Chairman of Lagos State Athletics Association, Solomon Alao, believes the yearly Deji Tinubu (DT)/Lagos Club Athletics Series, which debuted this year, can be as big as Athletics’ Golden League.
The maiden edition of the four-leg tournament, which featured clubs across the country, and some schools, ended at the Yaba College of Technology (YABATECH) Sports Complex at the weekend.
The event, which also featured athletes from Ghana and Benin Republic, was so successful that LSAA is already thinking of ways of making it bigger and better.
“I’m quite elated to be honest. It’s been a long journey and we are glad that we didn’t have any negative incident, no untoward accident or injuries and they were few scares, but all the athletes did creditably well and fared well. The events were well attended and the competition has been well received.”
Although the competition is only starting, the outcome is an indication that, “it is a good idea; a good product and it’s only for the athletes and officials, it’s good for brands, clubs, and schools and anybody who is interested in developmental sports, education, discipline, focus and learning what it means to strive for a goal and so on.”
Alao is elated that LSAA got it right the first time, saying that the challenge before LSAA is how to outdo what it has achieved with the first edition.
He said: “The expectation of us now will not be a mean feat, but we are determined and we will do it. You can expect a bigger competition, bigger venue.”
We can dream, at some point, we may even be talking about putting our tracks all across the country. It’s four legs now, what stops it from becoming 10 or 15. What stops us from rivalling the Golden League, we can dream.
“We have a good product here and we got five months to prepare for next season. Trust me, it’s not just going to be about DT/ Lagos Club Athletics Series, there will be other offerings, other things churning out for our athletes and officials.”
Corroborating Alao’s optimism, Athletics Federation of Nigeria’s (AFN) Technical Director, Samuel Onikeku, commended the LSAA for putting up a good show.
“The AFN is proud to collaborate with the DT/Lagos Athletics Club Series. From the first to the final legs, it was the federation that registered it on the Athletics and this is part of the plans we have with the event for a along time.
“The AFN can’t do everything, but collaborate with states’ athletics associations to make the sport better.
“Even next year, we are planning to go zonal and have the athletes converge for the final in Benin City for the trials,” he said.
The DT/Lagos Club Athletics Series featured 27 clubs and three schools, who competed for the N10m prize money.
