The Enugu State Governor, Dr. Peter Mbah, has vowed to make the Coal City Half Marathon race a world-class event.
The Governor who made this known over the weekend during the 2024 edition held in Enugu promised that his administration was working towards strengthening and improving subsequent editions by making it attractive enough for international athletes to participate.
Governor Mbah, who joined in the 21.79km half marathon, which kicked off at the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium, stated that the event would serve as an opportunity to discover young talents and for all sports lovers as well as the elderly to keep fit and live a healthy lifestyle.
“We’re investing hugely in our sports sector, and we’re not only treating sports as leisure or recreation, but we’re also seeing the sports industry as key business. That’s why in addition to quickly returning the pitch, once we came in, to enable Rangers International return to the Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium, we just awarded the contract to renovate and overhaul our stadium and bring it to world-class standard.
“You also know that in that sector, we’ve just recently entered a memorandum of understanding to build a world-class entertainment and sports centre and this is all going to reinforce our position in the sports industry,” he added.
Earlier, the Commissioner for Youth and Sports, Barr Lloyd Ekweremadu, explained that part of the goals of the marathon was to continue to foster the culture of sports and fitness, which engenders healthy development.
At the end of the event, Francis James, Israel Sadjo, and Nenfort Mathias received the sum of N1,000,000, N500,000 and N300,000 for finishing first, second and third respectively.
Patience Dahyop, Agofurb Charity and Munitikat Emmanuel also received the same amount in the female category.
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