Malik Yakubu and Azuure Elizabeth have been crowned winners of the 2017 Accra Marathon, each taking home GHC 2,000, a smartphone, Kwese decoder and souvenirs from the sponsors after finishing first in the men and women category.
The 2017 edition of the marathon which was themed ‘Accra, A Vibrant and Smart City’ held at the Independence Square in Accra on Saturday October 7th was highly competitive.
The Accra Marathon which is a city-focused marathon aimed at promoting the City of Accra through tourism begun from the Black Star Square and witnessed over 1,000 participants who covered a distance of 5km and 21km respectively.
The race, had routes which went through the streets of the John Evans Atta Mills High Street, turning onto the Kwame Nkrumah Avenue, through the Lutterodt Street, the Liberia Road and turned left onto the Independence Avenue then to the 37 Military Hospital, the Giffard Road, straight to Labadi Beach Hotel where they turned right on the La Road to come and finish at the Black Star Square.
Twelve years old Jennifer Anani proved her mettle to win the female short distance marathon elapsing 29 minutes and 30 seconds whiles David Adamu rose above his runner up Bright Gyamfi to win the male 5 kilometers race, clocking a time of 20 minutes and 5 seconds.
The 2016 winner of the Millennium marathon Malik Yakubu rewrote history by winning the special Accra marathon back to back after he triumphed over second runners up William Amponsah and the eventual runner up Kwabena Frimpong to win the Men’s 21 kilometers race. The runners up took home 22 carat gold medal from Menzgold, smartphone, Kwese decoder and an amount of 500 and 1000 cedi’s each respectively.
Azuure Elizabeth was awarded with a cash prize of 1000 cedis and souvenirs as Susu Kesetoi and Precious Nyaba came runners up in the Women’s 21 kilometers race.
The Youngest participant of the marathon went to 7 years old Marshall Brobbey whiles 58 years Kofi Edusei won the oldest participant category.
Speaking after the presentation of awards, the Mayor of the Accra, Mohammed Adjei Sowah, expressed his gratitude to the participants and reiterated his ambition to make the event the biggest in West Africa.
“It is our hope that we learn from our past to make this marathon great because we want to put it on the international map and ensure that we can compare it to the London Marathon. We are also happy to see a lot of international athletes participate in the event. The people of Accra have showed their support and we are working hard to ensure that by the end of next three years this event becomes the biggest in West Africa. “
The Accra Marathon is sponsored by GNPC, Menzgold, Coral Paints, Peugeot, Papaye, MTN, Total Ghana, Goil Ghana, UNB, Gridco, BS5, Twillium Ghana, Tang Palace Hotel, ddp, IPMC, AMS, Wigal, Kasapreko, Ghana Shippers Council and Millennium Insurance.
