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Kogi-born marathon runner Abdulrahaman Abdulmalik has set a personal target of earning a bronze-winning international marathon debut at the 3rd edition of Okpekpe 10km road race which holds on May 16.
Abdulmalik in a chat with newsmen in Lokoja, that he is fully ready for Okpekpe having trained hard for the race for couple of weeks.
“I’m fully prepared and hoping for God to do the best. I’ve trained alot for weeks now. It is just left for me to face the challenges ahead of me at Okpekpe. I trust God will lead me through the race and help me to come out on top,” Abdulmalik said.
“My target is to finish within the top three places. I know it will not be easy bearing in mind the foreigners that will be participating. But i’m ready to take the challenge to them and show the stuff i’m made of,” he added.
On how he knew about the race, he revealed that it was Mr Samuel Ahmadu, an official of Kogi chapter of YSFON who he met through his friend that registered and sponsor him.
On how he started in marathon, he said, “Okpekpe will be my first competitive national and international race. I started racing since the age of 8. The only competition i’ve participated in was the secondary schools during my days in schools.
He added, “Even during his days at the tertiary institution, he had no opportunity nor sponsor to attend marathon competition. But I continued to train on my own, looking forward to any competition that comes my way to make myself known to the World.
While promising to make the state proud, he equally appealed to the Governor Idris Wada led Kogi state government to encourage budding talented marathon runners in the state.
“I hope to make a case for other upcoming talents in the state with my performance at Okpekpe. We have abundant runners but no encourage and sponsorship for competitions.
“I’m not the only one who is a marathon runner in the state. I will use this medium to appeal to the Kogi state government to help talents like us develop our potentials,” he concluded.
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