February 19, (THEWILL) – Kefar Williams and Blessing Solomon of Plateau State made history as they both became the first winners of the National Cross Country race.
The event took place on Saturday, at the Rhino Gold Course in Jos. Williams ran an impressive time of 31:38.30, setting a new personal best for himself and a course record. He finished ahead of 2022 National 3000m steeplechase champions, Stephen Joshua, and Emmanuel Gwang, who came second and third, respectively.
In the women’s race, which was run separately from the men’s race, Solomon emerged victorious with a time of 38:36.12. She was followed by Deborah Pam, an 11-time national 5000/1000m champion, and Grace Danlami. Pam was delighted to run her first Cross Country race in Nigeria, having had to leave Lagos the night before to participate.
The top three finishers in both the men’s and women’s races were rewarded for their efforts, with N300,000, N200,000, and N100,000 going to the first, second, and third place finishers respectively. The event was flagged off by the Zonal Coordinator for the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development, Mrs. Deborah Pitman, who represented the Youth and Sports Development Minister, Chief Sunday Dare.
The winners expressed their desire for more competitions for distance runners, hoping to rival the East Africans with the same level of attention and support they receive.
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.
