Kiprotich, Kenya-born French athlete, wins Lagos City Marathon

Abraham Kiprotich, Kenya-born French long-distance runner, has emerged winner of the third Access Bank Lagos City Marathon.

He concluded the 42 kilometer race after 2 hours, 15 minutes and 10 seconds.

Kiprotich will take home the $50,000 prize.

While Herpha Guta, an Ethiopian, won the women edition of the competition. She completed the race after two hours and 38 minutes.

The race started at the National Stadium, Surulere, and ended at the Eko Atlantic City in Victoria Island.

Despite the downpour in most parts of Lagos, participants in the competition came out in their numbers.

During the prize presentation, Akinwunmi Ambode, governor of Lagos, set a target for Nigerian athletes.

“We want to get it to the Gold level, in the next two years,” he said.

“We’re tired of giving these trophies to the East Africans. We’ll be committing resources to training our Nigerian athletes so they can win the marathon.”

East Africans have been dominating the competition which has had two previous editions.