As many as 100 Nigerian professional athletes have registered to participate in the 9th Obudu International Mountain Race as well as the African Nations Mountain Running Championships for both men and women which will hold at the Obudu Ranch Resort in Cross River State on November 23.Chairman of the Local Organising Committee of the events, William Archibong, said no fewer than 86 children within the towns bordering the Obudu Ranch resort have also been registered for the children’s race which will also hold on the same date.
“We have closed registration of athletes for this year’s race. After thorough scrutiny of their applications, we registered about 100 applicants from Nigeria out of the thousands that applied to participate,” Archibong said.
“The registration was done online via www.obudumountainrace.com. We used the same method for both the local and international athletes.”
He added, “We used the same method last year and it was hugely successful. It eliminated unnecessary queues for accreditation and made identification easy.
“The governor is interested in the children’s race because he wants us to expose them early so that they can grow quickly to become champions and role models.”
The Obudu International Mountain Race is organised by the Cross River State Government in conjunction with the Athletic Federation of Nigeria.
The total prize money for this year’s edition is estimated at $278,000. The winners in each category will go home with $50,000 each, while $20,000 and $9,000 respectively will go to the second and third placed finishers.
