Plateau runners sweep Adebayo’s Christmas marathon

• Cart away 1st, 2nd, 3rd prizes

By Lateef Ibrahim Abuja

Marathon runners from Plateau State have clinched the first, second and third positions in the annual Adewole Adebayo 2025 Christmas Marathon held at the week in Ondo City, Ondo State.

The competition, which combined both male and female runners from African countries like Ghana, Benin Republic and Burundi as stated across Nigeria saw Plateau male runners carting away N2 million, N1 million and N500,000 as prize money for first, second and third positions, respectively.

There was also consolation prizes of N50,000 each for the fourth to 10th positions

The winners included Giang James Boi, Francis James and Musa Bala Sati, all makes

The marathon was organised alongside Queen Lilian Adebayo Health Walk, where the top winners (10 winners) got N100, 0000 each.

Speaking about the event, the Organizing Chairman of the Marathon, Omoyele Sowore, lamented that the event did not attract the needed international athletes as the organisers envisaged.

Sowore advised that to get the needed international attention, there would be a better publicity for the event next year because the publicity this year started very late.

He noted that publicity would have brought more people to the event because the prizes were really good.

His words,”It is a standardized process and our aim is to make it an international marathon. My suggestion is that if you are startng a marathon, you start small before you graduate. We want to do half marathon next and that will cost more.

“This been recognized as a marathon and there was a certificate that was issued to that effect.

“The area where I found some deficiency today is the water points because there was no water when we got there.

“You rarely find a marathon around Nigeria where they pay N2 million for the winner. But I also encourage that it should be higher because anybody who is running for 15 kilometers should not take anything less than N5 million.

“If we invited Kenyans, they won’t collect anything less than $20,000 for the winner. So, to be able to go international, the prize has to be right and that will attract international participation and participants,” he said.

On his part, the organiser, Prince Adewole Adebayo, said the marathon was designed to empower the youth and enable them to maximize their potential.

He encouraged the participants to always engage in meaningful activities that would better their lives.