Controversy rocks Accra Milo Marathon

Year in year out controversy seems to rock the Accra Milo Marathon. Despite assurance from the assistant brands manager of Nestle Ghana Limited, Marilyn Agyeiwaa Ofori, that security will be beefed up this year round, the case was no different.

The beef up in the number of security personnel was directed at checking that athletes would not cheat by joining in at points along the route. Checks and balances were employed in the form of ribbons and wristbands at various points of the race.

Yet still, some athletes managed to sneak their way through. Some were found out, while there were allegations of some athletes not being found out. All of these do not top the most interesting occurrence on the day. One athlete had to swear by a local deity so he could get what he called ‘justice’. Godwin Oduro, a second year student of the University of Ghana, Legon had a lot to say about the frustrations faced in the Accra Milo Marathon. He narrated his ordeal to AllSports and our cameras were there to capture the controversial occurrence.

He told us that there were manipulations by officials for some favoured athletes, but his started with the purchase of the forms. He said the forms were supposedly finished as at Wednesday (19th September) but he and some others got to purchase the forms at 8pm on Thursday (20th September) at an inflated price of Gh¢ 20 instead of Gh¢ 5.

Now, on the day of the race, having run the whole 42.2km race, he was told at the finish line that he had been disqualified because it was believed he had cheated. He was livid and none of his remonstrations could persuade the officials to listen to him.