Lagos Women Run Is Becoming Bigger And Bigger – Tayo Popoola

Most people who know Mrs Tayo Popoola’s records in Nigerian sports are not surprised that his coordination and organisation of the Lagos Women Run, the biggest female sporting event in Sub-Saharan Africa, has been so excellent, that the all-women marathon race is redirecting women in sports to the next level.

Tayo Popoola is the first Nigerian female taekwondo black belt holder and president of the Lagos State chapter of the National Association of Women in Sports.

With facilitating support from the Lagos State Government through the Lagos State Sports Commission, the Lagos Women Run since its first edition has been a sporting event, women in Nigeria have been looking forward to every year.

The sixth edition of the race is holing on Saturday, 13 November, all hands have been on deck to ensure that Lagos host both the virtual and the physical races successfully.

Tuesday night, Tayo Popoola told P.M. EXPRESS in an unscheduled interview, though brief, but exclusive, that the race has been growing bigger and better since the first event.

An excerpt of the interview, facilitated by the Public Affairs Unit (PAU) of the Lagos State Sports Commission, is presented below:

What organisational plan is in place for race day on 13 November?

We will have the race as planned. Don’t forget that two races will be held simultaneously. The virtual race through our special app. This will be used for those runners who cannot be here with us physically. They can do their running anywhere in the world with this app. We will also have the physical race which has been scheduled to start by 6:30 am. This will start at the Teslim Balogun Stadium in Surulere and terminate at Mobolaji Johnson Sports Arena at Onikan, on Lagos Island. The runners are expected to run the dedicated routes from Teslim Stadium to Onikan under a very conducive and entertaining environment

How many runners are expected this year?

The physical race is being restricted to only the invited runners because we need to observe all protocols on COVID-19, and don’t forget that Lagos has been adjudged as one of the best cities in the world that have been able to curtail the spread of the pandemic despite being an epicentre. On Saturday, we won’t be having the usual crowd associated with our race in the past. But for the virtual race, we are having registration of over 15, 000 runners for that day.

Will there be runners from other parts of Africa?

Because of COVID-19, we are being careful and by this, we are limiting the number of foreigners coming in for this race. Nevertheless, we will have very few of them.

What is the unique thing about the sixth edition?

The unique thing about this year’s race is the change of route. The starting point is being changed. We are starting the race at the Teslim Balogun Stadium and finishing it at Onikan on the Island.

The prize money…

The prize monies are not changing, we will be given out as we did last year

How will you describe the rating and the acceptance of the race?

The Lagos Women Run is becoming bigger and bigger and we are happy. It is not just about racing, but the celebration of the women and the city of Lagos to show what we have to the world. This is one big platform for the women to come together to celebrate Lagos under the umbrella of the race. There is a lot of creativity coming out of this, as the women have the opportunity to socialise and network. I can tell you, more women are getting involved in this and we are happy to see it happening.