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VIRGIN MONEY LONDON MARATHON 2015

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Elite Men

Entries

Bib no. Name Nation PB Bib name 1 Wilson Kipsang KEN 2:03:23 KIPSANG 2 Dennis Kimetto KEN 2:02:57 KIMETTO 3 Emmanuel Mutai KEN 2:03:13 E. MUTAI 4 Eliud Kipchoge KEN 2:04:05 KIPCHOGE 5 Geoffrey Mutai KEN 2:04:15 G. MUTAI 7 Sammy Kitwara KEN 2:04:28 KITWARA 8 Tsegaye Mekonnen ETH 2:04:32 MEKONNEN 9 Stanley Biwott KEN 2:04:55 BIWOTT 10 Tilahun Regassa ETH 2:05:27 REGASSA 11 Samuel Tsegay ERI 2:07:28 TSEGAY 12 Serhiy Lebid UKR 2:08:32 LEBID 13 Aleksey Reunkov RUS 2:09:54 REUNKOV 14 Ghebrezgiabhier Kibrom ERI 2:10:00 KIBROM 15 Marcin Chabowski POL 2:10:07 CHABOWSKI 16 Koen Raymaekers NED 2:10:35 RAYMAEKERS 17 Scott Overall GBR 2:10:55 OVERALL 18 Michael Shelley AUS 2:11:15 SHELLEY 19 Javier Guerra ESP 2:12:21 GUERRA 20 Bekir Karayel TUR 2:13:21 KARAYEL 21 Hermano Ferreira POR 2:13:28 FERREIRA 22 Christian Kreienbühl SUI 2:15:35 KREIENBUEHL 23 Anuradha Cooray SRI 2:15:51 COORAY 24 Mert Girmalegesse TUR 2:17:45 GIRMALEGESSE 25 Cesar Lizano CRC 2:17:50 LIZANO 26 Stijn Fincioen BEL 2:17:57 FINCIOEN27 Matthew Hynes GBR Debut HYNES 28 Pedro Ribeiro POR Debut RIBEIRO 29 Guye Adola ETH Debut ADOLA

04 THE ELITE RACES


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Preview: A clash of the champions

Former world-record holder Wilson Kipsang will defend his London Marathon title in a ‘clash of the champions’ against against fellow Kenyan Dennis Kimetto, the man who made history last year when he broke Kipsang’s record to become the first athlete ever to run 26.2 miles in less than two hours three minutes.

Kimetto, who clocked 2:02:57 in September’s Berlin Marathon, will make his London Marathon debut, while Kipsang takes on the iconic course for the fourth time having won in 2012 and 2014. The two are training partners in the Kenyan town of Iten but have never faced each other over the marathon distance.

Kipsang set the former world record of 2:03:23 at the Berlin Marathon in 2013 and broke the London course record last year when he won in 2:04:29. Now he is aiming to become only the fourth man in the event’s 35-year history to claim a hat-trick of London titles. The 33-year-old has won eight marathons in his career, including his last three races, and was crowned the 2013/14 World Marathon Majors champion after winning the 2014 New York City Marathon last November.

The 30-year-old Kimetto, a relative late-comer to world-class distance running, was a London Marathon pacemaker in 2013 soon after clocking the fastest ever debut marathon when he finished second in Berlin in 2012. He has since won three World Marathon Majors races, taking victory at the 2013 Tokyo and Chicago Marathons before last year’s triumph in the German capital.

The Kenyan pair are just two of the big hitters in an elite field that includes the three quickest marathon runners of all time (on legitimate courses); five of the world’s all-time top 10; and eight men in total who have run sub-2:05.

Kipsang and Kimetto are joined by five other strong Kenyans, including 2011 London champion Emmanuel Mutai, who ran the second fastest time ever when finishing runner-up to Kimetto in Berlin last year; Eliud Kipchoge, the former world 5000m champion who won the 2014 Chicago Marathon last October; and Geoffrey Mutai, the former Boston, New York and Berlin Marathon champion, who won the World Marathon Majors series in 2012.

There’s also Sammy Kitwara, who was second in Chicago and third in Tokyo last year, and last year’s runner-up, Stanley Biwott, another sub-2:05 man, who returns to the London Marathon seeking to go one better in 2015.

The Ethiopian challenge is led by the 19-year-old 2014 Dubai Marathon champion, Tsegaye Mekonnen, who was fifth last year and holds the fastest ever marathon time by a junior. Former Rotterdam Marathon champion, Tilahun Regassa, is the second Ethiopian in the field with a best of 2:05:27, while a pair of Eritreans, Samuel Tsegay and Ghebre Kibrom, add to the strength of the east African pack.

Ukraine’s cross country specialist Serhiy Lebid is the leading European. The 39-year-old won nine European cross country titles before moving up to the marathon. Russia’s European bronze medallist Alexey Reunkov is also in the line-up, as is Australia’s Glasgow Commonwealth Games champion Michael Shelley.

Scott Overall and Matt Hynes are the two Britons on the elite start line. Overall was fifth in the 2011 Berlin Marathon, while Hynes finished 10th in the recent Paris half marathon and is looking to improve a five-year-old marathon time in his first serious attempt at the distance.


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Olympic team, he stamped his authority on a high-quality field with two bold surges and crossed the line in 2:04:44, missing Mutai’s course record by four seconds.

He returned to London that August to spearhead Kenya’s 2012 Olympic bid. Despite establishing an early lead he could not maintain the pace and eventually finished third.

After his two appearances in London in 2012, he went on to win the Great North Run in a quick time of 59:06 and concluded 2012 with another victory, winning the Honolulu Marathon in 2:12:31.

He warmed up for the 2013 London Marathon with victory at the New York half in 61:02, but he could place no higher than fifth in London, his lowest finish in 11 marathon starts. He skipped the Moscow 2013 World Championships, saving himself for his world record assault in Berlin which he executed to perfection, breaking free after 30km to take 15 seconds from Makau’s time.

Kipsang’s second London victory 12 months ago confirmed his status as the world’s number one, a rank since challenged by his training partner, Kimetto.

He won the Granollers half marathon on 1 February this year in 62:39, repeating his victory from 2013.

Personal notesKipsang was working as a travelling salesman of farm produce when inspired to take up running by Paul Tergat’s 2003 marathon world record. He began running for the Kenyan police force and was discovered when he finished second in the Tegla Loroupe Peace Race over 10km.

He is married to Doreen Jepkechei Chebii and they have four children. He owns a 37-room hotel on the road between Eldoret and Iten.

His full name is Wilson Kiprotich Kipsang.

WILSON KIPSANG (KENYA)Born: 15 March 1982 Keiyo DistrictMarathon best: 2:03:23 Berlin 2013London Marathon record: 2012- 1st 2:04:44, 2013- 5th 2:07:47, 2014- 1st 2:04:29Other World Marathon MajorsBerlin: 2013- 1st 2:03:23New York: 2014- 1st 2:10:59Other major city marathonsFrankfurt: 2010- 1st 2:04:57, 2011- 1st 2:03:42Honolulu: 2012- 1st 2:12:31Otsu: 2011- 1st 2:06:13Paris: 2010- 3rd 2:07:13Marathons in major championships Olympics: 2012- 3rd 2:09:37

Career notesWilson Kipsang broke the course record to win his second London Marathon title last year, outbattling Stanley Biwott in the final mile and a half of the race to beat Emmanuel Mutai’s mark by 26 seconds.

He’d arrived in the British capital as the world record holder having broken Patrick Makau’s two-year-old mark at the Berlin Marathon in September 2013. He may have lost that accolade to Dennis Kimetto last September, but he bounced back by adding a first New York Marathon victory to his list of honours in November and won half a million dollars as the 2013/14 Series VIII World Marathon Majors men’s champion. The cold and windy conditions meant his winning time was the slowest in New York since 1995 and the second slowest of Kipsang’s 11 career marathons.

His aim in London this year is to become only the fourth man to win the London Marathon three times, and the first to retain the title since Martin Lel in 2008. The 33-year-old has won eight out of 11 marathons in his career so far, including his last three races, and remains third on the world all-time list thanks to his former world record of 2:03:23.

Principally a road runner, Kipsang’s main performance of note before his marathon debut in 2010 was fourth at the 2009 World Half Marathon Championships. He was also second at the 2009 Ra’s Al-Khaymah half marathon in 58:59, still his PB.

His first marathon came in Paris in 2010 when he was third in 2:07:13, half a minute behind winner Tadesse Tola. He won the Frankfurt Marathon that October in a course record of 2:04:57, beating Tola by more than a minute. He set another course record when he won the 2011 Lake Biwa Marathon in Otsu in 2:06:13 ahead of Deriba Merga.

He returned to Frankfurt in 2011 and made a bold attack on the world record. He put in a magnificent effort over the last 5km but missed the target by four seconds, settling instead for another course record with 2:03:42, more than a minute quicker than 2010.

Kipsang’s London Marathon victory in 2012 was similarly impressive. Competing for a place on Kenya’s


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By then, however, Kimetto already believed he had the potential to break the 2:03 barrier and he lived up to those predictions on 28 September last year when his historic run prompted a flood of speculation about the prospects of a sub-2 hour marathon, an achievement he believes is just a matter of time.

Kimetto has never run in a major championships race, but he has said he would like to run for Kenya at this year’s World Championships in Beijing and at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Personal notesHis full name is Dennis Kipruto Kimetto. He started training in 2008 and did not develop into a world class runner until his late 20s, spending the preceding years as a farmer earning money for his family by selling crops in Kenya’s Rift Valley.

“I would listen to the radio at home, and hear commentary on athletics,” he explained. “That’s what inspired me. It was the poverty that made me run; I thought athletics was the way to escape the poverty.”

Kimetto started training alone on the trails around Iten, and was soon spotted by Kipsang and Mutai, who invited him to join their group. “It was really painful at first because I couldn’t stay with them,” Kimetto remembered. “But in time I became as good as them.”

He is married to Caroline Chepkemei and they have a son Alphas Kibet, born 2012. He bought a new house for his family in Eldoret with his prize money from running.

He was presented with the World Record Award by the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races (AIMS) in Ra’s Al Kaymah this February.

DENNIS KIMETTO (KENYA)Born: 22 January 1984 Marathon best: 2:02:57 Berlin 2014London Marathon record: None (2013- pace)Other World Marathon MajorsBerlin: 2012- 2nd 2:04:16, 2014- 1st 2:02:57Boston: 2014- dnfChicago: 2013- 1st 2:03:45Tokyo: 2013- 1st 2:06:50Other major city marathons: NoneMarathons in major championships: None

Career notesDennis Kimetto became the first man in history to break two hours three minutes when he ran a 2:02:57 world record at the 2014 Berlin Marathon. He did it in only his fifth marathon by running the fastest second half in history (excluding the downhill Boston course) at 61 minutes 12 seconds.

Kimetto took 26 seconds from his training partner Wilson Kipsang’s mark, set in the same race the previous year, and also beat the unofficial world best of 2:03:02 by Geoffrey Mutai, another training partner, set in Boston in 2011.

Kimetto covered the first half in 61:45 and increased his pace in the second, finally shaking off his last challenger, Emmanuel Mutai, with less than 5km to go. Mutai was also inside the previous record with 2:03:13.

A latecomer to world class distance running, Kimetto ran his first international race in Nairobi in 2011, aged 27, when he won the half marathon in 61:30.

A recent recruit to Kipsang and Mutai’s training group, he progressed rapidly, winning the 2012 Berlin half marathon that April in 59:14 before, a month later, breaking the world record for 25km at the BIG 25 race in the German capital. He clocked 1:11:18.

He ran his first full marathon in Berlin too, in September 2012, and finished second to Mutai in 2:04:16, the fastest debut ever.

He stepped up again in 2013 when he won two World Marathon Majors events, starting with the Tokyo Marathon in January, where he broke the course record in 2:06:50, followed by the Chicago Marathon that October, where he ran 2:03:45, just 22 seconds outside Kipsang’s then world record.

It was both a course record and a North America all-comers’ record. In the process, Kimetto became the first man ever to cover each 5km segment of a marathon in under 14:50.

The one blip in Kimetto’s meteoric rise came a year ago at the Boston Marathon when he dropped out after going through 30km in 1:32:31.


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After his big breakthrough in London in 2011, he returned to New York that year to battle with Geoffrey Mutai, eventually yielding victory to his namesake, although he was ahead of Kebede so won the 2010/11 WMM Series V.

In January 2012 he was one of six athletes named on Kenya’s provisional list for Olympic selection and was later picked despite finishing seventh in London that April. At the Olympics, he lost touch with his two compatriots, Wilson Kipsang and Kirui, and struggled home in 17th place.

