Though it was a clean sweep for the Kenyans, Olusanya became the “First Ijebu Man” to complete the race. While Abigael became “a star” for completing the 21-kilometer race which ended at the Dipo Dina Stadium in the ancient city.
Apart from the coach popularly known as Buka T in Ijebu, nobody, including Abigael’s obliged her participation, but she made it to the end.
In response to her courageous act, Mr. Seleem Adegunwa, the Managing Director of Rite Foods Limited, makers of Bigi Table Water, the official water for the race, rewarded Abigael with N250, 000, adding that they are looking forward to making the competition better next year.
Adegunwa affirmed that it was a wonderful beginning, seeing a girl of such age competing with international stars, and also encouraged her to sustain the stride.
He pointed out that Rite Foods is proud to identify with worthy initiatives that add value to lives, as demonstrated in the just concluded Bigi soft Drinks’ sponsored Nigerian Idol music reality show for budding artists.
The Rite Foods boss commended the athletes who participated in the race and encouraged them to do same with such high spirit next year.
“As the son of the soil, I will continue to promote activities that will bring honour to our people by bringing event of this nature home,”
“By our composition in Nigeria, we are good at sports, we just need to harness it so we can move to greater heights. I was not surprised today to see a 55-year-old and 11-year-old finishing the race, we were naturally gifted and we need to improve on our talents.”
“We intends to do more in sports with Abeokuta Marathon also coming up later in the year and we are looking forward to activities like that to develop existing talent to make the nation proud,” Adegunwa said.
