By our reporter 13.2.2026
All is now set for the 2026 Access Bank Lagos City Marathon with over 60 world elite runners hoping to set a new course record on the new route fashioned out by the organisers.
The 11th edition of the event will avoid the old route starting at the National Stadium Surulere Lagos and meandering through Lagos traffic via Anthony Village, Ojota before climbing on the Third Mainland Bridge, snaking through Victoria Island and terminating at the Eko Atlantic City on Ahmadu Bello Way.
But all that has changed as the runners will have the luxury of running an almost straight course starting at the Orca Shopping Mall along Ahmadu Bello Way, straight on to the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway and then back to the Finishing point at the Eko Atlantic City.
“The course is simple and direct with a single turn. There is no hilly point, its flat and of course that calls for improved performances from the athletes,” said the Access Bank Lagos City Marathon general manager Yusuf Alli.
“We expect that the course record of 2hrs 10min will be broken. The athletes are ready, the route is secured and safe, there is less humidity being a coastal highway.”
The 42km race, which starts at 6.30am attracts a $50,000 top prize for the first finisher in both male and female category with second and third place taking home $15,000 and $10,000 respectively. While the 10km race mostly graced by home-based athletes will start at 9.30am at the Grace Garden Event Center, Lekki and also finish at the Eko Atlantic City finish point. N2m is at stake in the male and female category.
In the 2025 Kenyan Edwin Kibet won the race with 2.15.19seconds his compatriots Nehemiah Kipyegon and Bernard Cheruiyot finished second and third respectively.