Ukpeseraye Ese of Delta state and Ajibade Quadri of Oyo state on
Saturday emerged winners of the female and male categories of the
maiden Governor AbdulRazaq AbdulRahman National Cycling championship,
held in Ilorin, the Kwara state capital.
55 male and 18 female cyclists from 14 states of the federation
participated in the championship, which took the female riders to six
laps of 13.2 kilometers, amounting to 79.2 kilometers, and 11 laps of
13.2 kilometers for the male, amounting to 145.2 kilometers.
Ukpeseraye Ese came first in the female category, to win the N200,000
star prize, a trophy and certificate, while Odiase Glory, also of
Delta and Yekeen Tawakalitu f Oyo state came second and third, winning
N150,000 and N100,000 respectively.
Rosemary Marcus won N50,000 for coming fourth.
In the male category, Ajibade Quadi also won the start prize of
N200,000, with Kazeem Lawanson of Lagos and Favour Fashanu of Borno
state coming second and third, winning N150,000 and N100,000
respectively.
Kwara’s Ashiribibo Olalekan came fourth in the male race, to win
N50,000, and also won another N30,000 for coming first from Kwara
state.
The participating states are host Kwara, Nasarawa, Delta, Edo,
Anambra, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Oyo, Ondo, Ogun, Cross River, Lagos,
Borno and Osun.
The Minister of Sports, Hon. Sunday Dare, who was represented by the
Director, Grassroots Development in the Ministry, Dr. Demola Are
commended the state Governor, Mallam AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq and his
Deputy, Mr Kayode Alabi for supporting sports development, adding that
the investment will take the state back to its rightful place in the
comity if states in Nigeria.
The Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Sports in Kwara state, Alh.
AbdulQadri Shuaib Akanbi thanked Governor AbdulRazaq for opening a new
vista in sports development in Kwara and Nigeria, even as he commended
the participants for playing by the rules.
The competition was organized by the Nigeria Cycling Federation.
