Plateau State Athletes Dominate Coal City Half Marathon
Plateau State athlete Francis James emerged winner of the maiden edition of the Coal City Half Marathon, finishing in a time of 1:12mins: 2 secs on Saturday to win the N1 million prize money in Enugu.
Ismael Sajo of Cross River came second in a time of 1: 13 mins: 51secs and Nenfort Mathias of Plateau came third in a time of 1: 43 mins:5secs.
Also Patience Dalyop of Plateau clocked 1: 25mins: 51sec to win the women’s category, while Agbofure Charity of Delta came second in a time of 1: 26mins. Munifikat Emmanuel of Plateau came third. The second and third place winners received the sum of N500,000 and N300,000, respectively.
Speaking, Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State said his administration was ready to improve on the successes recorded at the marathon.
“I assure you that by 2025, we will upgrade it to international standard, ” he said
Mbah said the state was ready to host the best athletes in Nigeria, adding that his administration would encourage all forms of sporting activities. He commended the management of Zenith Bank for pertnering with state in sports development.
The Zonal Head of Zenith Bank Enugu, Njideks Aroh, commended Mbah for the infrastructural development of Enugu State. She said that the bank was ready to partner with the state government on sports development.
Also speaking, the Commissioner for Youth and Sports, Lloyd Ekweremadu, thanked Zenith Bank for the partnership. She announced a N100,000 reward for each of the State athletes who participated at the event.
Ekweremadu said that the gesture is aimed encouraging more participation of indigenes of Enugu state in future competitions.
