Fadekemi Olude, who emerged second in the Nigerian female category at the recently concluded “2019 Access Bank Lagos City Marathon”, says she has no regrets combining marathon with race walk.
Olude, a national race-walk champion, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Lagos that participating in marathons has improved her performance tremendously in the race-walk event.
“Since I started participating in marathon, I have not regretted it because there has been tremendous improvement. I started marathon in order to achieve my goal in race-walk.
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By participating in marathons, I have gained endurance. I want to continue to be a champion in race-walk and some day a national champion in the marathon,” she said.
Reacting to her position in the 42km race, she said that she would have loved to win the first place, adding that Deborah Pam was a renowned distance runner who was strong.
“I prepared very hard for the competition but unfortunately, I finished second. The season is just starting, so, I will train harder.
Pam is very strong, she is from Jos, a place that is dominating in distance running in Nigeria.
For me, to be in the second position, I am happy but at the same time, I need to work hard to be at par with them,” she said.
NAN reports that Pam who placed sixth in the international category, was the first Nigerian female to cross the finish line with a time of 2:52:58secs.
Olude emerged in the second position in the Nigerian female category with a time of 2:58:43secs, while Elizabeth Nuhu came third position with a time of 3:01:26secs.
The first Nigerian got a sum of N3 million, second position went home with N2 million, while the third position got N1 million respectively. (NAN)
