Francis James, Esther Affigbo win maiden Ajegunle City Youth Marathon

The maiden Ajegunle City Youth Marathon came to a successful conclusion Saturday, November, 30, 2024 with Francis James and Esther Affigbo winning the men and women categories respectively.
The 10 km race which was flagged off by Oba Moruf Amodu Tijani (Amore III), Olu of Iwa and Apapa Kingdom at the Maracana Stadium terminated at the Nigerian Army Signals Barracks. Mike 2, Lagos
Immediately the race was flagged off, James kept no one in doubt about his ability to win the ultimate prize as he dictated the pace of the race from start to the finish point on a time of 32m: 0.2 seconds and was closely followed by Iliya Raymond who got to the finish line on a time of 32m: 0.4 seconds while the third position went to Emmanuel Dung Iliya who brace the tape on a time of 32m: 31 seconds.
In the female category, Esther Affigbo clocked a time of 1hr: 12:35 secs to be crowned winner while David Abiye George came second on a time of 1hr: 13: 44 seconds with Fatade Hannah coming third with a time of 1hr: 27: 52 seconds.
Speaking on his victory, Francis James who said he has competed in many marathons before now, expressed happiness that he won the race ascribing his victory to hard work, constant training and determination.
In her own remarks, Affigbo who came a distant 7th at the last Lagos women marathon, identified determination as the secret behind her victory.
She also gave kudos to the organisers of the marathon just as she declared her preparedness to defend her title in the second edition.
In his remarks, the Royal Father of the day Oba Moruf Amodu Tijani (Amore III), Olu of Iwa and Apapa Kingdom expressed happiness that the youths came out in their hundreds to be part of the race while the residents equally lined up the streets cheering the runners with a declaration that Ajegunle will continue to set the pace for others to follow.
“With the successful organization of this marathon, you can see that Ajegunle is always number one while others follow.
” You’ll also see from the successful organisation of this marathon that Ajeromi/Ifelodun is always setting the pace for others to follow.
” I must aso say that I’m happy today because we are using this marathon to bring our youths out of the street and inculcate in them the idea that there’s always something to fall to instead of resorting to drugs, crime and other Anti- social behaviours.
” I equally thank God that it started well and ended well. There was no casualty nor accident and to show you the importance I attach to the marathon and the message it is bringing to the City, I walked right from the starting point to the finish point.
” Kudos must also go to all the philanthropists and political leaders who gave their moral and financial support to the organisers and the Nigerian Army for allowing us use their barrack and I charge the rest of the country to emulate what we’ve done.
“It’s equally important to state that Ajegunle is a mini Nigeria with every tribe represented here and even those from West Coast of Africa are residing here harmoniously with each other.
” We’re going to look into having a quarterly marathon to catch them young . You’re aware that we are number one in producing football stars, basketball players and athletes and now we’re focusing on marathon to show Nigerians that we have talented youths that can do us proud in long distance races.

In their separate remarks, Vice Chairman of Ajeromi/ Ifelodun Local Government Area, Hon. Lucky Uduikhue who represented the Chairman, Hon Fatai Adekunle Ayoola, Hon Adewale Adeogun, member Governing Council of Nigerian Maritime University, Olawale Ariyo, Chairmanship aspirant for Ajeromi/ Ifelodun Local Government Area and the Sports Director General of the Local Government, McAnthony Anaelechukwu all expressed happiness with the successful organisation of the race, noting that lapses discovered in the maiden edition will be corrected in subsequent ones.
Project leader of the marathon, Isaac Moses noted the organisers are happy with the successes recorded at the marathon but was quick to add that there are a lot of areas they’ll work on to ensure that the second edition is more glamours and surpass the success recorded in this years edition.

Winners of the race got N300,000 while the first and second runners-up in both make and female categories went home with N200, 000 and N100,000 respectively.
Also Megida Foundation splashed N50,000 each to the winners, a physically challenge athlete that participated in the race and an 11 year old boy who was the youngest competitor.
There was also raffle draws where different items were won by lucky winners.