The 7th edition of the Liberia Marathon has been successfully organized, bringing together international and local partners from around the world. It was held under the theme, “Healthy Cities, Healthy Lives”.
Amadu Sajor Samura, an athlete from Freetown, Sierra Leone who was the winner of the full Marathon that took place on Sunday, October 12, 2025, has said his inspiration to run a full marathon was gained from watching international runners, like Theresa Bakelly and Mo Fallah. “When I was starting up, I watched those athletes, and they inspired me to run the full marathon,” Samura disclosed.
Samura made the statement in an interview with a team of reporters at the SKD Sports Complex, Paynesville, on October 12, 2025. He said this was his sixth year running, but it was his fourth time running the full marathon.
“I am the champion for the full marathon in Sierra Leone. I have won it not ones, not twice, or thrice; so I am happy that I have won it in Liberia also,” he said.
According to him, last year he came here and ran the half marathon and won it. “So, I just take the venture to come and run the full marathon this year. So I am happy that I made it,” he said.
At the same time, Grace N. Diagar, a Liberian athlete and half marathon first female winner, said she felt very fine and relaxed after the race. According to her, before the marathon, I was disturbed, concentrating on the marathon and thinking of coming first, and as God could have it she came first.
According to her, she does not even know what actually inspired her to run the marathon—it is just the power of God.
She said she has been running the race for about seven to eight years now, but was her first time running in the half marathon. “Even when we were training, we did not train on this road. So, I was just like, ‘I am going into it God, give me everything,’ and God did it for me,” she said.
Meanwhile, another winner, Marcox Sackie, a Liberian athlete from Bong County and second winner of the 10K race, said the race was nice but there was no separation of the elite athletes from the non-elite athletes. “It is really bad for us, the non-elite athletes, and that is why you see we struggled a whole lot,” he said.
“My advice to the Liberia Marathon is to see how best to do the separation. It will help us. My set goal was to be a winner. I took two weeks out of Liberia to train in Freetown, and even participated in a competition that they had on-going and I came fifth,” Sackie stated.
Also speaking, the Minister of Youth and Sports, Cllr. Cllr. Jeror Cole Bangalu, said the marathon speaks volumes, and adds to the peace and stability effort of the society. “Liberia Marathon is gaining momentum, not just locally but also internationally,” Minister Bangalu said.
Minister Bangalu thanked the Liberian athletes who participated in the marathon, and congratulated the international athletes for their participation and the organizers of the Liberia Marathon for the remarkable organization.
The major sponsor of the marathon, ArcelorMittal CEO, also thanked all the participants. “This is the kind of event that ArcelorMittal is supportive of—things that promote health, wellbeing, and so forth,” he said.
“I am happy that we are all here as one country. Liberia needs very strong and powerful people. So, thank you all for participating. We are looking for bigger turnouts next time, and we can assure the marathon that we will continue this partnership in the future,” the ArcelorMittal CEO said.