The Teslim Balogun Stadium in Lagos will be a beehive of Track and Field events from April 24 to 25 as the maiden Easter Open Athletics Championship is scheduled to hold in the former Nigerian capital city.
The planned athletics event is in continuation of the efforts of the Lagos state government to promote sports at the grassroots level.
According to the Organisers, the Lagos State Athletics Association, as much as 42 schools and 20 clubs within and outside Lagos metropolis have confirmed their participation in the two-day event to be competed for in the junior and senior categories.
The Lagos State Athletics Association also stated that the championship will serves as qualifier for the forthcoming World Athletics Championship holding later this year.
The junior category is open to all secondary schools in Lagos and they are expected to jostle for honours in 4x100m, 4x200m, 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m. The top three athletes in each event will get N50, 000, N30, 000 and N20, 000 respectively.
The senior division is open to States, Clubs, Tertiary institutions, Military, Para-military organizations and foreign countries.
The events in the senior category are 4x100m, 4x200m, and 4x400m, sprint events like 100m, 200m, 400m and 800m. Also events like 1200m and 1600m will also be jostled for while corporate relay (4X100m will also be competed for by corporate bodies.
The top three athletes in the senior cadre will N120, 000, N80, 000 and N50, 000 respectively.
Meet The Authors
Mr Eludini is a Nigerian-based journalist and news researcher with a passion for athletics and football. Tunde is a staff reporter for Premium Times newspaper, and also a regular contributor to AthleticsAfrica.