With the Gold-Label Access Bank Lagos City Marathon coming up in just over a week, the organisers of the event commenced the training of indigenes that have been chosen to serve as volunteers, with the aim of ensuring a productive and successful race.
The head of volunteer services for the marathon and also the Chief Operating Officer of Nilayo Sports Management Limited, the organisers of the race, Mr. Ebidowe Oweife, revealed that the training began today.
Oweife explained that although a lot of them [volunteers] are professionals in their respective fields, there is a need for retraining if they are to achieve the highest standards of the “Gold-Label” tag during the event.
“As it is, it’s not going to be business as usual and there is the need to train the volunteers to conform with activities of the Gold-Label status of the Access Bank Lagos City Marathon,” he said.
“We have done the same thing for seven years running, but this time around, the volunteers must up the values of their services since everything we are going to do this time around must strictly be in accordance with the international standard prerequisites of Gold-Label status. And to do these things, the Volunteer Services must be seen rendering services in conformity with the dictates of the World Athletics Gold-Label races. We cannot afford to make any mistakes.”
He further communicated that the General Manager and Technical Director of the Access Bank Lagos City Marathon, Mr. Yusuf Alli, oversaw and organised the training that took place at the main bowl gallery of the Teslim Balogun Stadium at 10am.
“The training is compulsory for all those that have been confirmed to serve as volunteers in the 8th Gold-Label Access Bank Lagos City Marathon,” the head of volunteer services for the marathon added.
Also, the exhibition for the Gold-Label Access Bank Lagos City Marathon that began on January 23, is still on at the volleyball courts of the Teslim Balogun Stadium and will run through Wednesday, February 2.
The Access Bank Lagos City Marathon attained its “Gold-Label” status from the International Amateur Athletic Federation last November, making history as the first full marathon in Africa to reach such a feat and the 25th in the world.
Over 60,000 athletes, including 76 first-class foreign athletes, are expected to compete in the 42-kilometer and the newly-introduced 10km events set for Saturday, February 4.
The organisers also announced that the start line for the full marathon race will be the National Stadium, Surulere, and the start time is slated for 6:30am, 30 minutes later than the usual time of 6am due to darkness issues encountered in previous editions.
