Athletic Heat marks 10 years with star-studded meet

Athletic Heat will celebrate its 10th anniversary on November 7 with a meet at the Yaba College of Technology Sports Complex, Lagos, with some of Nigeria’s biggest athletes putting up prize money and a respected coach appointed to look after the youngest competitors.

The meet will run under the theme “10 Years of Impact. A Legacy That Keeps Running.” It is also expected to serve as preparation for athletes ahead of the National Sports Festival. Registration is on A3Tickets, with a deadline of October 24.

Athlete sponsorship has been the highlight. Shot putter Chukwuebuka Enekwechi, a two-time Olympian, African champion and African record holder, has put up N950,000 for the men’s event, with N400,000 for the winner, N300,000 for second, N150,000 for third and N100,000 for fourth.

Enekwechi said he was motivated by his love for his country and his sport, and by a wish to inspire talents who have yet to get a chance. Athletic Heat Chief Executive Officer, Ese Oguma, said he was surprised by the scale of the gesture, adding that nothing like it had happened before in Nigerian athletics.

Discus thrower Ebubechukwu Vincent Ugwoke has sponsored the men’s event with N575,000. The winner gets N250,000, second place N150,000, third N100,000 and fourth N75,000. The University of Southern California athlete is a two-time national champion who won bronze at the 2026 NCAA Outdoor Championships, and his personal best of 63.89m makes him Africa’s second-best this year.

Oguma said Ugwoke insisted that the fourth-placed athlete take home the equivalent of Nigeria’s minimum wage.

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High jumper Temitope Adeshina, Nigeria’s record holder, has funded the women’s event with N200,000: N100,000 for the winner, N50,000 for second, N30,000 for third and N20,000 for fourth. She won the NCAA Indoor and Outdoor titles for Texas Tech this year and is a Commonwealth Games bronze medallist and two-time African Championships silver medallist.

Sprinter Edidiong Udo has offered N200,000 to any 800m athlete who reaches a set standard, which is faster than 2:07 for women and under 1:52 for men.

The Athletics Federation of Nigeria media committee chairman, Maxwell Kumoye, said this is on top of the regular prizes. Udo, who began as an 800m runner before switching to the 400m, became national champion in 2022 and earned a scholarship to Ohio State University.

This year he lowered his personal best to 44.91 seconds at the Big Ten Outdoor Championships, becoming the second Nigerian under 45 seconds this season. He reached the 400m final at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and won bronze in the 4x400m mixed relay.

Athletics coach Felix Onoriode has been appointed chaperone for the U-11 and U-15 categories. He is the secretary general of the Athletics Coaches Association of Nigeria and heads the Coach Felix Academics and Sports Foundation in Kaduna. He also serves on the monitoring team of the Nigeria Schools Sports Federation and holds World Athletics coaching certification. In 2025, he led Team Nigeria Athletics at the inaugural Africa Schools Games in Algeria and served as sprint coach at the fourth Africa Youth Games in Angola.