February 22, (THEWILL) – Adegoke Adelabu, a former Green Eagles winger and sports scientist, has voiced his concerns over the growing number of marathon races in Nigeria.
While Adelabu acknowledged that marathon races can open up competition for more Nigerians to participate in athletics, he was worried about the negative effects it could have on Nigeria’s strength in the short sprints (100m, 200m, the jumps and relays). He queried: “The question we should ask those turning the country into a marathon organising nation is, whether we have the capacity to provide the necessary performance factors at our disposal to produce competent athletes?”
In the same vein, Coach Edwin Onovwotafe, the proprietor of Cable Sports Academy, insisted that it was time the government stopped the growing number of marathon races in Nigeria. Onovwotafe opined that marathon races were not Nigeria’s area of strength and race organisers were simply providing funds for foreign athletes to win and use to prepare themselves for major championships.
Onovwotafe claimed that Nigeria’s strength in short sprints was being neglected, and since the commencement of the athletics season, only Gombe State had put up a program for athletics events in the country. He noted that even if the New York Marathon has never been won by any American, the US has put in place a system that takes care of other sporting events, including sprints, while Nigeria is neglecting its core athletics strengths.
Onovwotafe concluded that it was a great disservice to the nation that the government and some corporate organisations were embracing marathon races blindly to the detriment of sprinters, jumpers, and hurdlers.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
