Lagos City Marathon Nears Platinum Label Status – Manager

The General Manager (GM) of the Lagos City Marathon, Yusuf Ali, in an interview at his Teslim Balogun Stadium office in Surulere, Lagos, said the long-distance race is close to achieving Platinum Label status.

Platinum Label is a designation given to elite road running events by the World Athletics. The Platinum Label is the highest level of certification for road races and it is awarded to events that meet stringent criteria.

The criteria include high quality organisation and management, strong fields with top international athletes, adequate prize money and athletes support. Some Platinum Label races include Boston Marathon, London Marathon, Berlin Marathon, Chicago Marathon and New York City Marathon.

Ali, an Olympic medalist, said Lagos Marathon, a gold label race, had met all the criteria for designation as a Platinum Label race and that it was expected the 42 km  race would achieve it after the 10th edition.

“I think we are close to getting the Platinum Medal category for the Gold Label Access Bank Lagos City Marathon, we are changing the status quo this year,” Ali said.

“Achieving the Platinum Medal category will be the first of such in Africa, among other countries staging marathons, because there is no country in Africa that is in Platinum Label category.

“For the 10th anniversary, we have the elite athletes that can give us the Platinum Medal and also have our cross record, which is 2:10:00. The timing by the athletes is right for us, which will put us in good standing for the Platinum Medal,” Ali said.

• Read more: Lagos City Marathon To Celebrate 10th Anniversary
• Read more: About 4,000 International Athletes To Grace Lagos City Marathon

Ali, a former Director-General (D-G) of Edo State Sports Commission (ESSC), also disclosed that some issues that arose during the last edition had been fully addressed.

“Last year, the issue of water came up which we have also addressed; we will have more additions, so once we cross those hurdles, we can get the label,” he added.

“Right now, we have a good number of elite runners participating this year, we have seven gold medal elite runners in the male category, two in Platinum, five gold label for female and one in Platinum.”

“The World Athletics (WA) has  changed the ranking modalities and it is now for three months and the runners must be among the top 300. We have crossed all those hurdles ahead of us, so this will really help us and put us in that league of the Platinum races in the world,” he said.

Alli mentioned that the organisers had added other incentives to make the 10th edition more memorable and eventful, such as the invitation of pacers.

“We  have a very big plan of having three pacers for the men category and one for the women category. The three pacers can also finish the race,” Ali said.

“We will be having a meeting with the athletes to discuss the issues about the pacers that they can also finish.One pacer will drop at 30 km, the second pacer at 35 km and the last at 40 km.”

“If the pacers have the strength, they can also finish ,which also means that a pacer can also win the race. For the elite category, we have over 100 runners as of today ,we have about 30,000 runners, we have more runners in the 10km than in the 42km,” he said.

By achieving Platinum Label status, the Lagos City Marathon would solidify its position as a world-class event, attracting top international athletes and further enhancing its global reputation.