Gombe athletics chair hosts 5km race with N600,000 prize pool

From Abdulrazaq Mungadi, Gombe

A total of N600,000 was disbursed as prize money at the maiden 5km mini-marathon organised by the Chairman of the Gombe State Athletics Association, Alhaji Adamu Bello (Dan Amar Pantami), in a move to identify and groom emerging long-distance runners in the state.

The race, held in Pantami, attracted dozens of athletes and sports enthusiasts, signalling the rollout of a grassroots athletics development framework aimed at repositioning Gombe as a competitive force in endurance events.

Addressing journalists after the event, Dan Amar Pantami said the initiative reflects his resolve to reinvest in the sport after more than a decade in competitive long-distance running.

“All my events were long-distance. Some of my former colleagues who represented Nigeria are here today. We trained together in national camps and competed for the country,” he said.

“I want to use this platform to discover athletes who can also represent Nigeria in marathons and other long-distance races,” he added.

He noted that his involvement in committees of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria would open visibility channels for Gombe athletes to access national camps and potentially feature in global competitions such as the Commonwealth Games.

The N600,000 total prize pool covered N150,000 each for winners in the male and female categories, N100,000 each for second-place finishers, and N50,000 each for third-place athletes in both categories.

Dan Amar Pantami expressed satisfaction with the maiden edition, assuring stakeholders that operational gaps identified would be addressed in subsequent editions.

“This is just the first edition. Where there are shortcomings, we will make adjustments. The next edition will be bigger and better,” he said.

Also speaking, the Education Secretary of Gombe Local Government Area, Malam Babuga, described the competition as a timely intervention to deepen youth participation in sports and strengthen grassroots talent discovery.

Organisers maintained that, beyond the prize money, the long-term objective is to institutionalise the marathon as an annual talent pipeline for national and international athletics competitions.