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Elite runners gear up for Dubai Marathon 2016

Xinhua, January 20, 2016 Adjust font size:

This year's edition of the annual Dubai Marathon on the coming Friday, January 22nd, will see a number of elite runners from Ethiopia and Kenya at the start while the entire event consisting of the Marathon run, the 10 kilometer's run and the 4 kilometer fun run will gather over 30,000 professional and hobby participants at the foot of the seven-star hotel Burj Al Arab.

In the men's group are Ethiopian elite runners Ayele Abshero and Tsegaye Mekonnen who both won the Dubai Marathon in 2012 and 2014, respectively. Last year's Dubai Marathon champion Lemi Berhanu from Ethiopia announced his participation for this year's challenge, too, the Dubai Marathon committee revealed earlier today at an official media briefing.

Among the women's group, 25-year old Tonya Nero from Trinidad and Tobago is the first female elite long distance runner from the Caribbean region participating in Dubai. But with Nero's personal best time standing at 2 hours and 43 minutes, the women's winner's podium will be undoubtedly dominated by African athletes.

Ethiopian Marathon stars Tirfi Tsegaye Beyene, who was first in Berlin in 2014 and who has a personal best time of 2:20:18, as well as her compatriot Mamitu Daska Molisa(2.21:56) who won the Frankfurt Marathon in 2011, are expected to attract thousands of Ethiopian fans to this year's Dubai Marathon.

The event is regarded as the second best race behind the London race by the sport's research group All-Athletics.com.

Also at the start is Kenyan-born and now for Bahrain running Eunice Chumba who won the bronze medal at the world championships in Beijing last year.

"We did not change the track this time as runners and authorities gave us good feedback on the quality and safety of the roads," Ahmed Al-Kamali, council member at the International Associations of Athletics Federations (IAAF) told Xinhua.

The 42.195 kilometers track will start on Friday at 6.30am local time near the iconic Burj Al Arab Hotel and will lead along the coastline on Jumeirah Raod to Dubai's Union House near Port Rashid and back to the Burj Al Arab.

The 17th edition of the Dubai Marathon, sponsored by British bank Standard Chartered, is also the world's richest marathon as prize money worth 936,000 dollars, along with a 100,000 dollars bonus if a runner breaks the world record.

The marathon track in the Gulf Emirate is "flat like a pancake", as sports aficionados say, which guarantees good finishing times, "and we hope for some new course records this year," said Al-Kamali.

The men's record in Dubai stands at 2 hours 4 minutes and 23 seconds, achieved by Abshero in 2012. His compatriot Aselefech Mergia also scored the best time in the emirate's marathon history in 2012 when she crossed the finish line at 2:19:31.

This year's Dubai Marathon will be commented live by former Marathon runner Paula Radcliffe who is the incumbent women's world record holder. Englishwoman Radcliffe's finishing time of 2 hours 15 minutes and 25 seconds at the London Marathon on 2003. The men's world record stands at 2 hours 2 minutes and 57 seconds which was recorded by Kenyan runner Dennis Kimetto in the Berlin Marathon 2014. Endit