Samkay Athletics Club Holds One-Day Secondary Schools Athletics Meet

***Organisers present cash giftto winners, says mission is to produce new national champions from Bayelsa

***As Bayelsa Athletics Association selects team to National Youth Games

Samkay Athletics Club in collaboration with the Bayelsa State Athletics Association, today in Yenagoa organised a one-day invitational Secondary Schools Athletics Meet.

The athletics meet, which was held at the Samson Siasia Sports Complex, featured 100metres, 400 metres, 800 metres and Long Jump for boys and girls.

The winners, who will represent Bayelsa State at the 2024 National Youths Games in Asaba, Delta State, were also presented with cash gifts.

In the 100 metres boys, Clement Lucky of Government Technical College, Okaka won in 11.01secs while Itu Tokoni placed second and Ikadei Ebikiemo placed third.

In the girls category, Gagede Tamaramiebi emerged the fastest girl as she dusted Princess Patrick and Gift Allison to win the Girls 100 metres contest.

The Boys 400 metres saw Teibowei Samson clocking the best time of 52.50secs to beat Nathan Mekioniso 53.72 seconds and Samuel Akadan 56.06 seconds to second and third spots.

Vivian Obi topped other contenders with 1.03.41 seconds to win the Girls 400 metres ahead of Sonia Ofeni 1.03seconds and Ezinne Alich 1.05seconds.

Martha Jacob bolted past Joy Teibowei and Elizabeth Oduntan to win the Girls 800 meters while Samson Teibowei had a superior performance to win the Boys 800 metres ahead of Nathan Mekionisa and Kurokemelegha Ayewari.

The Boys Long Jump was won by Ikadei Ebikiemo who leapt 6.33 meters to beat Nathan Mekioniso 6.15 metres and Caleb Dorgie 5.82 meters.

The Founder and proprietor of Samkay Athletics, Dr. Kolawole Oredipe who doubles as the Vice Chairman of the Bayelsa State Athletics Association, while congratulating the winners, said the platform is provided to discover great talents that will become national champions.

He expressed satisfaction with the turn out of the secondary students and the talent exhibited by the young athletes who according to him will dominate track and field events in the country, Africa and the world in the foreseeable future.

Dr. Oredipe enjoined the corporate world including financial institutions and multinationals and philanthropists to support the efforts of the Samkay Athletics Club to hone the talent of the students to become world beaters in track and field events.

He said, “For us at Samkay Academy, we thought that we should provide these kind of platforms to our young ones and see how we can discover great talents that will become national champions and rule the world.

I feel very excited today with what we have seen on the tartan tracks with these young athletes. We have seen champions for tomorrow in the 100m, 400m, 800m and even long jump, and this shows that we have got the potentials here in Bayelsa, so all we need to do is to give them all the support. That is what we are doing at Samkay Academy to ensure that we have those who will make Bayelsa proud,” Oredipe stated.

Also, Mr. Andrew Aye, Director in the State’s Sports Council admonished the athletes stressing that aspiration is what will lead them to greater heights.

About a hundred secondary school students across Bayelsa State took to the tartan tracks at the Samson Siasia Sports Complex in Yenagoa to participate in series three of the Samkay Athletics Meet.