Lagos Athletics Relays Championship Beginning s

The maiden Lagos Athletics Relays Championship scheduled for Teslim Balogun Stadium kicks off on Friday April 24 with over N8m at stake at the two-day tournament.

Over 50 schools in Lagos as well as states like Delta, Kwara, Ogun, Ondo including para military clubs like Nigeria Custom Service (NCS) and Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) will be part of the competition.

According to the organizers, the championship is one of the series of tournament under the Lagos International Sports Classics, which has hosted and still hosting tournaments in table tennis, badminton, taekwondo, swimming, golf among others.

In all, nine events will be jostled for in the junior and senior categories with the grand finale holding on Saturday April 25 at same venue.

For the chairman, Lagos State Athletics Association, Olatunde Makanju, the competition is aimed at igniting the interest of students in athletes, adding that the maiden edition would provide avenue for the state to be hosting the best legs across the globe.

“From our observation, it has been discovered that athletics is going down in schools and we feel staging this kind of event would help to ignite the interest of the students to embrace the sport. Aside this, we are hoping that the tournament will become a world class event with the best athletes across the world coming to Lagos to compete in the prize-money competition. For us in Lagos, we are always setting the pace and we hope that this maiden edition will be a springboard for the sport to win more disciples and have more young people competing,” Makanju said.

Over 50 secondary schools in Lagos will compete in the junior division with athletes taking part in events like 4x100metre, 4x200m, 100 as well as Swedish relay in 100, 200, 300 and 400m. for their efforts, the top three athletes in each event will go home with N50, 000, N30, 000 and N20, 000 respectively.

In the senior category, states, clubs, tertiary institutions, military, para military organizations and foreign countries will compete in 4×100, 4×200, and 4×400, as well as sprint medley like 100, 200, 400 and 800metres. N120, 000, N80, 000 and N50, 000 respectively will be won by the top three athletes in each event.

Athletes To Jostle For 8 Million Naira At Lagos Athletics Relays Championship

Over N8m will be up for grab at the maiden Lagos Athletics Relays Championship scheduled for April 24 and 25 at the Teslim Balogun Stadium.

The tournament is part of the Lagos International Sports Classics, which has hosted and still hosting tournaments in table tennis, badminton, taekwondo, swimming, golf among others.

For the Relay tournament, nine events will be competed for in the junior and senior categories with over 43 schools already confirmed for the junior division while 18 clubs have also been listed in the senior cadre.

According to the chairman, Lagos State Athletics Association, Olatunde Makanju, the tournament is meant to help popularize the sport among students as well as ignite the interest of people in athletics.

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“We want to use this championship to popularize athletics in schools because it seems the sport is going down in schools and also to assemble the best across the globe in Lagos so that through this, the young athletes can develop more interest in the sport. For us in Lagos, we are always setting the pace and we hope that this maiden edition will be a springboard for the sport to win more disciples and have more young people competing in athletics,” Makanju said.

The junior category is open to all secondary schools in Lagos as they compete in 4x100metre, 4x200m, 100 as well as Swedish relays in 100, 200, 300 and 400M. The top three athletes in each event will go home with N50,000, N30,000 and N20,000 respectively.

The senior division is open to States, clubs, tertiary institutions, military, para military organizations and foreign countries.

The events in the senior category are 4×100, 4×200, and 4×400, sprint medley like 100, 200, 400 and 800metres. The top three athletes in the senior cadre will cart home N120,000, N80,000 and N50,000 respectively.