After a disappointing 2012, he returned to London in 2013 and seemed to have his second victory sewn up at 40km when he had a 28-second lead. But a hip injury slowed him down and Kebede emerged in the final mile to steal his glory. He hung on for second in 2:06:33.

He clocked his first sub-2:04 in Chicago that year and returned to London last year with high hopes, only to finish seventh again in his slowest time so far.

He ran 63:13 to finish eighth in this year’s Barcelona half marathon on 15 February.

Personal notesHis full name is Emmanuel Mutai Kipchirchir and he is based in Kaptagat, 40km east of Eldoret.

He is no relation to Geoffrey Mutai but he is related to Richard Limo, the 2001 world 5000m champion, and is coached by former steeplechaser, Patrick Sang.

He is married to Janet Jepkogei and they have two sons, Tony and Allan.

EMMANUEL MUTAI (KENYA)Born: 12 October 1984 Tulwet, Rift ValleyMarathon best: 2:03:13 Berlin 2014London Marathon record: 2008- 4th 2:06:15, 2009- 4th 2:06:53, 2010- 2nd 2:06:23, 2011- 1st 2:04:40, 2012- 7th 2:08:01, 2013- 2nd 2:06:33, 2014- 7th 2:08:19Other World Marathon Majors Berlin: 2014- 2nd 2:03:13Chicago: 2008- 5th 2:15:36, 2013- 2nd 2:03:52New York: 2010- 2nd 2:09:18, 2011- 2nd 2:06:28Other major city marathonsAmsterdam: 2007- 1st 2:06:29Rotterdam: 2007- 7th 2:13:06Marathons in major championships Olympics: 2012- 17th 2:14:49Worlds: 2009- 2nd 2:07:48

Career notesMutai broke a sequence of second places when he ran away from the field over the last 10km of the 2011 London Marathon to break Sammy Wanjiru’s course record. He covered the 5km from 30-35km in 14:16 and won by the biggest margin since 1986. His winning time of 2:04:40 made him then the 10th fastest marathon runner in history.

He improved that position in Chicago in October 2013 when he was second to Dennis Kimetto in 2:03:52, then the fastest non-winning time ever, making him one of just five people to break 2:04 on a legitimate course.

And he went quicker still in Berlin last September when he again followed Kimetto home. As his countryman made history by breaking the 2:03 barrier, Mutai lowered his own best to 2:03:13 to rank world No.2, a remarkable achievement in his 16th marathon.

Mutai’s marathon career began modestly in Rotter-dam in April 2007, but he produced a sparkling performance later that year in Amsterdam, winning in an eye-catching 2:06:29.

He made his London debut the following year, finishing fourth in 2:06:15 followed by fifth place in Chicago that October. In London 2009, he was out of the medals for the second year in a row, but came close to his PB with 2:06:53, fast enough to win a place on Kenya’s World Championship team. At the Worlds in Berlin he ran side-by-side with Abel Kirui for much of the race. Kirui pulled away in the final stages but Mutai bagged a silver medal.

He arrived in London the following spring seeking to make the podium for the first time. He achieved his goal by finishing second behind Tsegaye Kebede, clocking his fourth sub-2:07 time. In November that year he made his New York debut, and had to be satisfied with second again, this time trailing Gebre Gebremariam to the line.


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ELIUD KIPCHOGE (KENYA)Born: 5 November 1984 Kapsisiywa, Nandi DistrictMarathon best: 2:04:05 Berlin 2013London Marathon record: NoneOther World Marathon Majors Berlin: 2013- 2nd 2:04:05Chicago: 2014- 1st 2:04:11Other major city marathonsRotterdam: 2014- 1st 2:05:00Hamburg: 2013- 1st 2:05:30Marathons in major championships: None

Career notesFormer world 5000m champion Eliud Kipchoge ran the quickest non-winning time ever at the 2013 Berlin Marathon when he clocked 2:04:05 to finish second behind Wilson Kipsang’s world record-breaking run.

Both marks were surpassed at last year’s Berlin Marathon, and that time remains Kipchoge’s personal best, but the 30-year-old former track runner proved himself a new star of the roads in 2014 with an unbeaten record.

After winning the Barcelona half marathon last February, he triumphed at the Rotterdam Marathon in April in 2:05:00, then produced a magnificent late surge to win last October’s Chicago Marathon in 2:04:11, beating a high-quality field that included Emmanuel Mutai and Kenenisa Bekele.

Kipchoge first made the move up to the marathon as recently as April 2013 when he won the Hamburg Marathon in 2:05:30, beating the field by more than two minutes and setting a new course record.

Before then, Kipchoge was best known for his exploits on the track, not least his incredible upset victory at the 2003 World Championships in Paris when, at the age of 19, he won the 5000m gold medal defeating two giants of the distance, Kenenisa Bekele and Hicham El Guerrouj. Earlier that summer he’d broken the world junior record at the Bislett Games in Oslo, running 12:52.61.

Kipchoge had won the junior race the World Cross Country Championships earlier that year, but his Paris victory was to prove his last at a major championships as in the following years he often came close but never again reached the top of the podium.

At World Championships he won a 5000m silver in 2007, but otherwise finished fourth in 2005, fifth in 2009 and seventh in 2011, while he won an Olympic bronze in 2004 and silver in 2008, beaten by Bekele both times, and a Commonwealth Games silver in 2010 behind Uganda’s Moses Kipsiro.

Aside from occasional 5km and 10km races, Kipchoge made his first move on to the roads in 2012 when he was sixth at the Kavarna World Half Marathon Championships.

He won the Barcelona half marathon in 2013 before making his marathon debut in Hamburg, but his half marathon PB stems from 2012 when he ran 59:25 in Lille.

He finished sixth in this year’s Ra’s Al Khaymah International half marathon in 60:50.

Personal notesEliud Kipchoge was born in Kapsisiywa in the Nandi District in Kenya where his parents were farmers. He still lives mainly in Kapsisiywa.

He trains at the Global Sports camp in Kaptagat but is based in Nijmegen, Netherlands, during the track season.

Kipchoge has a daughter Lynne Jebet, born in 2006.


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GEOFFREY MUTAI (KENYA)Born: 7 October 1981 Koibatek District, Rift ValleyMarathon best: 2:04:15 Berlin 2012London Marathon record: 2013- dnf, 2014- 6th 2:08:18Other World Marathon Majors Berlin: 2010- 2nd 2:05:10, 2012- 1st 2:04:15Boston: 2011- 1st 2:03:02, 2012- dnfNew York: 2011- 1st 2:05:06, 2013- 1st 2:08:24, 2014- 6th 2:13:44Other major city marathonsDaegu: 2009- 8th 2:10:45Eindhoven: 2008- 1st 2:07:50, 2009- 1st 2:07:01Monaco: 2008- 1st 2:12:40Rotterdam: 2010- 2nd 2:04:55Seoul: 2009- dnfMarathons in major championships: None

Career notesThe 2011/12 World Marathon Majors champion produced one of the most astonishing performances in marathon history when he won the 2011 Boston Marathon in 2:03:02, then the quickest time ever recorded for the distance.

It didn’t count as a world record because of the point-to-point and downhill profile of the Boston course, and Mutai was aided by a strong tailwind, although it was still a breath-taking run as he averaged four minutes 41.5 seconds per mile.

Mutai went on to set the course record in New York City that autumn when he beat his namesake Emmanuel Mutai in 2:05:06, slashing two minutes 37 from a record that had stood for 10 years. Together, his times in Boston and New York that year set a record for the fastest two-race total in a single year – 4:08:08.

Mutai returned to defend his Boston title in April 2012 but suffered badly in the extreme heat and dropped out, ruining his chance of a place in Kenya’s Olympic team. He came back to win the 2012 Berlin Marathon in 2:04:15, his quickest ‘legitimate’ time, and clinched the World Marathon Majors Series VI crown.

He made his London Marathon debut in 2013, but it wasn’t a successful one as he dropped at 30km with a hamstring problem. He retained his New York title that November (the 2012 race was cancelled) after cutting loose in the second half and building a large lead.

He ran the same two races in 2014, finishing sixth in both London and New York, some way short of his best at both events.

Mutai first ran the marathon at Eldoret, Kenya, in December 2007. He finished second in 2:12:50. After winning two autumn marathons in Eindhoven in 2008 and 2009, he stepped up for his first WMM race in Berlin 2010 and came within two seconds of pulling off an upset victory over Patrick Makau.

He has run five marathons of 2:05:10 or better, and was one of the most consistent racers on the circuit for two years until the end of 2013.

He was due to race the Tokyo Marathon this February and then run as a pacemaker in London, but when injury forced him to withdraw from Tokyo he decided to race in London instead.

Mutai set a new half marathon best of 58:58 when he was third at the Ra’s Al-Khaymah on 15 February 2013. He beat Mo Farah to win the New York half marathon in March last year in 60:50.

He was the African Championships bronze medallist over 10,000m in 2010, Kenyan champion at cross country in 2011 and at 10,000m in 2013. He was fifth at the 2011 World Cross Country Championships.

Personal notesHe is the eldest of nine children and is married to Beatrice Chepkirui. They have two daughters, Michele and Merica.

His full name is Geoffrey Kiprono Mutai. He is not related to Emmanuel Mutai.

He is based in Kapngetuny in Uasin Gishu County (the Rift Valley). His training group includes Wilson Kipsang and Dennis Kimetto.


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SAMMY KITWARA (KENYA)Born: 26 November 1986 Sagat, Marakwet DistrictMarathon best: 2:04:28 Chicago 2014London Marathon record: NoneOther World Marathon Majors Chicago: 2012- 4th 2:05:54, 2013- 3rd 2:05:16, 2014- 2nd 2:04:28Tokyo: 2014- 3rd 2:06:30Other major city marathonsRotterdam: 2012- dnf, 2013- 3rd 2:07:22Marathons in major championships: None

Career notesSammy Kitwara chased Eliud Kipchoge home to finish runner-up in the Chicago Marathon last year in 2:04:28, a time that would have won every race in the event’s history until 2013.

It was Kitwara’s third appearance in the Windy City since 2012 and in three years he has moved up from fourth to third to second, improving his time on each occasion.

He arrives for his London Marathon debut in 2015 after clinching two World Marathon Majors podium places in 2014 – he was also third in Tokyo last February – and currently sits equal seventh on the WMM leaderboard.

Kitwara began his marathon career as a pacemaker at the 2011 Rotterdam Marathon, and made his debut at the same race in 2012. He was in the lead pack at half way (61:38), but dropped out after 30km. He was in better form when he returned to Rotterdam in 2013, placing third in 2:07:22.

His marathon record to date reads six starts, four podium places but, as yet, no victory.

Before his marathon career took off, Kitwara was best known as a half marathon runner. He is one of only 13 men to have broken 59 minutes which he has done twice.

He placed 10th at the World Half Marathon Championships in 2009, in Birmingham, having won the Den Haag and Rotterdam halves in Holland earlier that year, the former by beating Haile Gebrselassie, the latter in a course record of 58:58.

He had also set a course record of 27:25.6 at the World’s Best 10K in February that year. He won that race again in 2011, one of only three men to win the Puerto Rico race more than once. His 10km road best is 27:11, set when second in Utrecht in 2010.

He won a bronze medal at the 2010 World Half Marathon Championships in Nanning and in 2011 moved to fifth on the half marathon all-time list when he clocked 58:48 in Philadelphia, although he lost by two seconds to Mathew Kisorio.

He also lost narrowly to Zersenay Tadese in that year’s Lisbon half marathon when the Eritrean set a world record of 58:23.

He ran the fastest ever time for 12km when he clocked 33:31 in the 2009 Bay to Breakers race in San Francisco, an event he has won three times.

On the track, Kitwara won the 10,000m title at the 2009 Kenyan World Championship Trials, but was subsequently removed from the team for Berlin by Athletics Kenya for participating in road races after the Trials.

He won the World’s Best 10km race in San Juan for the fourth time on 1 March this year in 28:51.

Personal notesSammy Kirop Kitwara was born in Sagat village, in the Marakwet District of the Rift Valley.

He went to Embomir Primary School and Kerio Valley Secondary school, from which he graduated in 2004. He took up running in 2007 because “I was not making any progress in life and my family needed assistance.”

A policeman by occupation, he is coached by Moses Kiptanui and has run for the Kenyan police team.


