Lagos City Marathon: A decade of thrill, glamour for Access Bank

For organisers of the Access Bank Lagos City Marathon, it has been a decade of courage, resilience, and sheer grit.

Ten years on, Nigerians are reaping the full benefits of the Marathon, especially its contributions to the economic development of the host city, Lagos in particular, the and the nation in general.

In the same way, long distance runners from across the globe continue to smile going by the huge financial gains they make at every edition of the Access Bank Lagos City Marathon since 2016.

At inception, the goal of the partnership was to provide strategic support to the country’s sports industry and promote a healthy and active lifestyle among citizens. The campaign activities was built around the theme: ‘Running from the Old to the New’.

The 2016 Access Bank Lagos City Marathon had 50,000 registered participants, and was ranked second in Africa, after the Cape Town Marathon by the All-Athletics.com. It was also ranked 71 among over 1,000 international marathons across the globe.

One major achievement by the marathon was clinching the World Athletics Bronze Label on the heels of its second edition in 2017, becoming the third marathon in the world to accomplish such feat within that time.

The marathon got awarded the Silver Label two years later (2019), becoming the first ever marathon in the world to attain this after only four editions.

And in 2023, the Access Bank Lagos City Marathon earned the World Athletics Gold Label ahead of that year’s edition of the Race, officially becoming the first full marathon in Africa to achieve this historic feat and the 25th in the world to be awarded the coveted status.

It is worthy to note that the World Athletics Gold Label is awarded to races that satisfy the international body’s