MTN CHAMPS launches first ever Continental Relays with 100 Athletes from 5 Countries!

As the race reaches its climax for countries to qualify for the 2024 World Relays set to hold in Nassau, The Bahamas, on 4^th  and 5^th May, 2024, MTN CHAMPS is inviting 5 nations to launch the inaugural Continental Relays as they fight for qualifying marks for the World Relays before the deadline of 7^th April 2024.

The 2024 World Relays will serve as the main qualifying event for the relays at the Paris 2024 Olympics, and based on World Athletics’ new qualification format for the relays, the Top 14 teams at the World Relays automatically qualify for the Olympics, leaving just two more spots for the next best teams by the qualification deadline (30^th June 2024).

The first edition of the Continental Relays, which is a new innovation to Nigeria and Africa, is set to launch at MTN CHAMPS Ibadan scheduled for 5^th to 8^th April, 2024, at the Lekan Salami Stadium in Ibadan, Oyo State. MTN CHAMPS Ibadan will continue to follow the format of CHAMPS, with athletes set to participate across four age groups, namely the Cadet (U-14) and Youth (U-17) for secondary schools only, as well as the Junior (U-20) and newly-added Senior category (no age restrictions) for Season 2.

In the Senior category, MTN CHAMPS in Ibadan will run the inaugural Continental Relays, which will involve up to 5 African countries including Team Nigeria, as a final qualifying competition for the World Relays for which the qualification window is ending on 7^th April 2024. As a result, the 6^th and 7^th of April will include the Continental Relays in the Senior category for these countries and any other Seniors teams such as States, Clubs, Universities, etc who register online!

The Continental Relays is going to be run as the first team competition for the newly added Senior category of MTN CHAMPS. Each of the five countries can register a maximum of 20 athletes to compete across the Olympic relays (men and women’s 4x100m and 4x400m, and the mixed 4x40m), and each athlete may also compete for their individual events (up to three each) as they accumulate points for their National Team to be crowned the inaugural champions of the Continental Relays.

The Finalists (Top 8) of each Event will be awarded points as follows – 1^st – 10, 2^nd – 8, 3^rd – 6, 4^th – 5, 5^th – 4, 6^th – 3, 7^th – 2, 8^th – 1, while in a proprietary innovation of the MoC scoring model designed to foster teamwork in winning the MTN CHAMPS Titles, all Relay Finalists (Top 8) will be awarded double points as follows –  1^st – 20, 2^nd – 16, 3^rd – 12, 4^th – 10, 5^th – 8, 6^th – 6, 7^th – 4, 8^th – 2, with the National Team with the most points overall to be crowned the MTN CHAMPS Continental Relays Champion!

Relay Registration: National Teams interested in entering the Relays may register by emailing [email protected] to specify which teams they would like to register (along with the names of their Relay Athletes) for the inaugural MTN CHAMPS Continental Relays. The deadline for registration for National Teams is Monday, 25^th March OR once the maximum of 100 National Teams Athletes is reached (on 5 or more National Teams, as the case may be), with the overall registration deadline for MTN CHAMPS Ibadan set for Saturday, 30^th March for the Junior (U20), and Schools’ – Youth (U17) & Cadet (U14) – Categories, all of whom must apply solely at mtnchamps.com/registration

Individual Registration: National teams registering for individual events must do so online at mtnchamps.com/registration by selecting the Senior (Teams) tab on the form, where each country can register a team of up to 20 athletes (which MUST include all their Relay Athletes in that quota) to also compete individually, and then they will be notified if their individual events will be scheduled, depending on the number of entries received.

At least 80% of the Athletes registered individually must also be part of their National Relay Teams. That is, for any Nation that enters 5 Athletes for their individual Events, at least 4 of them must be part of a Relay Team that the Nation has registered by email for the Event. Hence, if any Nation enters 10, 15 or 20 Athletes individually, they must have also entered at least 2, 3 or 4 Relay Teams respectively (with a maximum of 5 Teams for the 5 Olympic Relays).

This means that, in an exciting twist on the format, each Nation will be able to register up to 4 Athletes out of their maximum of 20 who do not need to be part of their Relay Teams, but who will contribute to their points to decide the inaugural MTN CHAMPS Continental Relay Champions! Do you have any outstanding Thrower, Jumper or Middle Distance runner who can win your Nation 20 or 30 points across 2 or 3 Throws, Jumps or Middle Distance events respectively? Will they help tip the balance for your Nation to be crowned MTN Continental Relay CHAMPS?

The Relay events for the Continental Relays will be decided on 6th and 7th April (in time for the World Relays qualification deadline on 7th April) while the Individual events will run from 6th to 8th April, with the overall Champions being decided and crowned on that final day! The same rule applies to any other Senior Teams (States, Clubs, Universities, etc) who wish to test their mettle against the competing Nations in the Continental Relays Team Competition!

Countries have already signalled their interest to be part of the inaugural Continental Relays, and the first five countries that register their teams, including Nigeria, will have their feeding and accommodation sponsored at the event in Ibadan, and their logistics covered from their arrival in Lagos, Nigeria, until their departure.

This competition will be the first event in Nigeria that will be part of the World Athletics Continental Tour and starting out as a Challenger event. As such, it will receive the technical input of the Confederation for African Athletics (CAA) in planning of the event.

This inaugural Continental Relays is expected to be the launch of an annual event that aims to become Africa’s premier relays, in the mould of the Penn Relays for the schoolkids and World Relays for the Elites, and is set to accommodate more countries across Africa in future. Given that Nigeria is by far the most successful African nation in the Olympic Relays with 8 out of the 14 Track & Field medals won by the nation, the MTN CHAMPS Continental Relays is all set to make Nigeria the Relay capital for Africa!