February 13, 2018

Deborah Pam, winner of the female category of the indigenous race of the 3rd Access Bank Lagos City Marathon, on Tuesday said the injury she sustained during the race affected her timing.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that while the Ethiopian Marathoners dominated the female category of the race, Pam was able to return with the time of 2:51:27.

Pam said that she had prepared well for the long distance race but the injury she sustained during the race affected her timing which also hindered her from achieving her personal best.

“I was not expecting this result because I prepared well ahead at least to improve on my personal best which is few minutes better than what I have today.

“When I started full marathon, I ran 3:15 and in Ibadan I ran 2:30 and later 2:49 which is a slight improvement.

“For the race today, I was hoping to perform better which I did until about 21 Km when I started to feel pains in my leg, then I knew I had injury.

“The injury actually slowed down my pace and gradually some of the Ethiopians ran past me, I only struggled to beat the last tape,’’ she said.

Pam said that she would like to benefit from the Lagos State largesse, an incentive she said would help her to compete with other long distance runners.

She recalled that Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, had promised to engage the services of top class coaches to camp some long distance runners in Jos to be able to compete with other marathoners

“I will like to be part of the programme is I have the opportunity because I always desire to improve myself but lack of funds is a hindrance.

“We have other good runners in Jos who are looking for exposure and money to train them because it is not easy to be a long distance runner.

“It is not possible without good diet, so if we can get funding, we can do better than the Kenyans and Ethiopians. Those people take it as a real business.

“In years to come, with competitions like this, many will also be interested in becoming long distance runners. This event is a sign of good thing for us,’’ Pam said.

NAN reports that Kenya-born French Abraham Kiprotich won with 2:15:04, while Ethiopia’s Herpha Guta, won the women’s edition of the competition returning 2:38mins.

Over 100,000 participants raced in the 42 Km competition with about over 102 international elite and 253 Nigerian elite marathoners.