#Flaws Of Access Bank Lagos City Marathon

Just as myself and my colleague, who covered the February 6 Access Bank Lagos City Marathon were thinking how we would trek out of the Eko Atlantic City, the finish point for the race, and eventually

find ourselves to our different homes- came some aggrieved participants of the events, who scored the organisation of the event very low.

At about 1:30pm that day, as we were dragging ourselves to the gate, slowly  but surely as our strengths could carry us, we met participants on the way to the finish line, but to their disappointment, there was no one to receive them, and give them refreshments talk-less of medals and certificates of participation.

Clearly at that point, the dignitaries, and even the organisers had left the venue, as the volunteers for the events feasted on the rest of the refreshments, which were meant to be shared on the way, as well as the finish point to the determined athletes who completed the race regardless.

But, some volunteers and security personnel, (bouncers with thick arms and heavy chest) were spotted packing the energy drinks provided by one of the sponsors and water in packs to their various homes, denying all other athletes who came a little later after the presentation of gifts to the

winners, (afterall they say where you work you is where you chop, and that's why it is called workshop.)

As we were trying to gather facts from those who wanted to talk to us and validate them with pictures, some of those physically built men came to harass my friend and I for taking their pictures as they were carting those drinks away, as some who were not satisfied with what they saw almost fought those scavengers for denying other participants refreshment on reaching the finish line.

When we spoke to some of the aggrieved participants/athletes who pleaded anonymous, they said that they were disappointed no one was there to receive them, and at least hand them a certificate of participation, even if they weren't going to get medals.

They added that since the event was registered for, they should have catered for the number of participants on their database, and at this point I must confess, athletes were still trooping in numbers, determined to finish the race no matter how long it took them to get to the finish line.

One major accusation that we couldn't substantiate was the fact that some athletes/participants joined the race at some point somewhere around Ikoyi to join the race after being aided to that point, which no one was there to monitor them.

Another athlete/participant, Charles Kelechi with bib number 15364 told tomiwababalola.com that he had a horrible experience during the race and scored the organisation below average, which indeed isn't encouraging as they, the organisation for the next edition has already been fixed for the 11th of February, 2017.

 "At first I felt encouraged to come out to race but from the very first water point I started noticing some irregularities, that was between palm groove and Onipanu, there was no water there when I got to that point, going down to Anthony, there was no water and the most annoying was that there was no water on the 3rd mainland bridge, not even medical attention was given in these places I've mentioned."

"We started seeing water from the Lekki Toll Plaza at about after 10 in the morning, and to me, this is highly discouraging. The most annoying part of this is that I hard a muscle pull on the 3rd mainland bridge and I called out for help but no one was there to give a helping hand, I even saw an ambulance which just passed me by without stopping to check what my problem was, not until some samaritan came down from her car to help me. So for me if I will score the organisation and all on a scale of 1-10, they will score just 4 and I'm being magnanimous with it."

Just maybe they had envisaged such happening, so they drove journalists, who could have reported the bit by bit account of how each athlete fared during the race to the finish line, expecting the athletes to arrive.

 Another major issue was that of the security personnel, telling the media what to do and where they can stand, but unknown to the organisers and their security personnel, that the event was an all round media event, if it wasn't properly covered, the media would be tagged incompetent, whereas, they would have forgotten they restricted the media personnel from doing there jobs.

I recall this issue was mentioned by a journalist in one of the press conferences at the media centre in Alausa, where the commissioner for information, Steve Ayorinde addressed the media, assuring them that the policemen will not hinder them from doing their jobs, unfortunately, he wasn't there to see the well trained security agents discharge their duties at the detriments of others, media to be precise.

To the organisers, events like this are media events, and as such, they are provided with stands away from the crowd and most especially the security, so the event could be properly reported without any security disturbance.

The Lagos City Marathon was an international event, but the mattresses they used for injured athletes was nothing to comment about, those mattresses didn't fit such event with international standard.

Finally, we congratulate the Lagos state government for making history with the successful organisation of this year's edition of the race, and we'll also be hoping that the organisers will accept these criticisms and not see it as an attack on their efforts; hoping that these flaws will not re-occur in the next edition, tentatively scheduled for 11th February, 2017.

@TomiwaBabalola