Similoluwa, Agbede win MTN’s maiden Lagos Kiddies mini-marathon
Gbenle Similoluwa and Ibukun Agbede at the weekend won the maiden Lagos Kiddies mini-marathon put together by MTN Nigeria in conjunction with St Saviour’s School Endowment Fund.
MTN described the mini-marathon, which featured children from ages five to 15, as part of its efforts to encourage all-round wellness for Nigerian kids.
More than 22 schools with over 1000 kids across the state participated in the race covering 1.2km, 3km and 5km distances respectively. Starting at the premises of St Saviour’s School, Ikoyi, the marathoners ran through Bourdillon Road and back to the starting line between 7:00 a.m and 11:00 a.m. on Saturday.
Similoluwa won the first place in the 13 to 15 year-old male category, while Agbede won the female category. They were awarded N100, 000 each.
Other winners were Sogbola Tomi and Amara Balogun in the 9 to 12 years category, while Kechimani Iheanacho and Adefolaranmi Aliu won in the 5 to 8 years category
Speaking on the initiative, MTN’s Chief Marketing Officer, Rahul De said, “It is important to encourage children to imbibe an active lifestyle which includes physical exercise early on in life. When these habits are infused into their learning, it becomes part of them growing up thereby making them lead healthy lifestyles. As a lifestyle company, we’re in total support of such initiatives.”
Chairman, Organizing Committee of the initiative, Anahere Ezekiel also underscored the importance of the marathon.
He said: “We want to get kids exercising. We think active kids stay healthy and are smart kids so we try to encourage kids to exercise. This will happen again next year. It started as a walkathon which metamorphosed into a marathon.”
Other activities at the event include an aerobics session and a health workshop for participants.
