Olopade dreams big as Access Bank Lagos City Marathon holds tomorrow

Past Winner of Access Bank Lagos City Marathon in male category, Ulfata Gelata.

• Ethiopia’s Hayla Worku leads world-class runners

After months of preparation, the eighth Access Bank Lagos City Marathon will hold tomorrow with Ethiopia’s Hayla Bazu Worku leading the team of foreign world-class runners to the Gold-Label race.

Worku is one of the fastest full marathon runners in the world, having participated in six world-class marathons and finishing in less than two hours nine minutes.

The 2014 Houston Marathon winner ran his fastest time of 2:05:25 when he finished in third place at the Berlin Marathon in 2010. He ran a time of 2:06:16 when he finished second at the Paris Marathon in 2009, ran 2:06:47 to place sixth at the Zurich Marathon in 2020 and ran 2:07:09 at the Dubai Standard Chartered Marathon in 2015, where he placed sixth.

In 2014, Worku ran 2:07:32 at the Houston Marathon where he emerged champion. He ran 2:08:48 at the Praha Marathon in 2017, where he finished second place.

Speaking with The Guardian yesterday, Chief Executive Officer of Nilayo Sports Management, organisers of the race, Bukola Olopade, said he is hopeful that the invited foreign runners would give good account of themselves by recording good results that will boost their aim of securing the Platinum Label status soon.

He also appealed to Lagosians to see the race as their own, adding that the Access Bank Lagos City Marathon had put Nigeria on the world map. “Considering the good weather we have at the moment, I am sure some of the foreign runners will achieve good results by finishing below two hours nine minutes. That will be a big boost to the Access Bank Lagos City Marathon, and for residents in Lagos, we will continue to appeal to them to see