William Amponsah, Juliana Lariba win 2022 National Cross-Country
Central Region's William Amponsah was crowned winner of the 2022 National Cross-Country race at the Akyem Oda Stadium in the Eastern Region last Saturday.
Amponsah, the defending champion, covered the 10-kilometre race in 28:16.71 minutes to emerge champion in the men's division.
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He was followed by Koogo Atia of the North East Region with 29:25.61 minutes, while Aziz Mohammed of Central Region settled for the third position in a time of 29:47.95 minutes.
In the female division, Lariba Juliana of the Upper East Region grabbed the first position in a time of 35:07.90 mintues, with Sherifa Moro (Ashanti Region) and Titi Rosina (Upper West Region) following as the first and second runners-up,gr respectively.
The race brought activities in the area to a standstill as the inhabitants lined up on the streets to cheer the runners.
As early as 7am, the athletes had converged on the starting point and the race took off 30 minutes later.
The Director-General of the NSA, Prof. Peter Twumasi, disclosed after the competition that the Vice-President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, had expressed interest in hosting the athletes and decorating them with their prizes.
The event, organised by the National Sports Authority (NSA) in collaboration with the Ghana Athletics Association (GAA), brought together participants from across the 16 regions of the country.
African Games preparation
According to the board chairman of the NSA, Mr Seth Panwum, this year's cross-country championship is vital to Ghana's preparation to host the 13th edition of the African Games in 2023.
“It is to provide the preparatory grounds for the athletes and to keep them in shape to be able to rival their competitors elsewhere.”
“A national competition of this nature is not going to be limited to athletics and football only but as a regulatory body my outfit is ready to put enough resources into the other sporting federations to make them attractive,” he said.
“We shall continue to go to the grassroots to hunt talent and it’s for this reason we are committed to liaising with the government to ensure that every town gets an astroturf which includes other sporting disciplines so we can have talents coming out from every nook and cranny of the country,” he pledged.
“There has been a directive from the board that the next venue to host the race should be any of the regions up north,” he hinted.