Rivers State governor Siminalayi Fubara has commended the organisers of the Rivers international marathon for putting together a hitch free race as part of activities to mark his one year in office.
Governor Fubara who stated this shortly after presenting the ten thousand dollars prize medal to the male and female winners expressed optimism that the race will help to develop distant runners in the state.
It is the first Rivers international marathon and also the first time that a Nigerian distant runner would win the male category of a marathon in Port Harcourt since 1999 after Gyang Boyi Nyango from plateau State , Nigeria beat athletes from other parts of Africa to clinch the ten thousand dollars prize 42 kilometre race.
A Nigerian was not fortunate in the female category as Peninah Aruse from Kenya stole the show.
Delighted governor Fubara who has never shied away from impacting lives since assuming office as governor announced ₦5million naira bonus for the men and women winners and a further one million naira for the top 20 finishers.
The athletes described the Rivers international marathon as the best in the country in terms of welfare and organisation.
In just one year of governor Fubara’s reign as governor,the state has shone brilliantly in basketball,handball,table tennis,chess and even football where Rivers United’s qualification to the quarter final of the Caf confederation cup kept Nigeria’s four slots intact.
Editor : Ena Agbanoma
