Kenyan runner Ezra Kipchumba Kering claimed the $50,000 prime prize after profitable the eleventh version of the Access Bank Lagos City Marathon on Saturday.
Kering clocked 2:11:55 seconds to safe victory within the 2026 version of the Gold Label race, reinforcing the marathon’s standing as certainly one of Africa’s most profitable street occasions.
Learn Additionally: Organisers name new route for Access Bank Lagos City Marathon
Podium Battle in Males’s and Ladies’s Races
The lads’s race featured a good contest for podium positions. Uganda’s Lomoi Samuel pushed Kering deep into the ultimate stretch, ending simply 4 seconds behind in 2:11:59 seconds to say the $20,000 runner-up prize. His compatriot, Namutala Lumbasi, clocked 2:12:25 seconds to safe third place and $15,000.
Amongst Nigerian athletes, Boyi Nyango emerged as the primary native finisher within the males’s race, posting a time of two:25:32 seconds.
Within the girls’s race, Ethiopia’s Dinke Meleka took prime honours in 2:37:36 seconds, forward of Kenya’s Cheyech Daniel (2:37:43 seconds) and Ethiopia’s Zewdalem Getaw (2:38:59 seconds).
Authorities Backs Marathon’s International Ambition
Representing Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Lagos State Deputy Governor Obafemi Hamzat counseled the organisers for sustaining the marathon’s international relevance. He reaffirmed the state authorities’s dedication to the occasion, highlighting its World Athletics Gold Label standing and ambition to achieve Platinum Label recognition.
“We’re blissful to host one of many greatest marathons on the earth. The Entry Financial institution Lagos Metropolis Marathon is presently a Gold Label race, and we’ll do every little thing in our energy to attain the Platinum Label, the very best rank,” Hamzat stated.
Deborah Badung made historical past as the primary Nigerian lady to finish this 12 months’s race, ending in 2:55:46 seconds, because the marathon continues to mix elite competitors with grassroots improvement and company funding in sport.
Entry Financial institution earlier outlined the prize construction for the elite class, with $50,000 for winners in each males’s and girls’s races, whereas Nigerian elite athletes compete for prizes starting from N2 million for first place to N50,000 for tenth.
