Access Bank Lagos City Marathon gets IAAF Bronze Label

Monday was a day for celebration as the news filtered in that Access Bank Lagos City Marathon has been awarded the IAAF Bronze Label by the governing body of athletics, International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF).

Project Consultant for the marathon, Bukola Olopade, and General Manager, Yussuf Alli, were delighted by the news from IAAF road running manager Alexxio Punzi.

A statement signed by the Access Bank Lagos City Marathon Head of Communications and Media Olukayode Thomas said with this feat, Access Bank Lagos City Marathon has now joined global elite races like New York, Boston, Chicago, Tokyo, Dubai, London, Rome, Paris, Berlin, and others.

Among the thousands of races worldwide, only 88 are labelled by IAAF, and Access Bank Lagos City Marathon is one of the new additions to the elite club.

Olopade expressed profound gratitude to Governor Ambode for making the Access Bank Lagos City Marathon a reality and for his unflinching support.

“We are a global brand today because of Governor Ambode’s vision and foresight. Without him there won’t be anything called Access Bank Lagos City Marathon. This is his project and he is giving us all support we need. He is the Chairman of the Organising Committee.

It is support that ensured that we got a personality like Norris Williamson, a grade A IAAF/AIMS measurer, who measured the route of Atlanta, Sydney, Athens and Beijing Olympics Games to measure and certify our route, which ensured that we are a label race before our third edition.”

Olopade also thanked Access Bank, the race sponsor, and other sponsors and supporters like 7Up, Bet Naija, Eko Hotels, Eko Atlantic, GAC Motor, and the staff of the Marathon Office for making this achievement possible.

IAAF label races are races that are designated as leading road races around the world. The conditions for the award of IAAF label are stringent. They include, but not limited to, an international elite field, the race course closed to vehicular traffic, route measured to the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races (AIMS) standard, use of electronic timing to generate the results, a specified number of doping tests, and equal prize money for the participants amongst other standards.