Plateau State duo Kefar Williams and Blessing Solomon made history as the first winners of the first National Cross Country Race held at the Rhino Gold Course in Jos on Saturday.
Kefar ran 31:38.30secs to win the race ahead of 2022 national 3000m steeplechase champion Stephen Joshua (31:51.69) and Emmanuel Gwang (32:01.77), who came second and third respectively.
Williams’ time is a personal best for him and a course record.
The Police Sergeant expressed his delight after the race and wants the sports ministry to give distance runners more competitions.
“I believe we can rival the East Africans if we get the same level of attention and support they get,” he said.
For the women’s race, run separately from the men in accordance with international standards, Solomon, the 2022 National Sports Festival 3000m steeplechase champion ran 38:36.12secs to emerge winner ahead of 11-time national 5000/1000m champion Deborah Pam (38:47:37secs) and Grace Danlami.
Pam, the best Nigerian runner at the Gold label Access Bank Lagos City Marathon earlier this month, was delighted to run her first cross country race in Nigeria.
“I am delighted to be part of this historic race. I had to leave Lagos last (Friday) night to be able to run today (Saturday) and happy to finish among the first three,” the 32-year-old, whose husband Emmanuel Gyang finished third in the men’s race, said.
The top three finishers in the men and women’s race went home with N300,000; N200,000 and N100,000 respectively.
Athletes who finished from fourth to 12th also got paid for their efforts.