Ethiopian runner Ayele Abshero is all set for the 14th edition of the Mumbai Marathon, starting here on January 15.
The 26-year-old Abshero is a former world junior cross country champion and will be the fastest man on the start line.
Among the elite field, Ethiopia's Seboka Dibaba and Kenya's Jacob Chesari, who were second and fifth respectively in 2016 will also be aiming to do better in the upcoming edition as they have personal bests faster than the course record.
The favourite in the women's category will be Ethiopia's Dinknesh Mekash, a two-time winner here having triumphed in 2014 and 2015, who has a personal best of 2:23.12 when finishing second in the 2015 Frankfurt Marathon.
There are six women in the field with personal bests under 2:30:00 but Mekash twice ran under 2:29:00 in 2016. The SCMM women's course record is 2:24:33 by Kenya's Valentine Kipketer in 2013.
The marathon has total prize money of US $3,84,000 and approximately 42,000 runners will take part in the five different races.
--IANS
gau/pur/bg
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