Unknown Ismael Arthur and popular young long distance runner Elizabeth Azure from the Upper East Region run faster than anybody to win 21 km races in the male and female categories of the well participated 2018 Millennium Marathon which started and ended at the Black Star Square in Accra on Saturday.
Arthur run in a time of 1:08:09, he was followed by Kudanu John who did 1:08:53 and former champion, Malik Yakubu who placed third in 1:08:58.
Elizabeth Azure was followed by 14 year old Ramatu Abdallah and Judith Bayele (all of then came from the Upper East Region of Ghana).
Both Arthur and Azure went home with a cash prize of $2, 500 and hamper from Unilever. The second and third placers got $1,500 and $1,000 respectively.
Kakonissa Midoouna from Togo won the 5km male category and went home with $500; he was followed by Desmond Sarpong and Ametepe who placed third.
Raphael Nkegbe won the para athletes on wheel chair race. He was followed by Yakubu Abukari and McClean Atsu. They were all rewarded by handsome cash prizes and hampers.
Apiatu Issaka was the surprised big winner on day as she won the Special Raffle and took home the Nissan SUV car from Japan Motors.
Senior Journalist, Mr. Sammy Heyhood Okine, aka General One
This year’s fourth Millennium Marathon was well participated and the organisers thanked the media for their support and wide publicity.
Runners came from Nigeria, Burkina Faso, USA, France, UK, Morocco, Colombia, China, Spain, Japan, Holland, Kenya, Tanzania, Germany, Russia, Peru, Benin, Australia, Equatorial Guinea, South Africa, Ethiopia and Congo.
Ambassador Ashim Morton, CEO of the Millennium Marathon Sports Ltd announced that Arthur and Azure will represent Ghana at the Dubai International Marathon in 2019 by courtesy of Emirates Airlines. He noted that there were few challenges in the presentation of medals as most of the participants were interested in getting the beautiful medals. He assured that all the challenges would be discussed and improved at the fifth edition in 2019.
Some companies that sponsored the Millennium Marathon 2018 are Unilever, Japan Motors, Allianz Insurance, Impact Clinic, Tang Hotel, MTN, MenzGold, Twellium Industries, NIB, Wigal, Whirlpool, Can West, Royal Habits and Zen Gardens.
Others are Elite Sports, Decathlon, NLA, Zoomlion, Papaye, Blue Skies, Accra Mall, Frankies Hotel, Indomie, 4GS, AMS, Garmin, ddp, Beautiful Beneath, Emirates and GNFS.
Professor Azumah Nelson Tic, a popular musician and Dr. Vannesa Atukpui, Naa Ashokor, representatives of the Mayor of Accra, Hon Mohammed Adjei Sowah and some dignitaries like Mike Thakwani of B5 Plus and Mr. Tang Hong, President of the Chinese Ghana Chamber were the official starters.
The Millennium Marathon Ambassadors and celebrities Nana Ama McBrown, Nana Aba Anamoah Lil Wayne, Captain Planet, Bella Mundi, Wael Hakim of Elite Sports, Juliet Gyamfi of Beautiful Beneath, Salem Kalmoni of Japan Motors , Divine Asiedu, Anita Punjabi, Roddy Morgan, Miriam Ismail, KOD, Alan Beales were among the huge crowd who graced the succesful event.
By Sammy Heywood Okine
