Sowore to run 10km at Access Bank Lagos City Marathon
The Presidential Candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC) in the last 2023 general election and human rights activist, Omoyele Sowore has declared his readiness to participate in the 10th edition of Access Bank Lagos City Marathon coming up on Saturday, February 15th in Lagos.
Sowore made the disclosure on Friday while speaking to journalists during the world press conference for the Marathon, which was held at the Access Bank Headquarters in Lagos.
“I will be running 10km tomorrow. It’s my fourth time participating in the Marathon. I would have done more than that, but it’s due detention. ” he said.
Sowore, who has famously participated in world top marathons like New York City Marathon amongst others, revealed that his penchant for long distance race is rooted in its ability to build resilience.
He said “Marathon is all about resilience and if you can not grow physically running anymore, you can use brain to keep going and that’s what activisim is all about- We are always being punished for what’s right and sometimes that’s why you find yourself lonely in isolation and you need some kind of spirit of resilience to be able to continue”.
He recalled how he organised a mini marathon race during the yuletide in his home state of Ondo to encourage physical wellbeing and healthy lifestyle, and noted taking to Marathon is also an opportunity for him to engage in a fanfair activity away from his usual civic engagements.
Sowore who emphasized that sports is very important in fostering unity with its ability to bring people of different class and background together, lamented that the industry is grossly under harnessed in Nigeria.
“Sports is blind. It’s not only love that’s blind. Sports brings people together regardless of whether you are black or white and it’s also a multi trillion dollars industry, but unfortunately people here don’t get the message that’s why they still keep running after oil”
He added “If I were to be president of this country today I would focus on sports because it can drive alot of development”
The Access Bank Lagos City Marathon is expected to draw more than 30,000 runners both local and foreigners across its categories of 10km and full event of 42.5km when it takes centre stage on Saturday in Lagos.
