With 30 days to go before the start of the eighth edition of the Okpekpe International 10kilometre road race, organisers of the historic event have predicted a new men’s course record. Ethiopia’s Teshome Mekonnen ran 28:35 to set the men’s course record at the second edition of the race in 2014. Race director, Zack Amodu, says the new rules guiding invitation of athletes and the quality of the elite cast so far confirmed for the race point to only one direction: a new men and probably women’s course records come May 28, 2022 in Okpekpe.
‘One of the requirements for World Athletics elite label races is that each race must have at least five athletes per gender, irrespective of their country or territory representation, who have recorded in 2020, 2021 or 2022 at least one World Athletics legal performance within the standard set for the classification,’ revealed Amodu.
‘For a World Athletics elite label 10km race, the standard for men is 28.27 while for women it is 33.07. ‘The standard for men is better than the 28.35 record Mekonnen set in 2014 and to have at least five athletes who have ran faster than that within the last three years among the elite cast for the Okpekpe race, your bet is as good as mine.’ Amodu is also confident a new women’s course record also looks achievable judging by the quality of the cast of the elite women that will be in Okpekpe on May 28.