Nigeria’s number one news station, Channels Television has announced the launch of a new grassroots development programme tagged the “Channels Track and Field Classics”.
National Daily learnt that the athletics competition is for boys and girls in Secondary schools, under the age of 17.
Participants must be bona fide students of their schools and will be required to provide genuine proof of identification.
The two-day event will take place on the 11-12th of November 2018 at the Teslim Balogun Stadium. Action will start from 9am.
For the maiden edition, the tournament will be strictly invitational for schools in Lagos state where over a thousand students from the six educational districts in Lagos state will compete.
Participants will compete in the following events:
100 metres
200 metres
400 metres
4 X 100 metres relay
4 X 400 metres relay
400 metres hurdles
800 metres
Long Jump
The major objective of the competition is to re-ignite the interest of athletics in schools, discover and nurture talents for the country. The event which is done in conjunction with the Lagos State Sports Commission, will monitor the talents after the tournament and also encourage them to also excel in education.
National Daily gathered that Channels television grassroots development campaign started in 2009 with the Kids Cup, a football competition for U-13 boys in primary schools which is now an international tournament, with schools from Ghana and Benin Republic competing.
The track and field classics will also feature an exhibition event involving visually impaired and amputee athletes