Obudu Mountain International Race was conceived as one of the vehicles, to drive world attention to one of the finest tourist destinations in the world, the Obudu Mountain Resort.

The race which is endorsed by the World Mountain Running Association, covers a distance of 11Km uphill, to an altitude of 1,575m (Over 5,000ft) above sea level. The maiden edition held on November 27^th, 2005 with local and foreign participation.  Prize money ranged from 1,000 to 50,000 USD making it the highest paying mountain race in the world.

The star prize of 50,000 USD in 2005 was won by an Australian, Ben Dubois, while a Nigerian, Danjuma Kopkuddi and another foreign athlete, Robert Krupicka of the Czech Republic won the second prize of 20,000 USD and the third prize of 10,000 USD respectively.  The female event was won by Anna Pichrtova of the Czech Republic.
The 2005 event, was widely acclaimed to be a huge success, hence its immediate recognition by the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) as a permit race.  The 2nd Edition in 2006 received a record entry, with over 20 countries participating.

Africa presented a strong challenge as Kenyan, Francis Kibiwot and Ethiopian, Rehinma Kadir won for both male and female categories respectively.
The 3rd Edition of the race was won by Ethiopian Habtamu Fikadu Awash, for the men, with a time of 42.50 minutes, while Rita Jeptoo Sitieni of Kenya won the women’s race with a new course record of 51.42 minutes. The men’s course record remains 42.26 minutes, set in 2006 by Francis Kibiwot of Kenya.

The 4th Edition of the race was won by Ethiopian Abebe Dinkesa for the men, while Andrea Mayr of Austria won the women’s race.

The 5th edition was highly competitive as it saw records falling for both male and female.  In the male race, Ethiopian Habtamu Fikadu Awash ran a time of 42:03 minutes to erase the old record of 42:26 minutes set by Kenyan Francis Kibiwot in 2006.  While in the female race another Ethiopian Mamitu Daska beat her compatriots with a time of 49:12 minutes to erase the old record of 51:42 minutes set by Kenyan Rita Jeptoo Sitieni in 2007.
The 2009 edition also witnessed the introduction of the African Nations Mountain Running Championship.  The 1st edition was won by the Ethiopian National team, followed by Uganda National team and Nigeria National team in 3rd position.

The race in its 6th year, has received tremendous support from His Excellency, the Governor of Cross River State, Senator Liyel Imoke who has brought more exciting innovation into the race like Chldren’s novelty race, which debuted two years ago.