In what apparently seems to be the biggest prize money in cycling events in Nigeria, the organisers of CyclingLagos have announced the star prize of N1.7 million for the winners of the competition.

The Chairman, CyclingLagos, Soji Adeleye, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the stakes were high for the much anticipated competition.

He said that the competition would not be a one off event, adding that it had been attracting sponsors who recognised the importance and value of cycling.

“The prize money tag for the winners is N1.7 million, while the 2nd position goes with N750,000 and a yet to be determined prize money for whoever comes third.

“We are getting some responses as regards sponsorships, while our doors are also open to more partnerships because we want to make it the biggest cycling event.

“We want to encourage more people to be involved in cycling because aside its competitive rewards, cycling can give balanced health benefits because it is a worthy exercise.

“This event has the blessings of the Lagos State Government, so, we are right on track as regards the logistics and supports, we want to have a competition with its right value,’’ he said.

Adeleye said that CyclingLagos would cut across all classes of people, adding that there would be a competitive aspect of it and also the symbolic races.

“We are going to involve everybody, including the government; we want to reach out to everyone that cycling is good for their health.

“Cycling has lots of benefit and for government too, they will start to consider creating bicycle paths in the designs of our roads.

“The championships will also help the cyclists to be able to have competition, they are looking forward too and an avenue to showcase their talents to the world.

“We have the celebrity ride with some important personalities, amateur competition and professionals,’’ he said.

One of the registered cyclists, Mary Oyebola, said she was happy to have a cycling event to look forward to, adding that the sport hardly got a competition.

“I am very happy that we are looking forward to a competition like this. It is a dream come true for me because we hardly get competitions.

“I have been training well for this competition which I hope will attract others,’’ she said.

A coach, Olusola Oyebola, told NAN that the CyclingLagos would give him the opportunity to assess his cyclists.

“This is a competition to look forward to because it will afford me the opportunity to assess my cyclists and to know their form.

“We have some cyclists from Lagos which I believe will do well during the tournament, the only challenge we have is that we don’t have enough training kits at our disposal,’’ he said.