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TSEGAYE MEKONNEN (ETHIOPIA)Born: 15 June 1995 North Shewa ZoneMarathon best: 2:04:32 Dubai 2014London Marathon record: 2014- 5th 2:08:06Other World Marathon Majors: NoneOther major city marathonsDubai: 2014- 1st 2:04:32Marathons in major championships: None

Career notesTsegaye Mekonnen made a sensational marathon debut in January last year when he won the 2014 Dubai Marathon in 2:04:32 at the age of 18, beating the unofficial world junior record by one minute 19 seconds.

It was the third fastest debut in history by a man known previously only for finishing fifth in the World Junior 5000m final in 2012. His winning time made Mekonnen the 11th fastest marathon runner of all time, with the 14th quickest time – he’s now 12th on the all-time list with the 19th best time.

He made his London Marathon debut 12 months ago, finishing fifth, the third of a trio of Ethiopians following the Kenyan one-two, but ahead of the two Mutais, Geoffrey and Emmanuel.

Mekonnen had run as a pacemaker in Dubai in 2013 and was 14th in the Ra’s Al Khaymah half marathon in February that year in 62:53. He was also 15th in the Bangalore 10km in 29:33 last May, and has a 10km road best of 28:36 from 2012.

He also ran a half marathon best of 62:41 in Porto in September 2013.

These were hardly performances to herald his amazing breakthrough on Dubai’s superfast course last January when he broke away in the 36th kilometre and reeled off km splits of 2:51, 2:52 and 2:54 to leave Markos Geneti in second place.

He ran a personal best of 61:05 to finish seventh at this year’s Ra’s Al Kaymah half marathon, just behind Eliud Kipchoge.

Personal notesHis full name is Tsegaye Mekonnen Asefa. He is the fourth of nine children (six boys, three girls).

He started training while still at school four years ago after being encouraged to run by his grandfather, Assefa Wake. He turned to the marathon after ‘only’ finishing fifth in the 5000m at the 2012 World Juniors.

He owns and rides a horse called Hodolcha which he keeps at his home town in the North Shewa Zone. Mekonnen trains in Addis Ababa.

His ambition is to break Haile Gebrselassie’s Ethiopian record of 2:03:59.


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STANLEY BIWOTT (KENYA)Born: 21 April 1986 Marathon best: 2:04:55 London 2014London Marathon record: 2011- pace, 2013- 8th 2:08:39, 2014- 2nd 2:04:55Other World Marathon Majors New York: 2013- 5th 2:10:41Other major city marathonsCarpi: 2006- 7th 2:14:25Chunchon: 2011- 1st 2:07:03Paris: 2012- 1st 2:05:12Reims: 2010- 2nd 2:09:41São Paulo: 2010- 1st 2:11:19Shanghai: 2012- 3rd 2:09:05Marathons in major championships: None

Career notesStanley Biwott was the surprise package of last year’s race when he finished second in a personal best, breaking the 2:05 barrier.

Despite starting as only the eighth quickest man in the field, the 2012 Paris champion ran stride-for-stride with world record holder Wilson Kipsang until the final stages of the race and followed his countryman across the line in 2:04:55 to ensure 2014 was the first year in 34 London Marathons that two men have broken 2:05.

Biwott had taken nearly two minutes from his PB to win the 2012 Paris Marathon, crossing the line in 2:05:12, a course record. It was a significant move into world class for the Kenyan whose marathon career began six years earlier in Carpi, where he was seventh.

He didn’t run a marathon again until 2010 when he won the São Paulo Marathon in 2:11:19, the fastest ever in South America.

He dipped under 2:10 for the first time at the 2010 Reims to Toutes Jambes, where he was three seconds behind winner Stephen Chebogut in 2:09:41.

At the Chunchon Marathon in 2011 he outran his training partner Jonathan Kosgei Kipkorir and took another two and a half minutes from his PB with a time of 2:07:03, a course record.

Biwott began 2012 with another course record, this time at the Paris half marathon which he won in 59:44. That was on 1 March, and just six weeks later he returned to the French capital to repeat the feat at the full distance. He took the lead at half way and continued to pull away from the field over the second half.

He headed to USA later in the year and won both the Beach to Beacon 10km, in a PB of 28:00, and the Falmouth 7 miles road race. He was also a comfortable winner at the Philadelphia half marathon, finishing 40 seconds ahead of the field, and at the Rock ‘n’ Roll half in San Antonio in November.

His good form continued in 2013 when he was second at the Ra’s Al Khaymah half in a PB of 58:56, equal 11th on the world all-time list at the end of 2014.

He ran well on his London Marathon debut in April 2013 when he was leading the race with less than five miles to go until Emmanuel Mutai swept past him. He struggled on the run-in and eventually finished eighth in 2:08:39.

He was among the leaders in the New York Marathon that November too, eventually finishing fifth in 2:10:41.

He withdrew from the 2014 Ra’s Al-Khaymah half marathon because of ‘leg pain’, but dipped under the hour again at the New Delhi half last November when he clocked 59:18 in fifth.

He ran the fastest half marathon in the world so far this year when he won the City Pier City race in Den Haag in 59:20 on 8 March.

Personal notesHis full name is Stanley Kipleting Biwott. He is married to Nancy Cherop Biwott and they have a son, Alan Kipchumba.

His brother Norris Biwott ran 2:11:29 in 2013.

He worked on his family’s dairy farm before becoming a runner. He began working with Italian coach Claudio Berardelli in 2006.


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TILAHUN REGASSA (ETHIOPIA)Born: 18 January 1990 NazretMarathon best: 2:05:27 Chicago 2012London Marathon record: NoneOther World Marathon MajorsBoston: 2014- dnfChicago: 2012- 3rd 2:05:27Other major city marathonsEindhoven: 2014- 1st 2:06:21Rotterdam: 2013- 1st 2:05:38Xiamen: 2015- 2nd 2:06:54Marathons in major championships: None

Career notesTilahun Regassa made a spectacular marathon debut when he finished third at the 2012 Chicago Marathon in 2:05:27, then the third fastest debut on a standard course. He kept Sammy Kitwara out of the medals completing an Ethiopian clean sweep led by two-time London Marathon winner Tsegaye Kebede.

Regassa was familiar with most of the Chicago course as he had been a pacemaker the previous year, when he passed 30km in 1:29:25 (at 2:06 marathon pace).

He followed his debut with two prestigious European wins, first at the 2013 Rotterdam Marathon, when he triumphed by more than a minute and finished just 11 seconds outside his PB, and then last October in Eindhoven, having failed to finish the 2014 Boston Marathon in April.

On 3 January this year he was second in the Xiamen Marathon behind Moses Mosop. His four completed marathons have all been inside 2:07 and he has won a place on the podium each time.

Regassa is also a sub-one hour half-marathon runner with his best of 59:19 stemming from his victory in the 2010 Zayed International in Abu Dhabi, worth US$300,000. He ran for Ethiopia at the 2009 World Half Marathon Championships in Birmingham, finishing 11th in 62:08 and winning a team bronze.

He set four PBs in 2012 including 27:18.90 for 10,000m when he was sixth in Hengelo and 43:01 for 15km, his winning time in the Boilermaker road race in New York State.

Personal notesHis full name is Tilahun Regassa Dabe.

Regassa’s parents divorced when he was three and he was raised by his father until the age of 15, when his father died. He worked for a stone company and lived on the streets for three years, relying on food handouts.

At 16, he entered the Great Ethiopian Run and came fourth. A year later he was ninth. Local coaches told Hussein Makke, an elite manager, of his potential, and Makke took him into his stable of runners to train full-time. He began competing in Europe in 2008.

Regassa was once described by his manager as “one of the most talented athletes in the world”, but also as “a wild man, in every meaning of the word”.


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SAMUEL TSEGAY (ERITREA)Born: 24 October 1988 KudofelasiMarathon best: 2:07:28 Amsterdam 2011London Marathon record: 2012- 9th 2:08:06, 2014- 18th 2:19:10Other World Marathon Majors: NoneOther major city marathonsAmsterdam: 2011- 8th 2:07:28Marathons in major championshipsOlympics: 2012- dnfWorlds: 2013- 16th 2:14:41

Career notesTsegay was ninth on his London Marathon debut two years ago, clocking 2:08:06, but he dropped out of the London Olympic race a few months later and was 16th at the 2013 World Championships.

He returned to the London Marathon last year full of confidence after picking up a silver medal at the 2014 World Half Marathon Championships in Copenhagen last March. Tsegay ran a personal best of 59:21 and helped Eritrea to take the team gold for the first time.

But he again struggled to find his best form in the British capital, and slipped back over the second half of the race to finish 18th in 2:19:10.

Tsegay claimed the Eritrean record from Yonas Kifle when he made his marathon debut in Amsterdam in October 2011, only to see it vanish a week later when Yared Asmerom took a second from his time of 2:07:28.

Tsegay finished eighth in the Dutch city, an encouraging step up for the then 23-year-old who had twice finished fifth at previous World Half Marathon Championships and was an experienced cross country international at junior and senior levels.

He broke his national junior 10,000m record when he was fourth at the 2006 World Junior Championships and lowered it again when eighth at the 2007 All-African Games. He also finished eighth in the junior races at the 2006 and 2007 World Cross Country Championships.

At senior level he was 16th at the World Cross in 2009 when the Eritrean team took bronze. He also represented Eritrea over 5000m at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin where he was eliminated in the heats.

A fifth place at the 2010 World Cross gained him a team silver but he was disqualified in 2011 after he and Abera Kuma began fighting in the final stretch. Tsegay accused the Ethiopian of deliberately elbowing him and standing on his heels. He reacted by grabbing Kuma’s leg and threw a punch before dashing to the finish. The IAAF disqualified both athletes.

On the roads, Tsegay made an encouraging step up to the half marathon when he was fifth at the 2009 World Championships in Birmingham and he was fifth again in Nanning the following year.

He ran a personal best for 10 miles (44:38) in Zaandam in September 2011 before making his marathon debut in the same country a month later.

In 2013 he ran PBs for 10km and 15km and was sixth in the Lisbon half marathon while last year he won the Eritrean half marathon championships in 59:42 before his medal-winning performance in Copenhagen.

Personal notesHis full name is Samuel Tsegay Tesfamriam.

He is coached by Jeronimo Bravo who also coaches world half marathon record holder Zersenay Tadese.


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SERHIY LEBID (UKRAINE)Born: 15 July 1975 DnipropetrovskMarathon best: 2:08:32 Seoul 2014London Marathon record: NoneOther World Marathon Majors: NoneOther major city marathonsLisbon: 2013- 2nd 2:11:24Nagano: 2014- 1st 2:13:56Seoul: 2014- 4th 2:08:32Warsaw: 2013- dnfMarathons in major championships: None

Career notesThe nine-times European cross country champion and former world cross country silver medallist has moved up to the marathon in the last couple of years.

He dropped out on his debut in Warsaw in April 2013, but he was second in Lisbon later that year in 2:11:24 before winning the Nagano marathon last April.

He made a major improvement to his time in November when he was fourth in at the Seoul Marathon in 2:08:32, taking almost three minutes from his PB to rank second in Europe behind Mo Farah.

Now 39, Lebid’s international career stretches back to 1997 when he was European under 23 silver medallist at 10,000m. He went on to win three World University Games 5000m titles – in 1999, 2001 and 2003 – and represented Ukraine at that distance at World Championships and Olympic Games from 1999 to 2012. His best finish at global level came in 2000 when he was seventh in the Sydney Games 5000m final.

At European level, he won a 5000m bronze medal at the 2002 championships in Munich. He was also fourth at 5000m in 2010 and fifth at 10,000m in 2006.

His major successes have come at cross country as he was the dominant European figure for a dozen years and is arguably the continent’s greatest ever cross country runner.

He won nine European golds between 1998 and 2010 plus one silver and three bronze medals in that 12-year period. Uniquely, he appeared in all of the first 19 editions of the championships from 1994 to 2012. He also won a silver medal at the 2001 World Cross Country Championships having finished eighth in 2000.

In all, he has won 13 national titles in Ukraine and broken national records at 3000m (indoors and out), two miles indoors, and 5000m outdoors (13:10.78 in 2002), while he also set national records at 5km and 10km on the roads.

His half marathon best of 61:49 was set in 2003 when he was third at the Great North Run.

Personal notesHe was coached by Renato Canova earlier in his career, and was often based in Italy.


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ALEKSEY REUNKOV (RUSSIA)Born: 28 January 1984Marathon best: 2:09:54 Frankfurt 2011London Marathon record: NoneOther World Marathon Majors: NoneOther major city marathonsDaegu: 2011- 10th 2:12:16Frankfurt: 2011- 14th 2:09:54Otsu: 2013- 13th 2:11:41Seville: 2010- 9th 2:15:48Vienna: 2014- 7th 2:11:08Marathons in major championshipsOlympics: 2012- 14th 2:13:49Europeans: 2014- 3rd 2:12:15

Career notesAleksey Reunkov won the marathon bronze medal at last summer’s European Championships in Zürich, some 11 years after he won European silver and bronze medals at a junior level on the track and at cross country.

