Bruno Gozzelino, the new president of the World Mountain Running Association (WMRA) has hailed the William Archibong-led Local Organising Committee for the Obudu international mountain race for making the annual 11 kilometres mountain race unarguably the best organised and highest paying mountain race in the world.

Gozzelino,who succeeded the late Danny Hughes as WMRA boss told the media in an e-mail message that the efforts of the LOC in making mountain running visible in Africa as well as attracting the best mountain runners in the world have gone a long way in making mounting running very competitive.He also pledged that his association, the WMRA will continue to, in his words, ‘give the best support to this important event in the international mountain running calendar’’.

“I want to say a special thank you to (William) Archibong and the entire members of the LOC for the Obudu international mountaion race. They have done a wonderful job of projecting mountain running as an important part of international athletics. Many African are now aware there are mountain running events all over the world as well as an association solely in-charge of it’’, wrote Gozzelino in the e-mail made available to our correspondent.

The WMRA boss is also thrilled that the Obudu Ranch Resort in Obudu, Cross River State, venue for the annual Obudu international mountain race will be hosting the first African Mountain Running Championships next month.
“This event is one very important way of increasing awareness about mountain running.”