Sports
2,500 Runners Battle for $70,000, As Second Edition of ECOWAS Marathon Holds In Abuja Tomorrow
Joel Ajayi
All is set for the second edition of the ECOWAS Abuja International Marathon scheduled for Saturday, December 16, 2023. According to the event organisers, athletes from 15 members of ECOWAS will compete with elite runners from Kenya, Ethiopia, China, Korea and others for a total prize money of $70,000.
Briefing the media on Friday in Abuja, the Director, Youth and Sports Development, ECOWAS, Ambassador Francis Njoaguani, said the race is beyond just sports and its health benefits but to create around ECOWAS in Nigeria as well as promoting sports for integration in the West Africa sub-region.
“According to him, the idea was beyond the sports and health benefits of the marathon. There is also the need to create some awareness around ECOWAS in Nigeria where the ECOWAS headquarters is located. We all know that in Abuja ECOWAS has several institutions.
“The ECOWAS Commission where we are today is the main institution of the ECOWAS. In Abuja, we also have the ECOWAS Parliament as well as the ECOWAS Court of Justice and of course recently, ECOWAS Office of the Auditor General. So all four key institutions of ECOWAS are located here in Abuja which is the more reason why there is need to have that visibility for ECOWAS while promoting sports for integration. And that is all the idea behind the ECOWAS Abuja International Marathon.
“This is the second edition which means the first edition has been held successfully. It was held in December 2019 with the collaboration of the FCT Sports Department. Attempt to hold the second edition was affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. But we are back with full force with our partners, the FCT Sports Department, the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) and others.
“For this edition, we have two races; the Half Marathon and the 5km Road Race. The winners, male and female in the Half Marathon will get $10,000 each and a gold medal, first runners-up, $5,000 each and a silver medal and the second runners-up, $4,000 each and a bronze medal. The first position in the Road Race will get $750, second position$500 and third position $400. Also, the first 200 runners to reach the finish line will get bronze medals each,” Njoaguani said.
Race Director, Coach Gabriel Okon, while corroborating Njoaguani’s submission every technical aspects that has to do with the race has been properly taken care of.
“As the Ambassador has rightly said, this race was conceived about five years ago and thank God that the second edition will hold tomorrow (Saturday).
“The half marathon is 21.098km and if you look at full marathon, it is 42.195km. This is half marathon. We have some runners who are coming. The Ethiopians, the Kenyans, two males and two females. The marathon race rules will be aligned with the rules and regulations of the World Athletics (WA) and Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN).”
However, Half Marathon will start at 07:00 am in front of the ECOWAS Secretariat, the 5km Road Race will commence at Banex Plaza. The ECOWAS Abuja International Marathon has been a powerful tool of youth empowerment and engagement and it has had powerful impacts on the FCT economy especially the hospitality and allied industries while also acting as catalyst to boost tourism in the nation’s capital.
Sports
Plateau Vipers, Benue Queens Crowned Champions at HFN North Central Division One Tourney
Joel Ajayi
The President of the Handball Federation of Nigeria (HFN), Jibril Seidu, has said the federation will continue to intensify its grassroots talent development drive through zonal competitions across the country.
Seidu stated this on Saturday in Abuja at the finals of the 2026 North Central Division One Handball Championship, where Plateau Vipers defeated Suleja Shooters 29-24 to emerge champions in the men’s category.
In the women’s final, Benue Queens of Makurdi defeated City Queens of Suleja to claim the title.
The eight-day tournament featured teams from across the North Central Zone, with Plateau Vipers of Jos, Confluence Stars of Lokoja, Unity Boys of Abuja, Suleja Shooters and Nasarawa Ambassadors of Lafia competing in the men’s category.
In the women’s category, Nuela Handball Academy of Ilorin, Inikpi Babes of Idah, Benue Queens of Makurdi and City Queens of Suleja competed for honours.
At the end of the competition, four teams — two male and two female — emerged as the North Central Zone’s representatives for the national Division One league.
According to Seidu, the tournament was organised as part of the federation’s deliberate strategy to take handball development back to the regions and discover talents that might otherwise remain unnoticed.
He said the HFN board, inaugurated on October 25, 2025, resolved that grassroots development was essential to creating a sustainable pipeline of players for national and international competitions.
“All the teams you have seen here are from the North Central Zone of the country, and every state is represented with an academy or state team,” he said.
Seidu explained that the new approach marked a departure from the previous system, where talent identification was largely centred on the federation’s major league competitions.
He said taking competitions to the regions would provide young players with greater opportunities to showcase their abilities while strengthening the foundation of handball across the country.
The HFN president also linked the grassroots initiative to Nigeria’s recent achievements in international handball, stressing the need to develop younger players who can eventually replace members of the current national teams.
He noted that Nigeria had qualified for the 2027 Men’s Junior Handball World Championship in North Macedonia, describing the achievement as evidence of the potential within the country’s handball system.
“How do we replace these players with upcoming players? This is the avenue for us to get players,” he said.
Seidu added that the federation was determined to make handball more visible and accessible, describing it as one of Nigeria’s major sporting disciplines with significant potential for growth.
The North Central tournament is part of a wider zonal programme designed to decentralise handball development across Nigeria.
According to the federation, similar competitions are being organised across other zones, including the South East, North East, North West and South South, with qualifiers from each zone expected to converge at a designated venue for the next stage of the competition.
The federation also appealed for greater support from sponsors, stakeholders and state associations to sustain its grassroots development programme.
It expressed appreciation to the participating states, academies, team sponsors and other stakeholders for their support and commitment to the growth of handball in Nigeria.
The federation said the initiative would provide a platform for discovering the next generation of Nigerian handball stars while expanding the sport’s reach beyond its traditional centres.
While Speaking the elated coach of Benue Queen Godwin Tondo has promised a stronger and more tactical performance after guiding the team to victory at the 2026 North Central Division One Handball Championship in Abuja.
He attributed the success to the team’s long-term youth development programme, noting that the squad was built through a deliberate process of identifying and nurturing young talents.
According to him, the programme began with the selection of 92 girls from secondary schools, who were subsequently trained and developed over a four-year period.
He said the team’s success was a product of sustained hard work and commitment despite the challenges encountered during preparations for the tournament.
“I feel very pleased being a champion today. The road to this stage was very, very hard, but I am very happy that we have got the result from all the toughness of the game,” he said.
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