After running a sensible race on the punishing course, Reunkov produced a strong finish to claim his medal in Zürich just ahead of Spain’s Javier Guerra, after the long-time leader Marcin Chabowski had cracked in the heat. Reunkov missed the silver medal by just 15 seconds.

He began his marathon career four years earlier in Seville where he finished ninth in 2:15:48. He took three minutes from that time in Daegu the following year when he was 10th and sliced another two-and-a-quarter off his best in Frankfurt that October, clocking 2:09:54 in 14th place, a time which remains his best.

He ran the marathon for Russia at the London 2012 Olympics and finished 14th, the fifth European to cross the finish line in The Mall.

He has since raced in Otsu in 2013, and last April finished seventh in Vienna before representing Russia again at the 2014 Europeans.

Reunkov’s first international success came in 2003 when he won a silver medal over 10,000m at the European Junior Championships followed by a bronze that December in the junior race at the European Cross Country Championships .

More medals have eluded him since, though he’s twice run for Russia at senior level at European Cross Country Championships and competed on the track over 10,000m at two European Cups. He was also fourth in the 10,000m at the 2009 World University Games.

His half marathon PB of 63:00 was set in Warsaw in 2008. He ran 63:41 to finish 12th in Ostia on 1 March this year.

Personal notesHis twin brother, Sergey Reunkov, is also an international runner.


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GHEBRE KIBROM (ERITREA)

Born: 1 February 1987Marathon best: 2:10:00 Hengshui 2014London Marathon record: NoneOther World Marathon Majors: NoneOther major city marathonsCologne: 2013- 8th 2:11:56Hengshui: 2014- 5th 2:10:00Milan: 2014- 3rd 2:11:12Marathons in major championships: None

Career notesGhebre Kibrom has produced three top 10 finishes in his three marathons so far, most successfully when third in Milan last April behind Kenyans Francis Kiprop and Stephen Tum.

His time of 2:11:12 improved his personal best from his debut in Cologne the previous October and he lowered it still further in his third outing. That was in Hengshui, China, last September when he clocked 2:10:00 to finish fifth in a race won by Ethiopian Markos Geneti.

Personal notesHis full name is Ghebrezgiabhier Weldemicael Kibrom, sometimes written as Kibrom Ghebrezgiabhier.


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His half marathon best of 62:26 stems from 2011 while he ran 63:24 to finish 15th at this year’s New York half marathon on 16 March.

Personal notesHe is coached by former Russian record holder Leonid Shvetsov.

MARCIN CHABOWSKI (POLAND)

Born: 28 May 1986Marathon best: 2:10:07 Düsseldorf 2012London Marathon record: NoneOther World Marathon Majors: NoneOther major city marathonsDüsseldorf: 2012- 4th 2:10:07Eindhoven: 2014- 8th 2:15:04Lódz: 2014- 5th 2:11:23Warsaw: 2011- 6th 2:14:32Marathons in major championshipsEuropeans: 2014- dnf

Career notesMarcin Chabowski made a bold bid for glory on the final day of the European Championships in Zürich last summer when he struck out alone at the start of the men’s marathon, throwing caution to the wind despite the rising heat and brutal hilly course.

A former European junior steeplechase champion who turned to the marathon in 2011, Chabowski led the field by more than a minute at 25km before eventually paying the price for his suicidal pace. He was caught shortly after passing 30km and later dropped out clutching his side less than 10km from the finish, leaving Italy’s Daniele Meucci to take the gold.

It was a disappointing end for Chabowski who finished sixth on his debut in Warsaw in 2:14:32, a time he improved by nearly four and a half minutes when he was fourth in Düsseldorf the following year.

He didn’t attempt another marathon until 2014 when he was fifth in Lodz last April, winning his place on Poland’s team for Zürich.

After his crash landing in Switzerland, Chabowski returned to action swiftly, running the Eindhoven Marathon in October where he finished eighth, but in his slowest time so far.

Chabowski had his first taste of international competition in 2003 when he was fifth in the 2000m steeplechase at the World Youth Championships.

The following year he was a 3000m steeplechase finalist at the World Juniors. In 2005 he won the European junior title in Kaunas and broke Poland’s national junior record for the distance with 8:30.40. His all-time PB is 8:25.90 from 2008.

In 2007, he was fifth at the European Under 23 Championships, but in more recent years he has moved up in distance, becoming Poland’s senior 10,000m champion in 2009 with a PB of 28:27.59, and running 10,000m for his country at European Cups in 2010 and 2011.

He has been Polish cross country champion four times, 10,000m champion twice, 10km champion twice, and half marathon champion.


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KOEN RAYMAEKERS (NETHERLANDS)Born: 31 January 1980 CothenMarathon best: 2:10:35 Rotterdam 2012London Marathon record: NoneOther World Marathon Majors: NoneOther major city marathonsAmsterdam: 2006- 16th 2:15:50, 2007- 14th 2:13:02, 2009- 13th 2:12:59, 2011- dnf, 2013- dnfEindhoven: 2012- 21st 2:19:17Rotterdam: 2007- 14th 2:19:44, 2008- 14th 2:15:07, 2009- 15th 2:18:59, 2010- 9th 2:11:09, 2011- 8th 2:13:41, 2012- 6th 2:10:35, 2013- 8th 2:12:09, 2014- 11th 2:15:19Utrecht: 2006- 5th 2:23:38Marathons in major championshipsEuropeans: 2010- 17th 2:23:24, 2014- 31st 2:20:49

Career notesKoen Raymaekers is a veteran of 17 career marathons, and has run all but two of them in his home country, the Netherlands. His record includes four Amsterdam Marathons since 2006 and every single Rotterdam Marathon since 2007.

But he won’t be running Rotterdam this April for the 35-year-old makes his World Marathon Majors debut in London in the hope of dipping under 2:10 for the first time.

A former Dutch junior record holder at 5000m and 10,000m, Raymaekers made his marathon debut in Utrecht in 2006 when he was fifth, which remains his highest ever finish.

He has completed at least one marathon every year since and produced his best performance in 2012 when he was sixth in Rotterdam in 2:10:35, a race which produced PBs for seven of the first 10 men, including the top two, Ethiopians Yemane Adhane and Getu Feleke, who both broke 2:05.

Raymaekers has been a Dutch international since 1997 when he finished 17th in the junior race at the European Cross Country Championships.

In 1998 he ran 5000m at the World Junior Championships, and the following year he was fourth at 10,000m at the European juniors. In 2001 he won a silver medal at the European Under 23 Championships but he had to wait until he’d moved up to the marathon before winning his first senior Dutch vest.

That was in 2010 when he was 17th at the Barcelona European Championships. He was selected for the 2014 championships too, and finished 31st in Zürich.

He has been a prolific half marathon runner in Holland, his PB of 62:09 coming at the 2011 Den Haag race. He was 15th in Den Haag this year in 64:17 and 17th at the Venloop half in 64:21.


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He broke his 10,000m track PB last September when he ran 29:18.39, and he won the Reading half marathon last March in 64:44.

He was 12th in the World’s Best 10km race in San Juan on 1 March this year in 30:19.

Personal notesBorn in Hammersmith, London, Overall began running during physical education lessons at school.

A member of Blackheath & Bromley Athletic Club, he attended Leicester University then Butler University in Indianapolis, USA, where he studied economics, before joining Team Indiana Elite in Bloomington where he hooked up with the coach, Robert Chapman.

He is now based in Sutton, Surrey, and is coached by Alan Storey.

He used to train with Mo Farah and was an usher at Farah’s wedding.

Overall worked for the Sweatshop specialist running retail outlet, and occasionally at the London Marathon head office, before deciding to train full-time for the marathon.

His girlfriend is retired British international 800m runner Vicky Griffiths.

SCOTT OVERALL (GREAT BRITAIN & NI)Born: 9 February 1983 Hammersmith, LondonMarathon best: 2:10:55 Berlin 2011London Marathon record: 2012- pace, 2013- dnf, 2014- 19th 2:19:55Other World Marathon MajorsBerlin: 2011- 5th 2:10:55, 2013- dnf, 2014- 14th 2:13:00Other major city marathonsFukuoka: 2012- 13th 2:14:15Marathons in major championshipsOlympics: 2012- 61st 2:22:37

Career notesScott Overall became the first British man to qualify for the London 2012 Olympic athletics team when he ran 2:10:55 to finish fifth on his marathon debut in Berlin in 2011. It was the fastest time by a Briton since Tomas Abyu was second in the Dublin Marathon in 2007.

Overall warmed up for the Olympics by winning the Silverstone Half Marathon in March 2012, finishing eighth at the New York City half marathon in a PB of 61:25, and pacemaking British runners at the 2012 London Marathon.

He then finished third at the Bupa London 10,000 at the end of May, two places behind Mo Farah.

He was 61st in the Olympic race in 2:22:37 and ended the year placing 13th at the Fukuoka Marathon in 2:14:15 to rank third in the UK for 2012.

He was seventh in the 2013 New Orleans half marathon in 64:51, and won the Silverstone half again in March 2013 in 65:43, looking in good shape for his London Marathon debut that April. But it turned out to be a race to forget as he dropped out around 25km troubled by a knee injury.

He returned to the Berlin Marathon that September but again struck bad luck when he tore his calf half way into the race.

The 2014 London Marathon was also a frustrating experience. Overall set off with high hopes of a quick time after what he described as “near enough perfect” training with Chris Thompson in Colorado Springs. But he finished 19th, suffering “a slow death” over the last seven to eight miles, and ended with a time only just inside 2:20.

Things improved slightly when he placed 14th in Berlin last September in 2:13:00, his second quickest time and good enough to rank third in Britain for the year behind Mo Farah and Thompson.

Overall was the national 5000m champion on the track in 2009 and has represented Britain at European indoor and cross country championships. He was sixth in the 2005 European under 23 5000m and has a best at the distance of 13:28.33 from 2008. He is also a four-minute miler with an indoor best of 3:58.61.


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He improved that by 15 seconds in Amsterdam that autumn, and then finished 16th at the London 2012 Olympics, one place ahead of Emmanuel Mutai.

He qualified for Glasgow by running 2:13:09 to place 12th at the 2013 Chicago Marathon, won by Dennis Kimetto in 2:03:45. In Glasgow he timed his effort to perfection, producing his best time when it mattered most.

“I’ve got to pinch myself, it is very exciting,” he said afterwards. “I was just hoping to come back and defend the silver medal, so to come back and win is indescribable.”

Shelley’s half marathon PB of 61:27 was set when finishing 10th in the 2012 New York half marathon. He has a 10km PB of 28:44, also from 2012.

On the track his 10,000m best is 27:59.77 and he’s run 13:38.30 for 5000m, both in 2009.

Personal notesCoached by Dick Trelford, Shelley trains in hot and humid conditions on the Gold Coast.

He was introduced to running at primary school sports carnivals, then attended the Helensvale State High School, which also produced Olympic sprint hurdles gold medallist Sally Pearson and tennis player Sam Stosur, a US Open winner. The school named its sports house after Shelley in November last year.

MICHAEL SHELLEY (AUSTRALIA)

Born: 10 October 1983 Southport, QueenslandMarathon best: 2:11:15 Commonwealths 2014London Marathon record: 2011- 10th 2:11:38Other World Marathon MajorsChicago: 2013- 12th 2:13:09Other major city marathonsAmsterdam: 2011- 11th 2:11:23Oita: 2013- 6th 2:13:12Rotterdam: 2010- 12th 2:13:05Marathons in major championshipsOlympics: 2012- 16th 2:14:10Commonwealths: 2010- 2nd 2:15:28, 2014- 1st 2:11:15

Career notesMichael Shelley became the first non-African winner of the Commonwealth Games men’s marathon title for two decades when he triumphed in Glasgow’s pouring rain last July.

The 30-year-old from Southport in Queensland pulled clear of Kenya’s Stephen Chemlany two miles from the finish to win by 43 seconds in 2:11:15 before being embraced by Steve Moneghetti, the Australian marathon legend and 2014 chef de mission who was the last man from outside Africa to strike Commonwealth gold in 1994.

The victory was the climax of a remarkable five-year turn-around for Shelley who almost quit the sport in 2009 after he suffered a stress fracture to his pelvis and lost funding from the Australian Institute of Sport.

It would have been a sad end for the promising distance runner who made his international debut as a steeplechaser at the 2002 World Junior Championships, represented Australia at four World Cross Country Championships and finished 16th at the 2008 World Half Marathon Championships.

