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Participants
at the Independence Corporate run, which held yesterday in Lagos, have
praised the decision to organise the event noting that it gave members
of the corporate world and other Lagosians an opportunity to get away
from their chaotic work schedules.

“I haven’t have
this much fun in a long time. It’s nice when you have an opportunity to
get away from the demands of work and do something completely
different. A lot of the people who took part in this race haven’t had
time to exercise in a long while,” said Esther Obieke, an employee of
Fidelity Bank one of the runners who participated in the mini-marathon.

Making it annual

For Azi Daniel, who
finished in second place – behind Femi Olusanya of the Nigeria Police –
in the individual category, he is happy to have picked up the N75, 000
prize money for the second placed finisher in the event.

“I am happy I participated in this race,” said the employee of the Nigerian army who is used to running the half-marathon.

“Races like this keep you fit and I just wish they will make it an annual event.”

The race, which
flagged off around 8:30 am at the Cricket Oval at the Tafawa Square,
had the over 1000 participants coursing through Awolowo Road in Ikoyi
from where they turned off into Akin Adesola Street on Victoria Island
for the final stretch to the finish point at the Bar Beach.

The runners most of
who arrived the venue of the takeoff as early as 7am were eager to get
started and barely had time to listen to the pep talk given by Akin
George, the head of the medical team put on standby by the organisers
to respond to any health emergency.

George, who
disclosed that all participants had undergone medical examination last
Sunday at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, said no unpleasant incident was
recorded.

“All the
participants finished the race. There were no casualties recorded even
though we had a strong team on ground to respond to any development.”

The race had in attendance top officials of Lagos State including Aderenle Adeniran Ogunsanya, who represented the governor.

The Independence Corporate Run was organised by the Lagos State
Sports Endowment Fund (LSSEF). The fund was set up in 1990 by the
administration of Raji Rasaki. It went moribund for several years until
it was resurrected by the government of Babatunde Fashola. Tunde
Bank-Anthony, Secretary of the fund said after the race that there
would be a formal lunch of the fund in November.