After making appreciable impact on the tracks in 2014, the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, AFN, has released a loaded calendar of activities for 2015.
With the affiliations cum registration of clubs and athletes now concluded, the first AFN event for the year will be the 5th Edition of Dr. D. K. Olukoya Youth and Junior Athletics Championships which has been scheduled to hold on 6th and 7th February 2015 in Lagos.
The [link id=”128″ tax=”post_tag” text=”AFN”] through its Secretary General, [link id=”378″ tax=”post_tag” text=”Olumide Bamiduro”], reiterated that only athletes between ages of 16/17 (athletes born in 1998, 1999 or 2000) and 18/19 (athletes born in 1996 and 1997) are eligible to participate in the youth and junior events respectively.
The AFN also stated that the Dr. D. K. Olukoya Youth and Junior Athletics Championships will be used to select the country’s athlete to the African Junior Championships that will be staged in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from March 4 to 8.
Aside the African Junior Championships, the month of March will also witness amongst other events; the National Over-distance Open Competition to be staged in Abuja as well as the AFN All-Comers Competition to be held in Sapele, Delta state.
Also in March the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships and Cross Country championships will be taking place in Denmark and China respectively.
In April, all eyes will be on Calabar for the National Sports Festival while the country is also expected to feature in the MT. SAC and Penn Relays in the United States. In May, the Uyo Invitational Meet and Warri Grand Prix/Relay are top on the cards.
The city of Akure and Ile-Ife will both host the [link id=”430″ tax=”post_tag” text=”AFN Golden League”] train in June 2015 for the second and third legs of the competition.
2015 Time-Table
JANUARY
Affiliations, Registration of Clubs and Athletes Abuja, Nigeria
4th – IAAF World Cross Country Meeting San Giorgio, Italy
FEBRUARY
6-7th – Dr. D.K. Olukoya U-17 /Junior Championships Lagos, Nigeria
MARCH
4th-8th – African Junior Championships Addis-Ababa, Ethiopia
14th – National Over-distance Open Competition Abuja Nigeria
28th – IAAF World Cross Country Championships Guiyang, China
27th-28th – Texas Relay Austin, Texas USA
28th – AFN All-Comers Competition Sapele, Nigeria
29th – IAAF World Half Marathon Championships Copenhagen, Denmark
APRIL
9th-19th – National Sports Festival Calabar, Nigeria
16th-18th – MT SAC Relays Walnut, CA, USA
25th 2nd – All-Comers Competition Abuja, Nigeria
23rd-25th – Penn Relays Philadephia, USA
23rd-26th – African Youth Championships Mauritius, Mauritius
MAY
2nd 3rd – Okpekpe 10km Road Race Edo State, Nigeria
2nd-3rd – 2nd IAAF World Relays Nassau, Bahamas
9th 1st – AFN Golden League/Race Walking Port Harcourt, Nigeria
9th – IAAF World Challenge Kingston, Jamaica
18th – Warri Grand Prix and Relay Warri, Nigeria
20th – Uyo Invitational Meet Uyo Akwa-Ibom
JUNE
TBD – NIGERIA VS CAMEROON Yaounde, Cameroon
6th – 2nd AFN Golden League OAU (Ife) Nigeria
27th – 3rd AFN Golden League FUTA (Akure) Nigeria
JULY
3rd-14th – World University Games Gwanju, South Korea
11th – 4th AFN Golden League Uniben (Benin City) Nigeria
15th-19th – IAAF World Youth Championships Cali, Colombia
30th-1st – All- Nigeria /CRS Athletics Championships Calabar, Nigeria
AUGUST
22-30th – World Championships in Athletics Beijing China
SEPTEMBER
3rd-18th – 11th -All Africa Games Brazzaville, Congo
OCTOBER
October – Marathon Lagos/Abuja, Nigeria
NOVEMBER
TBD – 11th Obudu International Mountain Race/ Intercontinental Cup Obudu, Nigeria
TBD – IITA Cross Country Ibadan/Kaduna, Nigeria
DECEMBER
20th – Aba Half Marathon Aba, Nigeria
Meet The Authors
Mr Eludini is a Nigerian-based journalist and news researcher with a passion for athletics and football. Tunde is a staff reporter for Premium Times newspaper, and also a regular contributor to AthleticsAfrica.
