Governor of Enugu state Peter Mbah has promised to upgrade the Coal city Marathon to an international tournament, to make the state a destination for sports and tourism.
He made this public at the first Coal City 21.3 kilometers half Marathon, kicked off at Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium Enugu State.
At exactly 7:30’am the Coal city marathon commenced at Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium Enugu.
The maiden edition of Coal city half Marathon witnessed impressive turnout.
Governor of Enugu state Peter Mbah kicked off the race, as he participated alongside the athletes.
The performance of the Plateau athletics were outstanding as they later displaced other participants from male to female categories.
The current Abuja 21 kilometer marathon winner Francine James repeated the magic in Enugu by finishing first and Patience Dalyop from same plateau state came top in the women category.
Governor Peter Mbah who participated from start to finish expressed hope to sustain and consolidated on the gains of the activities, promising to scale it up to an international standard.
The state Commissioner for sports and the house of assembly chairman on sports enumerate efforts invested by the state government to improve sporting activities and discover talents from the cradle.
The race that went from Ogui road through Tunnel roundabout to Bissala-WAEC route Independence layout terminated at the Stadium.
The gold label awards were given to winners in both male and female categories, with special consolation prices for other athletics, including first Enugu participant Onyia Chukwuebuka who finished 9th at the marathon.