Three thousand runners. Twenty-six miles. Thirteen water stations. Two tired feet. That is the international Olympic Marathon – a colossal challenge that dares runners to attempt its course. It’s often a grueling race for which athletes train, sweat, persevere, and condition themselves to prepare for participation.
They find themselves running among countless other runners with the same goal in mind: complete the race. But not everyone makes it to the finish line. In the end, one runner claims the ULTIMATE.
This international race, the marathon, was introduced to the Ghanaian scene by the Dansoman Keep Fit Club led by the late Carl Reindorf (former deputy minister of Information in the 2nd Republican Government led by the late Professor K.A. Busia), the late Sam Nelson (then deputy minister of Youth & Sports under the PNDC government), Mr. N.A. Adjin-Tettey, (a retired administrator of the National Sports Council), together with 14 other members of the Club.
The initial aim of the organizers, according to Mr. Adjin-Tettey, was to inculcate the habit of distant running in the youth as part of lifestyle change attitude – purely for health reasons.
The first race, the Accra Marathon, was run in 1986 with 107 athletes taking part. It was sponsored by the State Insurance Company Limited. The Internal Revenue Service, then under the leadership of the late Professor John Evans Atta- Mills as Commissioner of the Service, provided transport for the athletes and organizers. That race was won by Police Sergeant Amegashie who took home Ten Thousand Old Ghana Cedis equivalent of Ten New Ghana Cedis.
Seeing the mutual benefit that could be derived from the race, Mr. Eddie Annan, a member of the Club who was then with the sales department of Nestle Ghana Limited, arranged a meeting with the Club with Nestle to work out a partnership arrangement for sponsorship of the marathon race.
Nestle took up the challenge and sponsored the 2nd edition of the Accra Marathon. It was at that edition that the name ‘Accra Marathon’ was changed to Accra Milo Marathon.’
That arrangement or marriage of convenience has continued for the past twenty-five years and this year marks twenty-six years of Nestle’s participation and sponsorship of the event.
The Route
One may be tempted to admit that the mapping of route may have also influenced Nestle to sponsor the race. The route starts from the East coast of the city at THE POINT, Nungua, meanders through the central business district of the capital (through Makola) and runs through the most populous areas of this grueling city of Accra, and continues through the second largest market, the Kaneshie Market Street, and ends at the south-west, the Dansoman Estate, the biggest Real Estate in the whole of West Africa where the FINISH LINE is home to over 500 hundred thousand citizens.
Over the years, attempts have been made (at the urging of Nestle) to finish the race at the Sports Stadium or the Black Star Square; but the end result had been very poor patronage of the closing ceremonies, which climaxes the event. For a company deeply involved in marketing healthy products for a generation, it has not been the best of venue to showcase products. Those areas are not homes of people like DANSOMAN, the pudding capital of Accra.
Press Launch
The Race commences with the PRESS LAUNCH, which creates awareness of the race and alerts the athletes to prepare.
Devoid of Politics
Over the years, the Dansoman Keep Fit Club has invited public figures as guests of honour to start both races and to deliver the key note addresses at the closing ceremonies.
Ministers of State, Directors of Ministries and public figures have bestowed their privileges on the event by their acceptance and participation. Heads of State have come and their Vice-Presidents have also been invited. NPP Presidential candidate Nana Akufo-Addo also made us proud by his participation. The late President, Prof. John Evans Atta-Mills started the race when he was Vice President.
However, in all that and in spite of the presence of such high political figures, the Club sternly made sure that political clout is never exhibited at the function. When President Kufuor came, his party functionaries wanted to exhibit party flags and colours, but we quietly and diplomatically entreated the sitting President to advise his people to the contrary. He adhered to our request and the functionaries quietly left the scene even before he entered the Carl Reindorf Stadium to commence the proceedings climaxing the event. Even though many of members are members of government, the never openly display their party loyalties on the ground. Majority Leader Hon. Avoka is a member; Ambassador to Rome Mrs. Aanaa Enin is an active member of the club. The late Finance Minister Kojo Baah-Wiredu, was our internal auditor, and many others. This is how the Club had been able to hold the race together over the years.
Sponsorship
Over the years Nestle has committed colossal sums of money for the organization, media coverage and prizes for the athletes. Among other considerations, one must admit that it is the consistency of Nestle’s sponsorship that has enabled the race to grow from its humble beginning to the present size it has gained.