With the encouragement of his coach, Dick Trelford, Shelley persevered, and his step up to the marathon in 2010 was an inspired move, bringing swift and unexpected success. After running 2:13:05 on his debut in Rotterdam that April, Shelley was selected for the 2010 Commonwealth Games where his pre-race aim was merely to complete the 42km in Delhi’s harsh conditions.

Yet the relatively slow pace worked to his advantage. After lying eighth at halfway, he finished strongly, overhauling Kenyan Amos Tirop Matui in the last 3km to take the silver medal 53 seconds behind John Kelai in 2:15:28.

“Being able to finish would have been an amazing result – it’s my first Commonwealth Games and my first multi-sport Games,” he said afterwards. “It was a learning experience and we’ll see what happens.”

What happened next was Shelley received an invitation to run the London Marathon in 2011 and finished a creditable 10th in 2:11:38.


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JAVIER GUERRA (SPAIN)

Born: 10 November 1983Marathon best: 2:12:21 La Coruña 2013London Marathon record: NoneOther World Marathon Majors: NoneOther major city marathonsLa Coruña: 2013- 1st 2:12:21Marathons in major championshipsWorlds: 2013- 15th 2:14:33Europeans: 2014- 4th 2:12:32

Career notesJavier Guerra missed a medal at the European Championships in Zürich last summer by just 17 seconds. He was fourth in 2:12:32, 11 seconds outside his best on a tough course.

He set his personal best on his marathon debut in La Coruña to win a place at the 2013 World Championships. He performed well in difficult conditions in Moscow to place 15th in 2:14:33, the first European finisher.

He ran for Spain again at the World Half Marathon Championships in Copenhagen last March, setting a PB of 62:27 in 38th. Guerra first pulled on a Spanish vest as a junior in 2001 when he finished ninth at the European Cross Country Championships. He also ran 5000m at the 2002 World Junior Championships. As a senior he has represented Spain at seven European Cross Country Championships, finishing fifth in 2011, and at the 2010 World Cross.

On the track, he twice made the 5000m final at the World University Games, finishing seventh in 2009 and has PBs at 5000m of 13:46.12 (2007) and 10,000m of 28:53.03 (2009).

He was second in the Granollers half marathon in February this year, just six seconds behind Wilson Kipsang in 62:44, 15 seconds outside his PB. He was also sixth in the Spanish cross country championships.

BEKIR KARAYEL (TURKEY)

Born: 10 May 1982Marathon best: 2:13:21 London 2012London Marathon record: 2012- 16th 2:13:21Other World Marathon Majors: NoneOther major city marathonsDüsseldorf: 2011- 7th 2:19:40Hamburg: 2008- 27th 2:21:03Istanbul: 2006- 13th 2:17:03, 2008- 9th 2:20:38, 2009- 11th 2:23:17, 2010- 5th 2:16:41, 2011- 6th 2:15:48, 2013- 5th 2:20:27,2014- 14th 2:22:36Marathons in major championshipsOlympics: 2012- 76th 2:29:38Worlds: 2011- 47th 2:33:20

Career notesBekir Karayel smashed more than two minutes from his PB when he ran the London Marathon three years ago. He’d run for Turkey at the 2011 World Championships and represented his country again at the London 2012 Olympics.

Most of his marathon running has been done on home soil in Istanbul where he has raced seven times, finishing fifth twice and in the top 10 four times.

He also finished seventh in the Düsseldorf Marathon in 2011 but he has been below his best in the last two years.

He has represented Turkey at three European Cross Country Championships and the 2010 European Mountain Running Championships, while he ran a PB of 62:48 in last year’s World Half Marathon Championships in Copenhagen. He broke the Turkish half marathon record with 62:55 in 2012.


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HERMANO FERREIRA (PORTUGAL)

Born: 16 November 1982Marathon best: 2:13:28 Vienna 2010London Marathon record: NoneOther World Marathon Majors: NoneOther major city marathonsRome: 2013- 13th 2:14:53Turin: 2011- 7th 2:13:28Vienna: 2010- 10th 2:13:28Marathons in major championshipsWorlds: 2013- dnfEuropeans: 2010- dnf, 2014- dnf

Career notesHermano Ferreira has had two top 10 finishes in his six marathons, running exactly the same time on both occasions – 2:13:28 to place 10th in Vienna in 2010 and seventh in Turin in 2011.

He has run three championship marathons for Portugal, but failed to finish in any of them.

His first international appearance was back in 2001, when he was 20th at the European Junior Cross Country Championships. He has also represented his country at World and European Cross Country Championships, while he was fourth in the 3000m at the 2006 Ibero-American Championships.

His ran his half marathon PB of 61:24 when winning the European Clubs event in 2010.

CHRISTIAN KREIENBÜHL (SWITZERLAND)

Born: 6 June 1981Marathon best: 2:15:35 Berlin 2012London Marathon record: NoneOther World Marathon MajorsBerlin: 2012- 18th 2:15:35Other major city marathonsZürich: 2011- 11th 2:21:48, 2012- 11th 2:19:38, 2013- 7th 2:17:47Marathons in major championshipsWorlds: 2013- 34th 2:21:17Europeans: 2014- 23rd 2:18:36

Career notesChristian Kreienbühl was a member of Switzerland’s six-strong bronze medal-winning marathon team at the European Championships in Zürich last summer, along with the hosts’ favourite, defending champion Viktor Röthlin, making his farewell appearance, and former Eritrean Tadesse Abraham, the big new hope.

While Röthlin was fifth and Abraham ninth, Kreienbühl finished 23rd in 2:18:36 to ensure the host nation won a place on the team podium. It was the 33-year-old’s second appearance for his country as he also ran at the Moscow 2013 World Championships where he finished 34th.

Kreienbühl made his marathon debut in Zürich in 2011 and has run three of his six marathons in the Swiss city. His best finish was seventh in 2013. He ran his quickest marathon in Berlin in 2012 when he was 18th.

He ran his half marathon best in Berlin that year too, clocking 65:55, while he has a 10km PB of 29:50 and has run 53:27 for 10 miles on the roads.

He was Swiss marathon champion in 2012, and the 10,000m and half marathon champion in 2013.


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ANURADHA COORAY (SRI LANKA)

Born: 24 March 1978Marathon best: 2:15:51 Asian Games 2014London Marathon record: 2005- 27th 2:20:16, 2009- 21st 2:21:02, 2011- 27th 2:21:11, 2012- 23rd 2:17:50, 2013- 16th 2:17:53Other World Marathon Majors: NoneOther major city marathonsIslamabad: 2004- 1st 2:16:38Mahiyanganaya: 2003- 1st 2:16:39Pune: 2011- 10th 2:18:42Singapore: 2004- 7th 2:18:28Marathons in major championshipsOlympics: 2004- 30th 2:19:26, 2012- 55th 2:20:41Worlds: 2005- dnfAsian Games: 2014- 6th 2:15:51

Career notesAnuradha Indrajith Cooray broke his personal best to finish sixth at the Asian Games in Incheon last October.

He won his first two marathons and has since run five times in London, his best performance coming in 2012 when he clocked 2:17:50, while he was just three seconds slower two years ago in 16th place.

He has represented Sri Lanka in the marathon at two Olympics and one World Championships, while he also ran in the 2005 and 2014 World Half Marathon Championships. Last year in Copenhagen he broke his own national record with 65:20.

MERT GIRMALEGESSE (TURKEY)

Born: 30 November 1987Marathon best: 2:17:45 Tempe 2008London Marathon record: NoneOther World Marathon Majors: NoneOther major city marathonsIstanbul: 2014- 12th 2:21:43Tempe: 2008- 6th 2:17:45Marathons in major championships: None

Career notesMert Girmalegesse finished sixth in the Tempe Marathon in Arizona in January 2008 shortly before switching allegiance from Ethiopia to Turkey.

He became eliglible to run for Turkey in February 2008 and broke the Turkish 10,000m record clocking 27:29.33 to finish 11th in the Beijing 2008 Olympic final. Earlier in the year he set a Turkish 5000m record of 13:26.14.

He became European under 23 cross country bronze medallist later that year, and the under 23 10,000m champion the following year. He also finished ninth in the 5000m and picked up a bronze at the 2009 Mediterranean Games.

In 2010 he was ninth in the 5000m at the European Championships and represented Europe in the Continental Cup. He was a World Youth bronze medallist at 3000m back in 2003.

He ran for Turkey at last year’s World Half Marathon Championships and finished 12th in the Istanbul Marathon.

Mert Girmalegesse was his Ethiopian name, but since switching to Turkey he has been known as Selim Bayrak.


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CESAR LIZANO (COSTA RICA)

Born: 7 March 1982Marathon best: 2:17:50 Chicago 2011London Marathon record: NoneOther World Marathon Majors:Chicago: 2011- 11th 2:17:50Other major city marathonsHouston: 2013- 11th 2:22:01Sacramento: 2014- 19th 2:18:20Toronto: 2010- 19th 2:23:45Marathons in major championshipsOlympics: 2012- 65th 2:24:16

Career notesCesar Lizano set his personal best in his only previous appearance in a World Marathon Majors race, finishing 11th in Chicago in 2011.

He ran his first marathon in Toronto the previous year and represented Costa Rica at the London 2012 Olympics, where he finished 65th. He was only 30 seconds outside his PB when finishing 19th in December’s California Marathon in Sacramento.

He represented Costa Rica at the 2009 and 2014 World Half Marathon Championships, finishing 84th both times, running his PB is 66:07 on the second occasion.

STIJN FINCIOEN (BELGIUM)

Born: 29 December 1980Marathon best: 2:17:57 Eindhoven 2011London Marathon record: NoneOther World Marathon Majors: NoneOther major city marathonsEindhoven: 2009- 25th 2:24:15, 2010- 13th 2:22:36, 2011- 17th 2:17:57, 2012- 22nd 2:21:13, 2014- 12th 2:19:30Rotterdam: 2014- 18th 2:19:10Tourhout: 2013- 1st 2:22:50Marathons in major championships: None

Career notesStijn Fincioen has raced in the Eindhoven Marathon almost every year since 2009, posting his PB there in 2011. He won the Tourhout Marathon on home soil in Belgium in 2013 and finished in the top 20 at Rotterdam last year.


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PEDRO RIBEIRO (PORTUGAL)

Born: 25 March 1981Marathon best: DebutLondon Marathon record: NoneOther World Marathon Majors: NoneOther major city marathons: NoneMarathons in major championships: None

Career notesPedro Ribeiro is a former Portuguese steeplechase champion making his marathon debut after representing his country on the track at European Championships and World University Games (2003 and 2009), and at European and World Cross Country Championships.

Ribeiro twice finished eighth in the 3000m steeplechase at the World University Games while he was sixth at the 2004 Ibero-American Championships.

He was selected to run for Portugal at the 2010 European Championships in Barcelona but could only finish ninth in his heat.

He has run for his country at four European and one World Cross Country Championships.

His half marathon best of 65:20 was set in 2007 when he was third in Ovar.

He won the Portuguese steeplechase title five times between 2004 and 2010, and was second in 2012. His best time is 8:32.20 from 2006.

He ran a 10,000m PB last year of 29:36.98.

MATTHEW HYNES (GREAT BRITAIN & NI)

Born: 15 January 1988 Marathon best: DebutLondon Marathon record: (2010- 272nd 2:43:40)Other World Marathon Majors: NoneOther major city marathons: NoneMarathons in major championships: None

Career notesMatthew Hynes regards this as his marathon debut, although he has run one before. He competed in the 2010 London Marathon from the championship start, jogging home in 2:43:40.

He finished 10th in this year’s Paris half marathon on 8 March in 63:54, a time which would have ranked him fifth in the UK last year.

He ran a 10km road best in 2013 of 29:23 when winning the Leeds Abbey Dash. He was fourth in the same event last year running just six seconds slower. He was second at last year’s Great North 10k and third at the Great Yorkshire Run in Sheffield.

He also ran a 10 miles road best of 48:48 last year and clocked a 10,000m track PB of 29:20.07 to finish fourth at the England Athletics championships, just missing a place on the Commonwealth Games team, but earning a British Athletics vest at the European Cup 10,000m championships where he was second.


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GUYE ADOLA (ETHIOPIA)

Born: 20 October 1990Marathon best: DebutLondon Marathon record: NoneOther World Marathon Majors: NoneOther major city marathons: NoneMarathons in major championships: None

Career notesGuye Adola won a bronze medal at last year’s World Half Marathon Championships in Copenhagen when he dipped below the hour mark for the first time. He ran 59:21, the same as Samuel Tsegay who snatched silver, and just 13 seconds behind the winner Geoffrey Kamworor.

