Eluid Kiptanui to lead World Record attempt at Dubai Marathon

Bekana Daba (young Ethiopian, sub-13 for 5K, ~60 for HM I believe) recently won an XC meet in Ethiopia and stated that he was planning on a marathon debut in January, probably at Dubai. Apparently he ran 40km the day before (or just a few days before) that race.

Even without Haile there will probably be a number of fast Ethiopians. I don't believe either Eshetu Wendimu or Chala Dechase ran (or at least finished) fall marathons, and they ran 2:06 at Dubai last year.

evans cheruiyiot former chicago winner will run.

just a sidenote daba did debut in amsterdam in what he called a dissapointment 2:14

bezunesh bekele and the other ethiopian girls who were announced for london today will likely run dubai on january 21st before they run london on april 17th.

Thank you, Douglas, for the correction. I thought I remembered Daba referring to this upcoming race as his debut, but I was mistaken.

I also exaggerated his half marathon PR - he's run 1:01 twice, but never 1:00 or faster.

The Waterboy wrote:

A while ago Wanjiru announced he wanted to go for the WR in Dubai since he switched from Berlin to Chicago, does anyone know if that still has any merit?

That was before Chicago. Chicago took much, much more out of him than he anticipated. Resting up until London.

feyissa lelissa a 2:05.23 marathoner has now been added to the race.

douglas burke wrote:

feyissa lelissa a 2:05.23 marathoner has now been added to the race.

So has 2008 Chicago winner Evans Kiprop Cheruiyot.

Pretty sick field so far, and I think people should give Gebreselassie more credit for running this course for three years. Look at the results in 2007 and 2006: a high 2:09 and a 2:13 win, respectively. Geb comes and runs at the worst a mid 2:06 and at the best a high 2:04. He made it known this was a fast course and look, in the year of his absence the most stacked field is finally running at Dubai. There was no competition like this in the past 5 years

askale margarsa tafa 2:21 a couple of years ago, berhane adere, and helen kiprop were announced today for the woman.

Looks like an incredibly competitive field for Dubai. Finally getting the credit they deserve.

On another note, do you guys think that Dubai is going to be a tactical race or do you guys think they are gonna try and break the WR and try and not rip each others fur out until the last few miles?

I think it will be interesting to see whether the guys wanna just go for the 250 Grand or get that additional Million added to their prize money as well. 1.25 million U.S. dollars is a whoooleee lot of money and they definatly have the talent for a WR but some of the guys just might be content with the 250. What do you guys think?