By Israel Ajise (AJ7)
On Saturday, April 29, the University of Ibadan Student’s Union Week began with the Vice Chancellor’s Marathon Race.
The Marathon, which was competed by a large number of UI athletes; both amateur and professional, was spilt into male and female categories. The male and female races occurred at different routes in the University campus, with both races starting at the UI First Gate and ending at the SUB Car Park.
Representing the Vice Chancellor, the Dean of Students, Professor .A. Abiona in his address commended the executives of the Student’s Union for coming up with the initaive. Prof. Abiona further talked about the importance of taking care of one’s health, as he signed out with the phrase; “Health is Wealth”.
The marathon which was built up with great anticipation ended with some controversies. In the male event, Frederick Oluwaseyi Fisher, a student of the department of Computer Science, who was believed by many to have finished the race in first position, with just a few seconds ahead of Sociology’s Okala Fisher was however ajudged by the marathon’s organisers not to have successful passed every of the thirteen hidden checkpoints fixed along the course of the race.
The decision generated controversy as even the participating athletes believed that both Prayer and Fisher ran the race from start to finish with the two being close to each other. How then could Prayer have successfully passed every thirteen checkpoints, while Fisher passed only twelve?
Eventually, the organisers announced that they they would check their record books to verify the results, but in the meantime, declared Fisher and Prayer as the joint-winners of the male category. While Opara Obaloluwa of Political Science finished in third place.
In the female category, there were more issues surrounding the event. The female athletes complained to the organisers about not clearly mapping the marathon’s route and for failing to fix enough checkpoints in the course. It was well insinuated that while some athletes innocently missed the right way during the race, others deliberately took shortcuts. Nonetheless, Nwakwo Blessing was announced the winner of the female race.
In an interview with press men, Blessing gave her reaction concerning her victory.
“I am so grateful. I didn’t even know I could win it, I just gave it a trial. I was encouraged to do it and fortunately, I won it”, she said.
In her comments to the organisers, Blessing mentioned that “The organisers did well but they can do better. I was directed to the wrong place. They did not coordinate it (the race) well”. She further noted that in the next edition, the checkpoints should be clearly marked out.
In the same vein, several athletes complained about the organisers mixing up the positions of the runners, adding that the time in which each runner finished the race was not known.
Furthermore, gold medals were awarded to the top twelve runners of the male category and to the top six runners of the female category. A certificate of participation was also given to everyone that took part in the marathon race.
Chairman of the Marathon Race Organising Committee, Adeyemo Habeeb a.k.a Braun Jr, in a statement that failed to address any of the concerns raised, thanked everyone involved in the event; including the athletes, UISU Executives and the Students’ Union Transport and Security Committee.
