The course record of 27.51, set by Eritrean Zersenay Tadese in 2008, could be under threat as a super fast field of elite athletes would run at the Bangalore roads.
The field of international athletes, with 12 athletes having sub-28 minute personal bests, will see a mixture of previous podium placers, World, Commonwealth and Olympic medallists and a clutch of up and coming new talents from East Africa, the headliner of these undoubtedly being Kimetto.
Kimetto burst into the spotlight in February, upstaging many bigger and more experienced names, including his mentor and training partner Geoffrey Mutai when winning the Ras-al-Khaima half marathon in a time of 59.14.
He followed this up with a strong sub-60 minute performance when winning the Berlin Half Marathon and then just last weekend eclipsed the 25km World record, again in Berlin, clocking 1 hour, 11 minutes to take 32 seconds off the previous best. Kimetto has raced outside of Kenya just three times and has won on each occasion, beating world class fields.
He will have to be at his best, however, in Bangalore as he will face former winner Deriba Merga of Ethiopia, who revels in Indian conditions, and his country mate Dino Sefir, who earlier in the year ran a blistering 2-04 marathon when finishing second in the Dubai Marathon, and in the process booked his ticket to London 2012.
The field will also have last year's runner-up Leonard Langat of Kenya, who has a personal best of 27.50, besides evergreen Ugandan Moses Kipsiro, who will be no pushover, having finished on the podium in Bangalore for two years in the past. MORE