He’d already lowered his PB once that year, winning the Marrakech half in 61:26, and he broke it a third time in November when he won the New Delhi half marathon in 59:06.

He ran 60:45 to finish fourth in this year’s Lisbon half marathon on 22 March.

He was also fourth at the Ethiopian Championships and third in Luanda, two of his five races at the distance in 2014.

He also set a 10km PB last year of 28:22.


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Elite Women

Entries

Bib no. Name Nation PB Bib name101 Edna Kiplagat KEN 2:19:50 E. KIPLAGAT102 Mary Keitany KEN 2:18:37 KEITANY103 Aselefech Mergia ETH 2:19:31 MERGIA104 Florence Kiplagat KEN 2:19:44 F. KIPLAGAT105 Priscah Jeptoo KEN 2:20:14 JEPTOO106 Tirfi Tsegaye ETH 2:20:18 TSEGAYE107 Feyse Tadese ETH 2:20:27 TADESE108 Jemima Sumgong KEN 2:20:48 SUMGONG109 Tigist Tufa ETH 2:21:52 TUFA110 Tetyana Gamera UKR 2:22:09 GAMERA111 Tatyana Arkhipova RUS 2:23:29 ARKHIPOVA112 Ana Dulce Félix POR 2:25:40 FELIX113 Sara Moreira POR 2:26:00 MOREIRA114 Alessandra Aguilar ESP 2:27:00 AGUILAR115 Rkia El Moukim MAR 2:28:12 EL MOUKIM116 Iwona Lewandowska POL 2:28:32 LEWANDOWSKA117 Mary Davies NZL 2:28:57 DAVIES118 Elvan Abeylegesse TUR 2:29:30 ABEYLEGESSE119 Diane Nukuri BDI 2:29:35 NUKURI120 Sonia Samuels GBR 2:30:56 SAMUELS121 Emma Stepto GBR 2:32:40 STEPTO122 Volha Mazuronak BLR 2:33:33 MAZURONAK123 Rebecca Robinson GBR 2:37:14 ROBINSON


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Preview: Kenya’s fantastic four to fight for title

Edna Kiplagat will face two former champions and the fastest half marathon runner in history when she defends her women’s title in what promises to be a clash of the Kenyans. The double world champion sprinted to victory on The Mall last year, beating half marathon world record holder Florence Kiplagat by just three seconds in the closest women’s race for 17 years.

The two Kiplagats will meet again this year when they face the 2013 champion, Priscah Jeptoo, and Mary Keitany, who topped the London Marathon podium in 2011 and 2012. The women’s elite field contains nine runners who have completed the 26.2-mile distance in less than two hours 22 minutes, and no fewer than 11 who have run quicker than 2:25. But it will be these four who are expected to battle it out over the closing stages just as they did in 2012 when Keitany smashed the Kenyan record.

Keitany’s return to the London Marathon will be keenly anticipated by marathon fans after she won her second title in compelling style three years ago in 2:18:37, a time only world record holder Paula Radcliffe has ever beaten on the London course. Keitany made a spectacular return to marathon racing last year when she won the New York City Marathon in November after taking a year out in 2013 to have her second child. Undefeated over the London course, she is the quickest in this year’s line-up by more than a minute and is aiming to become only the fourth woman to win the London Marathon three times.

Both Edna and Florence Kiplagat have also dipped under 2:20 in the past, while Jeptoo set her personal best of 2:20:14 when she was third in London three years ago. After failing to finish last year, the 2012 Olympic silver medallist will be keen to make amends this time.

But Kenya’s fantastic four won’t have the race to themselves for Aselefech Mergia is in form to do some real damage. The Ethiopian won the Dubai Marathon for a third time this January running just half a minute outside her best. The former national record holder is eighth quickest of all time and has done well on the London course in the past. She crossed the line third on her London debut in 2010, and the two Russians who finished ahead of her that year have both since failed drugs tests. The 30-year-old could well win the title for real this time.

The Kenyan contingent is further strengthened by New York Marathon runner-up Jemima Sumgong, while Mergia will have three strong compatriots alongside her in last year’s Tokyo and Berlin champion, Tirfi Tsegaye, Feyse Tadese, who was fourth here in 2014 and second in Berlin, and Tigist Tufa, who won marathons in Ottawa and Shanghai in 2014.

The east Africans won’t have it all their own way, however, for the 2015 field has a strong European presence thanks to two women who have gone under 2:25 – Ukrainian record holder Tetyana Gamera, the three-time Osaka champion who was seventh last year, and Russia’s 2012 Olympic bronze medallist, Tatyana Arkhipova.

There’s also a pair of Portuguese contenders in Ana Dulce Félix, who was eighth last year, and Sara Moreira, who was third on her marathon debut in New York last November. Spain’s Alessandra Aguilar could also target a top 10 spot – she was fifth at recent World and European Championships – while Elvan Abeylegesse, Turkey’s former world 5000m record holder and double European track champion, will be looking to improve her best in her first World Marathon Majors race.

The British athletes on the elite start line are Sonia Samuels, a top 20 finisher at the Moscow 2013 World Championships, Emma Stepto, who was 14th in London last year at the age of 44, and Rebecca Robinson, who ran for Britain at the 2010 European Championships.

Of course, much of the domestic attention will focus on Paula Radcliffe as the world record holder bids farewell to the event she won three times. Radcliffe will start with the club athletes and compete as one of the British championship runners.


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She was runner-up for the second year in a row at the 2013 London Marathon, this time following Priscah Jeptoo home in 2:21:32. But she was back on top of the podium in Moscow that summer – the only big name to cope with the muggy conditions – before finishing the year at the New York Marathon, where she was ninth in 2:30:04. She returned to New York last November but fared no better, struggling in the cold and windy conditions to finish 13th in 2:36:24.

Kiplagat’s half marathon PB of 67:41 was set at the 2012 Great North Run when she lost a sprint finish to Tirunesh Dibaba. She was fifth in last year’s Great North Run and won half marathons in Olomouc and Glasgow.

This January she had a rare cross country outing, finishing sixth in the Kenyan Police championships.

Personal notesHer full name is Edna Ngeringwony Kiplagat. Her husband and coach is Gilbert Koech, a marathon runner with a best of 2:13:45 from Las Vegas in January 2005. He also won the 2009 San Antonio Marathon.

When in the US, the pair live in Boulder, Colorado. They have five children, two of their own, two adopted from Edna’s sister who died of breast cancer in 2003, and one adopted from a neighbour who died in childbirth in 2013. She established the Edna Kiplagat Foundation in 2013 to target breast cancer issues and raise awareness of breast self-examination.

She was awarded the AIMS ‘Best Marathoner of the Year’ award in October 2013 in recognition of her repeat victory at the World Championships.

She holds the rank of inspector in the Kenyan police.

EDNA KIPLAGAT (KENYA)Born: 15 November 1979 EldoretMarathon best: 2:19:50 London 2012London Marathon record: 2011- 3rd 2:20:46, 2012- 2nd 2:19:50, 2013- 2nd 2:21:32, 2014- 1st 2:20:21Other World Marathon MajorsNew York: 2010- 1st 2:28:20, 2013- 9th 2:30:04, 2014- 13th 2:36:24Other major city marathonsLas Vegas: 2005- 10th 2:50:20Los Angeles: 2010- 1st 2:25:38Marathons in major championshipsOlympics 2012- 20th 2:27:52Worlds: 2011- 1st 2:28:43, 2013- 1st 2:25:44

Career notes Edna Kiplagat won her first London Marathon title last April at the fourth time of asking. The double world champion sprinted to victory on The Mall, beating half marathon world record holder Florence Kiplagat by just three seconds. After finshing third in 2011, and runner-up two years in a row, it was a welcome change of fortune for the 35-year-old who had become the first woman to retain the world marathon title in Moscow the previous summer.

Kiplagat made her marathon debut in December 2005 in Las Vegas when she was 10th in 2:50:20, although her first appearance on the international stage came nearly 10 years earlier when she won a 3000m silver medal at the 1996 World Junior Championships, aged 16. She added a bronze at that event in 1998.

She began running road races in the United States 12 years ago and produced PBs for 5km (15:20), 10km (31:18) and 15km (47:57) in summer 2010. The US-based Eldoret native emerged onto the world scene that November when she surprised everyone to win the New York Marathon, only her second world class race at the distance. She broke away from debutantes Mary Keitany and Shalane Flanagan on the testing climbs of Central Park to win in 2:28:20. Added to her Los Angeles victory eight months earlier, the New York triumph made her the first athlete to win marathons on both coasts of the USA.

Six months later, she improved her PB by nearly five minutes to finish third at the 2011 London Marathon behind Keitany and Liliya Shobukhova. At the time, it was the best ever performance for third place.

That summer, she led a Kenyan sweep of the medals at the Daegu World Championships, the first ever in a women’s marathon at a Worlds or Olympics. In punishing temperatures and high humidity, Kiplagat romped home despite falling at a drinks station.

She improved both her PB and place at the 2012 London Marathon, finishing second behind Keitany in 2:19:50, good enough to win selection for Kenya’s Olympic team. Her Olympic experience was not a happy one, however. After running with the leaders for 30km, Kiplagat struggled home in 20th place, suffering from flu. She finished nearly five minutes behind the winner.


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She returned to the New York Marathon in Novem-ber 2011 seemingly in pursuit of the marathon world record. She swept through half way up on Paula Radcliffe’s schedule (67:56) only to fade dramatically over the final 10km and finish third for the second year in a row.

She won the RAK again in 2012 before her stunning second London Marathon victory. But there was disap-pointment for Keitany in the British capital that summer when she missed out on an Olympic medal by less than half a minute. She finished fourth in 2:23:56.

Keitany skipped the 2013 season to have her second child, but made a spectacular return to competition last year winning the Great North Run half marathon in a PB of 65:39 before finally clinching the New York title in 2:25:07, three seconds ahead of Jemima Sumgong. in a time considerably slowed by the cold and wind.

On the track, she has a 10,000m best of 32:18.07 from 2007. She set a 5km best of 15:25 in Lisbon last year.

She ran a world leading time of 66:02 to win her third Ra’s Al Khaymah half marathon title in February this year.

Personal notesMary Jepkosgei Keitany married Kenyan athlete Charles Koech on 31 December 2011. They have a son Jared Kipchumba, born in June 2008, and a daughter, born in April 2013.

She trains in Iten and is coached by Gabriele Nicola.

Her husband has run 61:27 for the half marathon.

MARY KEITANY (KENYA)Born: 18 January 1982 Kisok, Baringo DistrictMarathon best: 2:18:37 London 2012London Marathon record: 2011- 1st 2:19:19, 2012- 1st 2:18:37Other World Marathon MajorsNew York: 2010- 3rd 2:29:01, 2011- 3rd 2:23:38, 2014- 1st 2:25:07Other major city marathons: NoneMarathons in major championshipsOlympics: 2012- 4th 2:23:56

Career notes Mary Keitany returns to the London Marathon after a three-year absence seeking to become only the fourth woman to win the title three times. Keitany’s 100% record on the London course began in 2011 when she produced a brilliant victory to beat defending champion Liliya Shobukhova in a time only Paula Radcliffe had ever beaten.

The then 29-year-old strode home in 2:19:19 to move alongside Irina Mikitenko as the fourth fastest in history. She defended her title 12 months later in even more impressive style, leading five Kenyans home – the first medal sweep in the women’s race – in 2:18:37 to take Catherine Ndereba’s Kenyan and African record and rise to third on the all-time list.

Keitany announced herself on the world stage when she was second to Lornah Kiplagat at the 2007 World Half Marathon Championships in Udine, running 66:48 as Kiplagat broke the world record. She had her first child in mid-2008, and returned in 2009 to win the World Half Marathon Championships in Birmingham with an African record of 66:36 improving Elana Meyer’s 1999 time of 66:44.

The following May she won the Berlin 25km by almost five minutes in 1:19:53, a world best for the distance. She then won the Bupa 10k in London, in another PB of 31:06, and warmed up for her marathon debut by winning the Lisbon half in 68:50.

Before her marathon debut in New York, Keitany said she had no idea how her body would react in the final few miles. In the event, she found herself in sight of victory with only compatriot Edna Kiplagat and USA’s Shalane Flanagan for company. In the end, Keitany was third in 2:29:01, losing out in the tussle over the ups and downs of Central Park.

In February 2011 Keitany broke Lornah Kiplagat’s world half marathon record when she won the Ra’s Al-Khaymah race in 65:50, taking 35 seconds from the previous mark. En route to her historic sub-66 minute time, Keitany went through 8km in 24:30 (a ‘world best’), 15km in 46:40, 10 miles in 50:05 (another world best) and 20km in 62:36 (a world record). The half marathon and 20km records have since fallen to Florence Kiplagat.


