69 foreign athletes for Obudu race
The
local organising committee for the annual Obudu International Mountain
Race has confirmed 69 foreign athletes and 122 local athletes for the
6th edition of the race which holds later this month at the Obudu Ranch
Resort in Obudu, Cross River state.
Top on the list of
athletes confirmed for the November 27 race are the women’s defending
champion, Mamitu Daska from Ethiopia; reigning World Mountain running
champion, Andrea Mayr of Austria who won the women’s title in 2008; and
another former champion, Rehima Kedir of Ethiopia.
Also confirmed for the race is the reigning European mountain running champion, Ahmet Arslan of Turkey.
William Archibong,
chairman of the LOC for the race revealed at the weekend in Calabar
that registration for the event has also been closed except for African
countries wishing to participate in the second African Nations Mountain
Running championship, which will take place alongside the Obudu
international mountain race on November 27.
Pruning to get the best
“Registration for
the 6th Obudu international mountain race has closed. We have been able
to register 122 local athletes and 69 foreign athletes out of the over
1,500 entries we received,” said Archibong.
“It was not easy
to prune the number down to 69 for the foreign athletes but we had to
do it because we wanted a number we can conveniently cope with bearing
in mind that registration for the African Nations mountain running
championships is still on with the Athletic Federation of Nigeria,” he
said adding that the LOC registered the best mountain runners in the
world for the race.
“The cast we will
have in Obudu come November 27 is the best you can find in any mountain
race anywhere in the world. This is not just the highest paying
mountain race in the world, it is also one where the quality of
participants is unrivalled.”
The race
The Obudu Mountain
Race covers a distance of 11 kilometres uphill, to an altitude of 1,575
metres above sea level. The Race is the highest paying Mountain Race in
the world, with star prize of $50,000 for both men and women.
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