Heritage Bank promotes innovation with road race

Heritage Bank Limited says its sponsorship of the third edition of the just concluded 10-kilometre Okpekpe Road Race in Etsako Local Government Area (LGA) of Edo State as the official banker, is a further proof that the bank is poised to promote its legacy of innovation through corporate social responsibility (CSR) programmes.

Speaking at the race, which also featured the Edo State Governor Adams Oshiomhole among other dignitaries, Ifie Sekibo, group managing director/CEO, said he was happy that Heritage Bank was playing a major role in the evolving sporting brand called Okpekpe Road Race, which attracted elite international athletes to Nigeria.

This year’s edition featured 42 foreign marathoners who joined thousands of other Nigerian runners to compete for the coveted prizes. The annual international event has in its short existence of three years attained an International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) certification as a bronze label event on its calendar, making it the only IAAF race of such in Africa.

Both female and male winners in the race went home with juicy monetary rewards in the event, which incidentally also attracts the highest total prize money for a 10-kilometre race in the world. For both the female and male categories, the first, second and third prize winners received $25,000, $15,000 and $10,000, respectively. Aside from these, there were many other prizes won by the first eight place finishers from Edo State.

At the end of the race, Kenya’s Tanui Aifele won the women category in 33.34 minutes, with her compatriots, Rionoripo Purity and Mary Wacere taking the second and third positions, respectively. In the male category, Alex Korio also from Kenya came first winning in 29.20 minutes. He was followed by Leish Gabrsellasie of Ethiopia, while Amos Mutei of Kenya came third.