Cross River to maiden 14km road race on Saturday

Emotions are running high ahead of the maiden 14km marathon scheduled for March 30, with more than 250 runners from across the country and beyond having confirmed their interest in taking part in the race.

The marathon organized by the Tourism Bureau in association with the Calabar Marathon Foundation aims to provide a broad platform for budding sporting talents within and outside the state to attract global attention.

Explaining the government’s intention behind the race, Managing Director, of Cross River State Tourism Bureau, Ekpenyong Ojoi, said the race aimed to “allow the youth to showcase their natural talent and transfer attention away from negative trends.”

“You would agree with me that idleness breeds mischief, criminality, drug abuse, cultism, and other vices inimical to the well-being of our youths and the society at large.”

“The Calabar Marathon is one of the key initiatives endorsed by Governor Bassey Otu as a strategic move to get our youth off the streets,” he said.

 The 14km marathon with the theme “Say No To Drugs”, would start at 7 o’clock; it starts from Millennium Park along the entire carnival route and ends at the Marina Resort. The winner will take home N500,000 for both male and female categories, the second runner-up will take home N300,000 and the third runner-up will take home N200,000.

However, there were insinuations that the marathon would not take place as it coincided with the state’s monthly sanitation exercise, but the Governor’s Chief Press Secretary, Nsa Gill, in an official statement dated March 28, 2024, has clarified that the scheduled Cross River State maiden Marathon event will still take place as planned this Saturday, March, 30th, 2024 by 7 am.

“It will happen simultaneously with the monthly sanitation exercise which is between 6 am to 10 am as announced by the Ministry of Environment.

“Participants and organizers of the marathon will have a special Clarence that will ease their movement within the sanitation hours.

“The two events are important to the government. While the marathon is part of the measures to rejig the rich tourism calendar of the state, the sanitation exercise keeps Calabar, our State capital as the cleanest in the country,” the statement said.