Over N6m Up for Grabs as 4th Calabar Marathon Holds Oct 31
By Missang AKPET
The 2026 edition of the Calabar Marathon will be awarding over six million naira in cash prizes to participants.
Briefing the press on Monday during the official launch of the 2026 edition campaign, The Project Manager of the Calabar Marathon, Mr. Charles Adah disclosed that this year's edition will be divided into the International/National category as well as the Domestic prize category.
According to Adah, the winners of the national category will recieve N1.2 million for the first male and N1.2 million for the first female, representing about a 20% increase from what was paid out last year.
The second prize will be N700,000 male and N700,000 female while the third prize, winners for both male and female category will go home with N400,000 each.
"For the local indigenous category which is designed to stimulate young Cross Riverians, the first indigenous contestant will get N500,000 for male and N500,000 for female, the second prize will be N300,000 for male and N300,000 for female, while the third prize will be N200,000 for both male and female".
"We will also give out consolation prizes for every of young persons that is able to come on board and participate in this event and if you're among the first 28 finishers, you will go home with another N50,000 as your transport," Adah said.
He said the project has deliberately created a platform for young Cross Riverians to mix, interact and compete with elite athletes from around Nigeria and the world at large.
He however explained that the race will feature a 21.1km professional race for professional and elite athletes from all over the world, a 10km fun run which is not a competition but for fun seekers, and a 5km charity and fitness walk for NGOs.
According to him, the race will start and finish using the regular Carnival Calabar route which is usually said to be 12km round, but measurements with professional marathon devices by athletic officials have ascertained it to be 21.1km marathon route.
Earlier, the Chairman and Chief Executive Offiver of the Cross River State Tourism Bureau, Mr. John Atsu, said this year's edition tagged "Run For Conscience Against Poverty" is the 4th edition and is billed to hold on Saturday, 31st October 2026.
He explained that the theme was deliberate considering the economic effects of the last few years ranging from inflation, infrastructure, governance, as well as economic impacts across the world which have had direct impact on the people and the communities.
"We're saying, as we do this marathon this year, let us be conscious of the impact of poverty in our spaces, in our communities, in Cross River State. It's something every citizen can think about in our daily actions, we can be responsible in just a little bit of work, instead of being wasteful let's be more pragmatic, more resource oriented, and build efficiencies that can improve whatever resources are at our disposal" Atsu said.
He hinted that the marathon in the past three editions has been used in harvesting talents in the athletic field who are anticipated to represent the state, adding that plans are on the way to resuscitate the Obudu International Mountain Race.
Also speaking, the State Chairman of the National Association of Athletic Officials (NATO), Dr. Victor Oyama Nzan, assured of preparedness to officiate the race with utmost professionalism, stating that they are in communication with the medical team to ensure participants are fit before being allowed to run and to be on alert in case of any emergency.
