AFN To Open Season With All-Comers Championships

The 2011 Nigerian athletics season will begin with the National All Comers Championships next month, the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) announced on Wednesday in Abuja.

The championships, which are in three editions, are the first on the list of major athletics events the federation has planned for the year.

According to AFN’s calendar of activities, the first edition of the All-Comers championships will hold from February 18 to February 19 in Ibadan, after the affiliation and registration of clubs, states and teams this month.

A copy of the calendar made available to Tidesports also shows that a 10km/5km road race is also scheduled for February, on a date and venue yet to be decided, while seven events have been lined up for March.

The second and third editions of the All-Comers Championships are to hold from March 4 to March 5 in Lagos and from March 18 to March 19 in Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State.

AFN is also planning to send a team to the first African Cross-Country Championships scheduled for March 6 in Cape Town, South Africa.

Two 5km road races are also planned for the month on dates and venues yet to be fixed, while AFN is proposing a team to the 39th IAAF World Cross-Country Championships in Punta Umbria, Spain, on March 20.

According to the calendar, March 25 and March 26 will witness the Pastor D.K. Olukoya Under-16 and Under-18 National Trials at Yaba College of Technology in Lagos.

Four activities have been planned for April, including the Chief of Naval Staff/AFN Golden League scheduled for Abuja from April 15 to April 16, and the CAA Region II Junior Championships.

The junior championships, which are continental events, are to hold from April 27 to April 30 at a venue to be decided later by the AFN.

In May, two of AFN’s four activities include two editions of the AFN Golden League, with the one named after Bishop David Oyedepo will hold from May 6 to May 7 in Kaduna.

The other one named after Pastor Enoch Adeboye will hold in Warri from May 20 to May 21, while the federation will send a team to the African Youth Championships in Gaborone, Botswana, scheduled for May 12 to May 15.

The leagues will culminate in the Final Golden League from June 3 to June 4 at a venue to be picked later, with the annual Mobil championships holding in Calabar.

The event, which has been renamed the Nigeria/Cross River/NNPC/ExxonMobil Track and Field Championships, will hold from June 23 to June 27.

Similarly, the 5th Abuja CAA Grand Prix will hold on July 2, while upcoming Nigerian athletes will take part in the National Sports Festival scheduled for Port Harcourt from June 29 to July 9.

The AFN is, however, looking into the possibility of sending some Nigerian athletes to the 7th IAAF World Youth Championships scheduled for Lille, France, from July 6 to July 10.

Preparations will thereafter commence for the 13th IAAF World Championships in Athletics scheduled for Daegu, South Korea, from August 27 to September 4.

According to the calendar, the 10th All-Africa Games will hold from Sept. 3 to Sept. 18 in Maputo, Mozambique, and the Commonwealth Youth Games from Sept. 7 to Sept. 13 at the Isle of Man, a former British colony.

Those preparations, as well as attendance of the World Mountain Running Championships and Congress in Albania from September 8 to September 12, will thus keep the AFN busy later in July and August.

The National Obudu Mountain Race is to hold in Cross River on Oct. 8, ahead of the 7th Obudu International Mountain Race and 3rd African Challenge at the same venue on November 26.

The Lagos Marathon, of which no date has been fixed, will round off the country’s athletics programme for the year in December.