Egwero lay down the marker at Kaduna Golden League

By Opeyemi Olus, 30 March, 2010

Ogho-Oghene Egwero of Delta State made a good start to the start of the outdoor season by winning the 100 metres in the first leg of the newly introduced Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) Golden League which took place in Kaduna last weekend.

Egwero, a 60m semi-finalist at last month's World Indoors Championships in Doha - Qatar, beat all comers to take the first step to claiming the N1 million naira Golden League jackpot in 10.20secs.

Benjamin Adukwu of the Nigerian Army was second in 10.21secs and Fred Ovie Agbaje of Ondo State was third in 10.39secs.

Egwero said after the race: "It was a good start for the outdoors and I'm happy about that. The N1 million wasn't necessarily the attraction but it was a boost anyway.

"This is beyond the Golden League; it is just a way of preparing myself for other events like the African Championships and the Commonwealth Games and preparation has started already".

The Delta State athlete whose personal best time in the outdoors is 10.19 seconds, got to the semi finals of the World Indoors alongside Peter Emeliezie who is based in the United States of America and says the experience was an eye opener:

"The World Indoors was a good experience even though I went out at the semi finals. I came back after the World Indoors and will be going back to Europe after a little while. I'm just thinking of how to prepare myself well enough in order to represent my country to the best of my ability".

GL Events

The events that were competed in were 100 metres, 400 metres, 800 metres, 400 metres hurdles, Triple Jump, High Jump,

4x100 metres and 4x400 metres for men while the women competed in 100 metres,

200 metres, 400 metres, 1500 metres, 5000 metres, 400 metres hurdles, Long Jump, 4x100 metres and 4x400 metres.

For any athlete to walk away with the N1million cheque, he or she must have won five of the six Golden League events.

The top three athletes for each event were given cash prizes of N20,000, N15,000 and N10,000 respectively.

Abiola Onakoya won the 400 metres, followed by Tosin and Prosper Nwachi came third while Ondo State won the 4x100 metres; Delta State came second while the Civil Defence came third.

Delta State won the 4x400 metres, while the Civil Defence came second. Josephine Omaka won the women's 100 metres.

Selected Results

100m Men