athletics Nigeria : Focus on long distance runners!

Save the date. As en.africatopsports announced yesterday, the big event of this week is the Okpekpe 10-kilometre race to be held on saturday. Athletes to represent the country at this maiden race will further be trained after the race, an official of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), has said to dailytrust.com.ng.

AFN Technical Director, Navy Commodore Omatseye Nesiama, said in an interview in Lagos yesterday that the essence was to build the capacity of the long distance runners.
He explained that the decision to further polish the athletes was because Nigeria had yet to master the skills of the long distance racing.
According to him, the long distance athletes can improve with adequate training and competitions.
“Some other countries are already moving into our area of strength – the sprints. We also want to improve our skills in the long distance races and see how it goes.
“The long distance runners that will represent the country at the Okpekpe race have been in camp at Afuze Games Village. They are mainly the ones discovered at the 18th National Sports Festival held in Lagos,” the technical director said. We will continue to train them depending on how they perform at the Okpekpe race,” he said.
Nesiama noted that the athletes would participate in the Golden Leagues, to prepare them ahead of continental events like the Obudu Mountain race.
The maiden Okpekpe 10 km Race, will hold at Okpekpe, near Auchi in Edo.

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