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ASELEFECH MERGIA (ETHIOPIA)Born: 23 January 1985Marathon best: 2:19:31 Dubai 2012London Marathon record: 2010- 2nd 2:22:38, 2011- dnfOther World Marathon MajorsOther major city marathonsDubai: 2011- 1st 2:22:45, 2012- 1st 2:19:31, 2015- 1st 2:20:02Paris: 2009- 2nd 2:25:02Marathons in major championshipsOlympics: 2012- 42nd 2:32:03Worlds: 2009- 3rd 2:25:32, 2011- dnf

Career notes Aselefech Mergia has won the lucrative Dubai Marathon three times in the last five years, including 2012 when she broke the course record and the Ethiopian record with 2:19:31 as three women finished under 2:20.

Although her national mark fell soon afterwards to Tiki Gelana, Mergia is still placed eighth on the world all-time list as one of just 18 women to have run sub-2:20. She was fractionally outside that time this January when she celebrated her 30th birthday by winning her third Dubai title in 2:20:02. It was a perfect comeback in her first marathon since 2012, and her first since the birth of her daughter in July 2013. She beat Gladys Cherono by just one second in the greatest women’s race in the event’s history.

Mergia makes her third appearance at the London Marathon this year after a gap of four years. She first came to London in 2010 having clinched the world bronze medal in Berlin the previous August and finished third behind the Russian pair Liliya Shobukhova and Inga Abitova in a huge PB of 2:22:38, ahead of four of her more favoured compatriots.

She was later promoted to second when Abitova was suspended for a doping violation, while Shobukhova’s result is also in doubt as she faces investigation for a positive drugs test announced last year.

After three years of success at the half marathon, Mergia made her marathon debut in Paris in 2009. She finished second in a swift 2:25:02 winning her place on Ethiopia’s World Championships team.

In Berlin she shadowed the Asians for 40km before dropping back to claim a bronze medal just 17 seconds behind the winner, China’s Bai Xue, and beating all of the more renowned Africans.

She continued her good form in London the following April with a performance that may yet be rewarded with a winner’s medal. She won the first of her three Dubai titles in January 2011 before returning to London where she dropped out after 30km having lost touch with the leading group powered by Mary Keitany.

She failed to finish the testing Daegu 2011 World Championships marathon that summer, dropping out in the final few kilometres, but was back to winning ways in Dubai in January 2012, dipping under 2:20 for a national record that lasted all of three months until Gelana sliced half a minute from it in Rotterdam.

While Gelana went on to triumph at the 2012 Olympics, Mergia struggled with London’s wet conditions and finished well down the field.

She didn’t race again for nearly two years when she was on maternity leave. She returned to action at a half marathon in Gothernburg last May and returned to the marathon this January when she became the first woman to win the Dubai Marathon three times, taking victory and the $200,000 prize with a sprint finish against Gladys Cherono.

In 2008 Mergia was second at the World Half Marathon Championships in 69:57 and lowered her PB still further in New Delhi with 68:17 just a second ahead of Genet Getaneh.

That became 67:48 in 2009 when she was second in Ra’s Al Khaymah, then 67:22 from RAK in 2010, and 67:21 when third in New Delhi in November 2011.

Personal notesAselefech Mergia gave birth to her daughter Sena in July 2013. Her return to racing was delayed because she struggled to lose weight again after the birth.

She is coached by Gemedu Dedefo (the same as Feyse Tadese).


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Kiplagat began winning international medals at a young age, starting with a 5000m silver at the 2006 World Junior Championships, when she was 19. She was fifth in the senior race at the 2007 World Cross Country Championships and, after becoming a mother in 2008, returned to win the 2009 World Cross in Amman.

Later that year she clocked 30:11.53 over 10,000m in Utrecht to erase Linet Masai’s Kenyan record, but a hamstring injury meant she could only finish 12th at the 2009 World Championships.

Injury prevented her defending her cross country title in 2010, but in September that year she made her half marathon debut, and a month later won the world half marathon title in Nanning, defeating Dire Tune in the final stages.

After last year’s London Marathon she returned to the track, winning the 10,000m at the Kenyan championships and clinching a silver medal at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games. She was back on the roads a few weeks later, setting a 10km road best of 31:42 in Nairobi. She also won the New Delhi half marathon in November.

Personal notesHer full name is Florence Jebet Kiplagat.

She used to be married to Moses Mosop who ran 2:03:06 when he was second at the 2011 Boston Marathon and set world track records for 25,000m and 30,000m in 2011. She has two daughters, Faith and Aisha. Her uncle, William Kiplagat, is a marathon runner with a best of 2:06:50 from 1999.

She lives on a 20-acre farm in Eldoret with 1200 chickens, among other livestock. Edna Kiplagat is a neighbour. She is coached by Renato Canova.

FLORENCE KIPLAGAT (KENYA)Born: 27 February 1987 Kapkitony, Keiyo DistrictMarathon best: 2:19:44 Berlin 2011London Marathon record: 2012- 4th 2:20:57, 2013- 6th 2:27:05, 2014- 2nd 2:20:24Other World Marathon MajorsBerlin: 2011- 1st 2:19:44, 2013- 1st 2:21:13Boston: 2011- dnfChicago: 2014- 3rd 2:25:57Other major city marathons: NoneMarathons in major championships: None

Career notes Florence Kiplagat came to London full of confidence last year as the reigning Berlin Marathon champion and the new world half marathon record holder having clocked 65:12 in Barcelona in February. En route to that time she also broke the world 20km record.

It was well-placed confidence for Kiplagat came as close as possible to winning her first London Marathon, losing out to her namesake Edna Kiplagat in a sprint down The Mall, the three-second difference on the line the smallest losing gap for 17 years. After finishing fourth in 2012 and sixth in 2013, it was some compensation to finally make the podium.

She returned to Barcelona on 15 February this year and lowered her half marathon record by three seconds, clocking 65:09, breaking 15km and 20km world records along the way (46:13 and 61:54 respectively).

Kiplagat made her marathon debut in Boston in 2011 but dropped out after going through half way in 1:11:42 and 30km in 1:42:59. It was an inauspicious start that she soon put behind her by winning the first of her two Berlin Marathon titles that September.

Kiplagat led from start to finish in Berlin and crossed the line more than two and a half minutes clear after shrugging off the attentions of two of the fastest women of all time, world record holder Paula Radcliffe and German record holder Irina Mikitenko.

She came to London in 2012 as one of five Kenyans vying for Olympic selection but finished fourth behind Mary Keitany, Edna Kiplagat and Priscah Jeptoo and so missed out on an Olympic place. Twelve months later, she was leading at 25km with Jeptoo and Edna Kiplagat, but faded badly and could only finish sixth.

She made a victorious return to Berlin in September 2013, when she regained the title ahead of Sharon Cherop and Mikitenko, and finished the year ranked fifth in the world.

After almost tasting victory in London last April, she reached another World Marathon Majors podium in October when she finished third in the Chicago Marathon.


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PRISCAH JEPTOO (KENYA)Born: 26 June 1984 Chemnoet Village, NandiMarathon best: 2:20:14 London 2012London Marathon record: 2012- 3rd 2:20:14, 2013- 1st 2:20:15, 2014- dnfOther World Marathon MajorsNew York: 2013- 1st 2:25:07Other major city marathonsPadua: 2010- 2nd 2:30:53Paris: 2011- 1st 2:22:55Porto: 2009- 1st 2:30:40Turin: 2010- 1st 2:27:02Marathons in major championshipsOlympics: 2012- 2nd 2:23:12Worlds: 2011- 2nd 2:29:00

Career notesPriscah Jeptoo arrived to defend her London Marathon title in 2014 after more than two years of consistently high performances which culminated in the 2012/13 World Marathon Majors crown.

But Jeptoo’s run of form ended here last April when she failed to finish, dropping out before 30km with a calf injury. She didn’t return to action until November when she won a 15km road race in the Netherlands, clocking a best for the distance of 46:59, having withdrawn from the New York Marathon with injury.

Jeptoo’s sequence of successful marathons began when she snatched the silver medal from her teammate Sharon Cherop in the closing stages of the Daegu 2011 World Championships, helping Kenya to a clean sweep of the medals. She added an Olympic silver in 2012 having won her place on the Kenyan team just four months earlier when finishing third on her London Marathon debut behind Mary Keitany and Edna Kiplagat in a personal best of 2:20:14.

She returned to London in 2013 hoping to improve her PB and left with the title after dominating a race containing some of the most impressive marathon runners of all time. She broke away in the second half and crossed the line more than a minute clear of world champion Edna Kiplagat, one second outside her PB.

She skipped the 2013 World Championships in Moscow instead focusing on the Great North Run, where she ran a half marathon PB of 65:45 to beat Meseret Defar and Tirunesh Dibaba, and the New York Marathon, where she overcame more than three minutes deficit at half way to win by 49 seconds and secure the WMM prize. She was the first woman since Grete Waitz in 1983 and 1986 to win London and New York in the same year.

Despite last year’s set-back, Jeptoo still has a very impressive marathon record: in 10 races over the distance she has won five, finished second three times, and third once.

Her first victory came in Porto in 2009, followed by Turin in 2010. But she first grabbed the world’s attention in April 2011 when she won the Paris Marathon in 2:22:55, then the second quickest time in the race’s 35-year history and more than four minutes quicker than she had run before. She finished nearly two minutes ahead of Agnes Kiprop to secure her spot on Kenya’s World Championship team.

A year later she claimed her Olympic place, finishing third of the quintet of Kenyans who dominated the 2012 London Marathon.

That August she missed out on Olympic gold by just five seconds, clocking 2:23:12, a time that would have won every previous Olympic title. It was the smallest losing margin in Olympic history.

She followed that with a brilliant victory in the 2012 Great North Run when she ran a sensational 10th mile of 4:34 and covered 10k to 20k in 30:06 to leave Meseret Defar and Tirunesh Dibaba adrift. Her time of 65:45 was a supreme performance, although not eligible as a world record because of the course.

She was second behind Lucy Kabuu in the 2013 Ra’s Al Khaymah half marathon, and first in 2014. She ran 69:21 to finish third in this year’s Lisbon half on 22 March.

Personal notesHer full name is Priscah Jeptoo Chepsiror. Her husband Douglas Chepsiror is also her training partner and massseur. They have a son, Faustin Kipchumba and live on a 15-acre farm in Kapsabet. Her mother, Beatrice Samoei, was a 1500m runner.

She is coached by Claudio Berardelli.

Relatively tall for a female marathon runner, she runs with wide elbows and an awkward-looking, swinging stride.


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TIRFI TSEGAYE (ETHIOPIA)Born: 25 November 1984 Bekoji, Oromia regionMarathon best: 2:20:18 Berlin 2014London Marathon record: NoneOther World Marathon MajorsBerlin: 2012- 2nd 2:21:19, 2014- 1st 2:20:18Boston: 2011- 11th 2:27:29, 2013- 5th 2:28:09Tokyo: 2014- 1st 2:22:23Other major city marathonsDubai: 2013- 1st 2:23:23Frankfurt: 2013- 7th 2:26:57Milan: 2014- 4th 2:36:23Paris: 2010- 3rd 2:24:51, 2012- 1st 2:21:40Porto: 2008- 1st 2:35:32Shanghai: 2009- 2nd 2:28:16, 2010- 1st 2:29:11, 2011- 2nd 2:24:12Toronto: 2010- 2nd 2:22:44Turin: 2009- 2nd 2:29:04Marathons in major championships: None

Career notesTirfi Tsegaye won two World Marathon Majors races in 2014 to place third on the 2013/14 leaderboard. She set a course record in Tokyo last February with 2:22:23, the fastest ever run in that calendar month, and lowered her personal best to 2:20:18 to win in Berlin last September.

She has run 16 marathons in her career, notching up an impressive string of victories in cities around the world, including Porto, Shanghai, Paris and Dubai, as well as Tokyo and Berlin. She has finished in the top three 12 times, and the top five 14 times.

Exclusively a road runner, her marathon career began with victory in Porto in 2008, followed by runner-up places in Turin and Shanghai the following year.

She cut nearly six minutes from her personal best in 2010, first running 2:24:51 to finish third in Paris, then 2:22:44 for second in Toronto before finishing the year placing second in Shanghai behind Nailya Yulamanova, a result which now counts as a victory after the Russian’s suspension for a doping offence.

