Alli said that no fewer than 150 elite athletes were expected at the race scheduled for Feb.6.
NAN reports that 31 elite runners from eight countries have signed on for race.
They includes 24 men and seven women marathoners.
Out of the 24 men marathoners, 11 have International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) gold label.
Among the athletes are nine Kenyans, while others are from Eritrea and Ethiopia.
The seven women elite marathoners also expected at the race are from Kenya, Uganda and Ethiopia.
Alli said that the athletes would embark on a route tour on Feb.5 by 10a.m to be familiar with the route.
“The purpose of the route tour is to make the athletes know the routes for the race since they will be the ones to lead,” he said.
Kayode Thomas, the Head of Communications, Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), also said that not less than 20,000 forms have been returned to the Secretariat of the race.
“As at yesterday, about 20,000 forms have been returned, the crowd here was massive,” he said.
Kayode said that the deadline had been postponed on compassionate ground, so that more people would come out to have fun.
“This is the first marathon in 30 years, so, we decided to allow people to continue to register on compassionate ground.
“We want everyone to have fun but the registration officially came to a close on Jan.28,’’ he said.
The 42km marathon race has a prize money of 500, 000 dollars.
The second runner-up of the event would go home with 400,000 dollars while the third place marathoner would get 300, 000 dollars.
The Nigerian that tops other local participants would receive N1 million.
The second place Nigerian would receive N750, 000, while N500, 000 would go to the third place winner among the indigenous participants.
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