Both Haile Gebrselassie and a one million dollar prize money purse will be on the line for the 9th edition of the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon set for Friday, January 18, in the United Arab Emirates.
Gebrselassie, who knocked down Paul Tergat's marathon world record in Berlin last September to a perviously unimagined 2:04:26, will be looking to go even faster in Dubai, organizers report. In addition to the $250,000 first prize, the largest in marathon running, the event has a $1 million bonus on offer for a new men's or women's world record.
Helping to pull Gebrselassie to a fast time in Dubai will be his primary pacemaker from Berlin, Rodgers Rop, the Kenyan who had won both the Boston and ING New York City Marathons. He'll be assisted by the former world half-marathon champion, Fabiano Joseph of Tanzania. Hoping to push Gebrselassie will be Sammy Korir, the Kenyan who is still the third fastest man in marathon running history. But Korir, 36, has not completed a fast marathon since Rotterdam in 2006 (2:06:38), and may not be up to the task.
The supporting cast includes defending champion William Todoo of Kenya, who ran his personal best 2:09:53 in Dubai last year; Gashaw Melese of Ethiopia, the 2006 Paris Marathon champion with a 2:08:03 PB; Raymond Kipkoech Chemwelo of Kenya, whose 2:06:47 personal best dates back to Berlin in 2002; and Tesfaye Tola of Ethiopia, the Olympic bronze medalist in the marathon from the 2000 Sydney Olympics who has a career best of 2:06:57 from Amsterdam in 1999.
The unprecedented prize money purse means that there will be plenty of cash being spread around to the top-10 finishers. Even the prize for tenth place, $10,000, is larger than what the winner receives at many mid-level marathons. The prize money list is as follows (equal for men and women): $250,000-100,000-50,000-25,000-15,000-14,000-13,000-12,000-11,000-10,000.
Organizers did not announce the details of the women's field today, but had previously announced that IAAF world road running and world cross country champion, Lornah Kiplagat of the Netherlands, would be competing.
Know someone else who's interested in running and triathlon?