Participation
Most of the participants of the race come from within the country. However, a sizeable number of athletes and enthusiasts come from countries around the West African sub-region. They include members of the diplomatic corps of the various embassies around us and the American Peace Corps working in the sub-region.
Participants fall into three categories:
1. Those who take delight just being part of the race; the merry makers. One usually sees them with bread in the hand and they stop at ever refreshment point to have their fill of the Milo Mix. They make quite a chunk of the runners; but do not run beyond Teshie and Nungua, a distance of 4 kilo meters.
2. The second group comprises those who run for health reasons. Their aim is not to win the race and collect prizes; but to strengthen their heart muscles. Most of them run the whole course or at least two-thirds of the 42.2 kilo meter race.
3. The third category of runner who aim at the prizes at stake. Among these are the core marathon runners. You find the Zigah’s, Amegashies, etc. (see List).
Challenges
Each year, the race organization experiences different challenges: late arrival of running vests, wrong numbering of the vests, wrong numbering of application forms, late delivery of invitation forms, challenges posed by poor security arrangement, water shortages at some points, banana shortages, and so on. But the most outstanding ones are the attempts by many runners to cheat and friends and relatives trying to aid the athletes to cheat. Even though this unsportsmanship attitude rears its ugly head in many international sporting arenas the world over, the organizers of the Accra Milo Marathon try as much as possible to minimize its impact on the race. As a precaution for instance, plain-cloth police men have been engaged to do special duty to try to flush out such cheats.
The Accra Milo Marathon has grown to become the biggest single annual sporting event that people – athletes and countrymen as a whole look forward to every year. Just after every Press Launch of the Race, enquiries come from around the globe, especially where there is a delay in the starting of the registration of participants, the organizers are bombarded with calls all over the place. It shows the enthusiasm that the race has generated over the years. Over one million people line the streets of the 42.2km marathon route, while the whole City of Accra comes to a standstill with commuters from the surrounding areas stuck in heavy traffic.
International Aspect:
A few years ago, runners came from over East Africa: Eritrea, Uganda, Kenya, etc. to participate in the race. Even though Ghanaians won the ultimate diadem, their participation gave the race that international coloration and clout. Sponsorship of their participation dwindled and finally came to a halt.
In past years too, Ghanaian winners of the race were sponsored to take part in the Amsterdam Marathon. Kenya Airways and Lufthansa provided plane tickets while Nestle footed their upkeep. Since those airlines withdrew from the race, this aspect has also elapsed.
Children Marathon
This aspect of the race was started by the Club first at Dansoman for little children before Nestle agreed to make it part of the main race. After a few years, the Club invited the GES to supervise that aspect as the Club was having problem in determining the ages of the young runners. It has also grown in size and participation. It is encouraging to note that pupils from the elite schools are taking part in this year’s race. It should be encouraged because most of these kids come from homes where there is little participation in sporting activities and their kinds of schools lack such facilities. Many nations are now paying quite a price to treat obese children.
Quite often, athletes outnumber the target for the year, and those who did not get the application forms to fill run without vests. Last year, however, the story was the reverse. The race was run mid-week because the police refused to grant permit for the usual Saturday event.
Benefits to the Nation
Many people claim the race has helped to regain their health, and therefore continue to participate in it yearly. The hospitality industry is not left out of the event, and the local food vendors claim quite a success story to tell. With prizes won at the raced, many young men have been put such winnings to good use for their benefit and that of their family and friends.
Safety of Athletes and officials
Since we started the even twenty-six years ago, not a single person had been seriously injured beyond a day’s treatment and discharge. With the help of the security services and the medical teams that help during the race, the safety of athletes has been assured. The only spectator that was once instantly killed at Kaneshie 1st Light was a thief who carelessly ran across traffic to snatch Milo Cap from one of the officials and at the same time take some foam pieces meant for athletes. SIC provided insurance cover for all and the Metropolitan Insurance Company has continued the coverage, but we have not put in any claims to date.
Way Forward
The event success basically because of the total commitment of Nestle management and staff. With Nestle continued sponsorship and the sterling organizational ability of the Dansoman Keep Fit club and its allies, the Keep fit clubs and the security services, it is anticipated that within a year, the race will grow to accommodate ten thousand runners including more OBOLO children from the A1 schools.
