Olayiwola Matthew
A Kenyan athlete, Edwin Koech, has been crowned winner of the men’s category of the 2025 Access Bank Lagos City Marathon.
Koech won the $50,000 first-place prize for the men’s category, which is his second after clinching victory in the 2023 edition.
It was gathered that Koech ran for a record 2 hours and 14 minutes.
About 37,000 runners competed in the 10km and 42km races of the 2025 Access Bank Lagos City Marathon.
Speaking at the event, the General Manager of the race and retired Nigerian long jumper, Yusuf Ali, noted that “the figure was derived from the number of running kits distributed out of the over 60,000 runners who registered to take part.”
The 42km race commenced at the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos, by 6:30am while the 10km marathon started at the Grace Garden Event Centre in Lekki by 9:30am with both races terminating at Eko Atlantic City.
The race which started in 2016 entered its 10th year with a World Athletics gold label and the organisers set their sights on getting the platinum label, thereby becoming the first marathon race in Africa to reach the status.
The Lagos State Government had on Friday announced a planned eight-hour road closure and traffic diversion for the motoring public along some identified routes for the race between 5am and 1pm.
(With additional report from The Punch)