Osheku tasks AFN on Obudu race

Athletics coach, Tony Osheku, has tasked the Athletic Federation of Nigeria and the National Sports Commission to build on the huge popularity the annual Obudu International Mountain Race now enjoys to start a culture of long distance and mountain running in Nigeria.Osheku is impressed with the technical organisation of the event and called on the AFN to encourage athletes who have decided to take up distance running through adequate training and exposure to international competitions.Im happy that we now have an opportunity to develop distance running culture in Nigeria through the Obudu mountain race. The MTN and Glo Half Marathons helped this cause a little but with its irregular occurrence, it was difficult to develop the culture, Osheku said.Osheku said the country had what it took to be as successful as the East African countries in long distance races adding that all hands must be on deck towards making this a reality.He said, What the Obudu mountain race has done is to remind Nigerians that we have the talents to compete and the environment to train and become forces to reckon with in the world. It has re-awakened the interest of the athletes who have seized the opportunity to close the gap between them and the East Africans.What we need to do now is to develop the environment to train these athletes. The East Africans have taken advantage of the high altitude in that part of Africa to train these runners. We also have the same kind of environment in some states in the North.
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