Chairman of Owan West Local Government Area of Edo State, Mr. Frank Ilaboya has set the ball rolling towards a successful outing for Team Edo in the forthcoming National Sports Festival holding in the state from March 22 to April 1.
This follows his acceptance to sponsor a Cycling Criterion Circuit billed to hold in Sabongida-Ora, headquarters of the Owan West Local Government Area of Edo state from February 21 to 23, 2020.
Speaking recently, the former Edo State Football Association Chairman said that he decided to sponsor the race in order to prepare Team Edo well for the National Sports Festival.
“I am aware that cycling has over 16 gold medals and with adequate preparation of Team Edo cyclists, they can win between 12 and 14 gold medals,’ he said.
The former Chairman of the Lagos state chapter of the Sports Writers Association of Nigeria, SWAN, added that “since the health benefits of riding bicycle either for leisure, transportation or sports is unquantifiable, bringing a criterion race to my local government will help create the needed awareness as well as give Team Edo the added impetus to win well during the National Sports Festival”.
The Secretary of Edo 2020 Local Organising Committee, Dr Emmanuel Igbinosa who expressed gratitude to Ilaboya for always identifying with cycling and Team Edo, said over 60 cyclists and officials will take part in the one day race.
“We are expecting the best cyclists from the South South region of the country which is the hub of cycling in Nigeria”, Dr Igbinosa said, adding that “the men are expected to ride 140 kilometres while the women will ride 80 kilometres.
It would be recalled that Mr. Ilaboya also sponsored a commissaires’ course in his locality last November during which over 30 participants drawn from the Niger Delta area were certificated in preparation towards the 2020 National Sports Festival
