerian athlete to cross the line, finishing 17th overall and winning N1million.
Pam decried the treatment of Nigerian marathoners:” Nigeria should organize more competitions for long distance runners. Imagine that for almost five years we have not had the National Sports Festival. The marathon is no longer included in the Nigerian Trials, so all these things are discouraging,” he added.
Fadekemi Olude was the first female athlete to cross the finish line, clocking 2:55.16 to rank 12th overall. Her compatriot Hudung Gyang Stephen was the 2nd Nigerian to reach the finish line in 2:59.08, with Elizabeth Nuhu 3rd in 3:01.53.
