By Francis Ajuonuma
The Organisers of the 10km Owan Marathon race has fixed January 4, 2025 for the 5th edition with athletes from across Nigeria and beyond expected to participate in the annual race.
The chief promoter of the event, Christopher Ojo who made the disclosure in a press briefing, said the race, as usual, will have the full complement of the Athletic Federation of Nigeria (AFN).
According to him, the Owan Marathon race is being organided by Owan Trust/Global Bridge Initiative in collaboration with the AFN.
Ojo noted that the essence of the race is to discover young and promising athletes and also to productively engaged youths of the area in particular.
According to him, “Just like in the previous edition of the Owan Marathon race, we aimed to also use this to discover new talents and groom them to stardom.
“It is also our own little way of assisting the government to fight insecurity and create employment opportunities.
“It will be used to fight insecurity in the senses that the youths will be productively engaged and thus keeping them busy.
“For the employment aspect of it, of course, we all know that sport is now a big time business for both the athletes and even the government.”
Speaking on sponsorship, he said the organisers of the event are wrapping up discussions with some firms .
Meanwhile, Ojo said that the organisers are hosting a unique annual marathon race with the addition of entertainment aspect to it.
“For emphasis, we are also hosting the Owan Beauty Pageant same day. You will agree with me that sport and beauty pageant are both entertainment in nature and also both aimed at productively engaging the youths.
“We are also using these events to boost the local economy; the area will see people fork various part of the country converge either as participant, observer or a tourist and so on.
“This event is not just about the people of Owan, we are prepared to host Nigeria that day,” he noted.
