Onitsha Business School (OBS), organisers of the Onitsha City Marathon has assured the indebted athletes in the first edition of the race of their money before the next event.
Prof. Segun Sogbesan, Director of the school gave the assurance exclusively in an interview with BusinessDay Correspondent in Onitsha on Thursday.
“We are sourcing the money somewhere to pay them. They must be paid before we run another Onitsha City Marathon race.
“All those who participated in the last race and were not paid yet must be paid before another race,” he said.
He likened what happened to an unexpected thing when you plant on your farm and the flood came, you cannot blame anybody.
Sogbesan added that about 40 per cent of them have been paid, and with that, there was an already agreement to settle the outstanding.
He said the 2nd edition which was postponed was aimed at resolving the negative experiences in the first edition of the race.
“We are thinking that the outstanding payment to be cleared for athletes that ran in the first one. We negotiated with them and they all agreed that we should go for the second edition.
“OBS doesn’t leave any project dead, we believe in it, Onitsha City Marathon has its differences from others.
“We started with proper documentation, it is legit. It is the only marathon race east of the Niger that was approved by the World Athletics, Africa Athletics and Nigeria Athletics bodies.
“The first race mentioned by the best professionals in the world,” he said.
He said the second edition of the race was still on course, noting that the partners are waiting for clearance from the Anambra state government.
“All our local and foreign partners are asking for the endorsement and moral commitment of the Anambra state government based on the experience of the first edition.
“We decided to shift the second edition scheduled for this year and also clear the table of outstanding debt and get every stakeholder involved.
“For the second edition, we are driving it from the Diaspora, so many people have indicated interest, we are ready to go once we have that good commitment,” Sogbesan affirmed.
It would recalled that Kenya’s Bernard Sang, 39, and Esther Chesand, 25 won the male and female categories of the maiden Onitsha City Marathon in October 2019. Sang won with 1.14:44 seconds.
Emmanuel Pam and Fadekemi Olude from Plateau came top as male and female champions of the Nigerian nationality category in the 21-kilometer marathon race which started at about 6:30 a.m. Pam was the overall 10th winner.
William Amposah from Ghana finished overall fifth but was the first West African to chest the rope. Augustine Nwafor was the first Onitsha man to finish.
There was no presence of officials of the Anambra state government, especially from the State Sports Development Commission at the start point of the event and the finishing line to receive and cheer the athletes.
