Posted on Saturday, April 14th, 2012
Obiekwe
By Nnamdi Okosieme Deputy Sports Editor
At first glance there is nothing to suggest that she is an athlete let alone one competing in a race as physically demanding as the marathon.
Her good looks accentuated by the well tailored dresses she dons easily fools a casual observer. To someone meeting her for the first time, she cuts the picture of a delectable of a ‘harmless’ lass. Beneath this mien however, is a determined spirit, one not used to giving up easily.
For Esther Obiekwe, a banker with Fidelity Bank, life is all about striving for excellence. Obiekwe is a banker with a difference. Unlike most of her colleagues, who given their demanding schedules, cannot spare the time even for recreation, she is actively and passionately involved in sports. For her sports is not just a pastime, it is a vocation and she devotes to it the same measure of seriousness she applies to her banking career.
Her specialty is the marathon, an event for which she attained national renown. In Nigeria, she has come to be known as the ‘Running Banker’. Today, she will join thousands of athletes from around the world in seeking for honours at the prestigious Boston Marathon in the United States of America.
Nigeria has not had a representative in the world’s oldest marathon event where since 2000 she has been Nigeria’s sole representative.
“I am deeply honored to represent Nigeria after the country’s extended absence in the Boston Marathon, and am excited to run a personal record” Obiekwe stated.
Obiekwe’s coach, James Lafferty, former CEO of Nigerian Bottling Company who now resides in The Philippines, believes that with proper planning Nigeria can get more athletes to join her at subsequent editions of the marathon:
“It is not reflective of the amazing breadth of talent in Nigeria that Esther is the sole participant from Nigeria this century. I believe it is more a matter of continuing to develop distance running in the country and to find more sponsors to defray the significant costs to send each athlete to Boston. Nigerians are strong and resilient and with proper support can compete with the East Africans that currently dominate the sport”.
To book a place at the Boston Marathon, Obiekwe returned a time of 3hrs, 28 mins. at the Berlin Marathon in September last year. Her aim in Boston is to even better that performance:
“My target is to run a PR (personal record) of under 3:28, which will show I am continually improving year-on-year.”
Given her rugged spirit and her training regimen, which has her getting up early in the morning to train for hours, the target may not be unrealistic.
The 36 year-old banker, who is currently Nigeria’s top ranked marathoner on the international circuit, is setting her sights even higher than the Boston Marathon. Indeed, for her the event is part of her preparations for the ‘big one’-the London 2012 Olympic Games coming up in July. Immediately after the Boston race, Obiekwe, who uses her vacation to participate in races, says she will commence intense preparations for the Olympics.
Competing on the world’s biggest multi-sport games will indeed pose tough challenges for the banker-athlete but Obiekwe who finished as Nigeria’s top athlete at the 2010 Athens Marathon and topped it with improved performances in Dubai and Berlin last year, is not fazed by the prospect:
““It’s a challenge to juggle a career and elite running career, but I thrive on challenges, she said.”
Whether she returns from London with a prize or not, she says just being part of such a great event would be more than satisfactory and adds:
“I love running and I am lucky to run with other professionals and I am thankful for my organization which also supports my active lifestyle as well as my coach Jim Lafferty who discovered me”.