Organisers of the historic Gold Label Okpekpe International 10km Road Race have congratulated Daniel Simiu Ebenyo on his successful marathon debut.
Ebenyo, the 2023 Okpekpe race champion and record holder, ran 2:06:04 to finish fifth in his first-ever race over the 42.195km distance at the Chicago Marathon on Sunday.
Zak Amodu, the Okpekpe Race Director, congratulated the 29-year-old for his successful transition to a full marathon runner.
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“Daniel has shown, once again, that he is one of the best distance runners in the world. Many athletes have either failed to make any significant mark or failed to finish on their marathon debut, but Daniel not only finished, he ran a world-class time by any standard. We are really proud of him,” said Amodu in a statement.
Ebenyo ran a course record of 28 minutes, 28 seconds to win the men’s title at the ninth Okpekpe International 10km Road Race in 2023 and later that year finished among the medallists at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, and the World Road Running Championships in Riga, Latvia.
Amodu is confident that Ebenyo will win his first marathon major very soon, following his impressive debut in Chicago.
Ebenyo is the second Okpekpe Road Race champion to successfully transition to the full marathon, following Ethiopia’s Leul Gebresilase, who won the 10km race in 2017 and placed second at the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon the following year.
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Last year, Gebresilase finished third in the marathon event at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest.
“We are always interested in the progress of athletes who have competed at our event. The Okpekpe race has launched some of them to international stardom, and we are confident many more will follow the path created by Ebenyo and Gebresilase,” added Amodu.
The Okpekpe Road Race is the first road-running event in Nigeria to have its course measured by a World Athletics-accredited course measurer. It is also the first road race in Nigeria, and indeed West Africa, to be granted Label status in 2015.
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