She ran her first World Marathon Majors in Boston in 2011 but could only finish 11th. A year later, she became the Paris champion, reducing her PB to 2:21:40 before slicing a few more seconds off in Berlin, where she was second to her training partner Aberu Kebede in 2:21:19.

She won US$200,000 in January 2013 by taking a 16-second victory in the highly competitive and fog-bound Dubai Marathon in 2:23:23 and then finished fifth in Boston that April and seventh in Frankfurt.

She ran three marathons last year too, squeezing a fourth-place finish in Milan last April between her two WMM wins.

Tsegaye represented Ethiopia at the 2009 World Half Marathon Championships, finishing sixth in 69:24. Her PB of 67:42 came at the 2012 Rome-Ostia half marathon.

Personal notesHer full name is Tirfi Tsegaye Beyene.

She comes from Bekoji in the Oromia region, the famous running town which nurtured Kenenisa Bekele, the Dibaba sisters, and Tiki Gelana.

She trains with two-time Berlin Marathon winner Aberu Kebede, the 2014 Frankfurt Marathon champion who was fifth in London last year.


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FEYSE TADESE (ETHIOPIA)Born: 19 November 1988Marathon best: 2:20:27 Berlin 2014London Marathon record: 2014- 4th 2:21:42Other World Marathon MajorsBerlin: 2014- 2nd 2:20:27Other major city marathonsDubai: 2011- 10th 2:30:23Eindhoven: 2011- 3rd 2:25:20Paris: 2013- 1st 2:21:06Seoul: 2012- 1st 2:23:26Shanghai: 2012- 1st 2:23:07Venice: 2009- 10th 2:36:57Marathons in major championshipsWorlds: 2013- dnf

Career notesFeyse Tadese became a significant presence on the World Marathon Majors scene last year starting with her performance at the London Marathon where she produced a strong finish to place fourth, just behind her compatriot Tirunesh Dibaba in 2:21:42, just half a minute outside her personal best.

She was more than half a minute inside her PB in Berlin last September when she finished second, just nine seconds behind another Ethiopian, Tirfi Tsegaye.

Tadese’s marathon career began in Venice in 2009 when she was 10th in 2:36:57. She was 10th again in Dubai in January 2011 when she ran six and a half minutes faster to record 2:30:23. She improved both time and place in Eindhoven that October, finishing third in 2:25:20 behind fellow Ethiopian Shitaye Bedaso.

She followed that with a string of three marathon victories, first in Seoul in March 2012 when she crossed the line in 2:23:26, then in Shanghai that December when she went a fraction quicker, clocking a course record of 2:23:07.

That PB didn’t last long either as she cut it down by another two minutes to win the 2013 Paris Marathon in a course record 2:21:06, continuing a steady sequence of improving times.

That performance also won her a place on Ethiopia’s World Championships team, but Tadese failed to finish in Moscow, unable to cope with the torrid conditions.

Tadese picked up her first global honour in 2012 when she won a silver medal at the World Half Marathon Championships in Kavarna, a race she led until the closing stages when she was passed by her teammate Meseret Hailu. She had been fourth in 2010 and was seventh in that year’s World Cross Country Championships.

She has a track 10,000m best of 32:29.07 from 2010.She set her half marathon PB when she was ninth in the 2013 Ra’s Al Kaymah half in 68:35, and she was seventh in January 2014 in 69:19.

Personal notesHer full name is Feyse Tadese Boru, and she is also known as Feysa Tadesse.

She is coached by Gemedu Dedefo (the same as Aslefech Mergia).


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JEMIMA SUMGONG (KENYA)Born: 21 December 1984Marathon best: 2:20:48 Chicago 2013London Marathon record: NoneOther World Marathon MajorsBoston: 2012- 2nd 2:31:52, 2014- 4th 2:20:41Chicago: 2013- 2nd 2:20:48New York: 2014- 2nd 2:25:10Other major city marathonsCastellón: 2011- 1st 2:28:32Frankfurt: 2007- 4th 2:29:41Las Vegas: 2006- 1st 2:35:12Mumbai: 2008- 11th 2:44:12Rotterdam: 2013- 1st 2:23:27San Diego: 2008- 2nd 2:30:18, 2010- 5th 2:32:34Marathons in major championships: None

Career notesJemima Sumgong has completed 11 marathons in her career so far, and finished in the top five in all but one, including her four World Marathon Majors races.

At her first, the 2012 Boston Marathon, it was only inexperience that cost her victory as Sharon Cherop accelerated off the final turn to pull away for a two-second victory.

Eighteen months later, at the 2013 Chicago Marathon, Sumgong pushed her training partner and eventual winner, Rita Jeptoo, for most of the race, before winding up second again in 2:20:48.

Last year, she came close to victory again, running seven seconds quicker than her personal best at the 2014 Boston Marathon to finish fourth in 2:20:41. She then placed second behind Mary Keitany in New York last November, a race she lost by just three seconds, matching the closest margin in the event’s history.

She first established herself on the US road circuit in 2005, and made her marathon debut nine years ago when she won the 2006 Las Vegas Marathon aged 21.

She broke 2:30 for the first time the following year, finishing fourth in Frankfurt in 2:29:41, but didn’t notch up another marathon victory until 2011 when she was first in the Castellón de la Plana Marathon, lowering her best to 2:28:32.

After making her WMM debut in Boston in 2012, she had the biggest marathon victory of her career the following spring in Rotterdam where she not only won the prestigious race but knocked some five minutes from her best with 2:23:27, a time she improved still further over the next 12 months in Chicago and Boston.

Sumgong also shaved a few seconds from her half marathon best last year, clocking 68:32 for second in Luanda. She was also second in the Lisbon half marathon last March.

Her 10km PB of 31:15 was set in 2006.

Personal notesHer full name is Jemima Sumgong Jelagat and she is sometimes referred to as Jemima Jelagat.

She married Noah Talam in 2009, a marathon runner with a best of 2:14:54. She took a break from running in 2009 and gave birth to her daughter in 2011.

Sumgong trains in Kapsabet in the Nandi Hills under the direction of her coach, Claudio Beradelli.

She works for the Kenyan Armed Services.

Sumgong tested positive for the banned substance prednisolone after the 2012 Boston Marathon and was given a two-year ban by Athletics Kenya. However, she was cleared on appeal by the IAAF in September 2012 as the local injection Sumgong had received was permitted under the governing body’s rules.


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TIGIST TUFA (ETHIOPIA)Born: 26 January 1987Marathon best: 2:21:52 Shanghai 2014London Marathon record: NoneOther World Marathon MajorsNew York: 2013- 8th 2:29:24Other major city marathonsDubai: 2015- dnfHouston: 2011- 8th 2:41:50Jacksonville: 2013- 2nd 2:40:45Ottawa: 2014- 1st 2:24:31Santa Monica: 2014- 2nd 2:28:04Shanghai: 2014- 1st 2:21:52Marathons in major championships: None

Career notesTigist Tufa has been an improving marathon runner with every race she’s run, from her 2:41:50 debut in Houston four years ago to her victory in Shanghai last November when she clocked one of the quickest times of the year.

She raced three marathons last year, winning two in course record times, and she finished second in the other. She also reduced her PB each time, a big improvement of eight minutes in the year, or a huge 19 minutes in the space of 20 months.

She led this year’s Dubai Marathon in January by a minute at 20km only to pay the price in the second half, losing the lead and later dropping out.

After placing eighth on her debut in Houston in 2011, she left it two years before attempting another marathon. She fared a little better, finishing second in Jacksonville in 2:40:45.

She tackled her first World Marathon Majors race that November and finished eighth in New York, reducing her PB again by 11 minutes to break the 2:30 barrier for the first time.

She was back in the States in spring last year to contest the Santa Monica Marathon. She was second in the West Coast race, taking another 80 seconds from her best.

Her first marathon victory came in Ottawa last May, when she clocked 2:24:31, another 3:27 improvement and a course record.

She continued her winning habit in Shanghai on 2 November where a time of 2:21:52 removed more than a minute from that event’s course record, set by Feyse Tadese in 2012. She was the fifth successive Ethiopian winner of the race and actually placed 10th overall.

A familiar figure on the US road racing scene, she also ran a 15km PB of 51:05 last year, finishing fourth in the Utica Boilermaker race in New York State.

Her half marathon best of 70:03 was set in Lisbon in 2008, while she has won recent half marathons in Fairfield and Providence.

Personal notesTufa lived in The Bronx in New York for 11 months before moving back to Addis Ababa in December 2013 when she joined the training group of coach Haji Adilo.


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TETYANA GAMERA (UKRAINE)Born: 1 June 1983 Hrada, TernopilMarathon best: 2:22:09 Osaka 2015London Marathon record: 2014- 7th 2:25:30Other World Marathon Majors New York: 2013- dnfOther major city marathonsKraków: 2011- 1st 2:28:14Osaka: 2012- 2nd 2:24:46, 2013- 1st 2:23:58, 2014- 1st 2:24:37, 2015- 1st 2:22:09Marathons in major championshipsOlympics: 2012- 5th 2:24:32Worlds: 2011- 15th 2:31:58

Career noteTetyana Gamera regained the Ukrainian record in January when she won the Osaka International Women’s Marathon for the third year in a row.

Running 2:22:09, the 31-year-old shaved more than two minutes from the time she ran to finish fifth at the London 2012 Olympics, just one place behind the two-times London Marathon winner Mary Keitany and barely more than a minute outside the medals. She passed eight women in the last 7km to break her national record.

She opened her marathon career in 2011 when she won in Kraków in 2:28:14, breaking the course record and beating all but 13 of the men in the race. That won her a place on Ukraine’s World Championships team and she finished 15th in Daegu in 2:31:58, little indication of how well she would run in London a year later.

The first hint of that form came at the 2012 Osaka Marathon when she was second behind Risa Shigetomo in a national record of 2:24:46.

She ran a series of personal bests in the run-up to the London Olympics, clocking 33:25 at the World’s Best 10k, 72:15 at the Prague half marathon and 32:50.13 for 10,000m at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene.

Yet another PB followed at the Olympics when she performed beyond expectations to finish ahead of many more heralded runners, including world champion Edna Kiplagat.

She returned to Osaka in January 2013 and improved her PB again, winning the prestigious women’s race in 2:23:58 (running a half marathon best of 71:40 at half way), although it was not a national record as Olena Shurhno had run 2:23:32 in Berlin the previous September.

Gamera raced sparingly in the rest of 2013 but was back in Japan early last year when she retained the Osaka title. She came from behind to beat Yukiko Akaba in 2:24:37, becoming only the sixth woman to win the race more than once.

Her good form continued at the London Marathon last April when she finished seventh in 2:25:30, two places ahead of Olympic champion Tiki Gelana.

In Osaka this January she became only the second woman to win three times in a row, following Lidia Simon in 1999-2001. She led from the start and ran away from her challengers in the second half of the race.

Personal notesHer surname is sometimes spelled Hamera.

She competed at the London 2012 Olympics as Tetyana Gamera-Shmyrko but now wishes to be known by her maiden name of Gamera.

She is coached by Igor Osmar.

A graduate of Lviv State University of Physical Culture, she lives in Kyiv and has a daughter, Diana.


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TATYANA ARKHIPOVA (RUSSIA)Born: 8 April 1983 Umarsky District, Chuvashianée Tatyana PetrovaMarathon best: 2:23:29 Olympics 2012London Marathon record: NoneOther World Marathon MajorsBerlin: 2011- 5th 2:25:01Boston: 2014- 13th 2:30:29Chicago: 2005- 8th 2:31:03Tokyo: 2011- 2nd 2:28:56, 2012- 5th 2:26:46Other major city marathonsDubai: 2009- 4th 2:25:53Honolulu: 2004- 5th 2:36:44, 2007- 3rd 2:35:56Istanbul: 2014- 4th 2:31:47Los Angeles: 2009- 1st 2:25:59Marathons in major championshipsOlympics: 2012- 3rd 2:23:29

Career notesTatyana Arkhipova produced the performance of her life in London three years ago when she won the Olympic bronze medal behind Tiki Gelana and Priscah Jeptoo, keeping the reigning London Marathon champion Mary Keitany off the podium.

It was a huge breakthrough for Arkhipova (running for the first time under her married name) who benefited from a conservative approach in the first half to catch the leaders at 30km. She lost touch only in the final stages.

Better known as a track runner, Arkhipova (then Tatyana Petrova) was European under 23 10,000m champion in 2005, when she also picked up the 5000m silver for the second time having lost to Elvan Abeylegesse in 2003.

As a senior she made a succesful switch to the barriers and broke the world indoor best for 3000m steeplechase in 2006 before winning silver medals at the 2006 European Championships in Gothenburg and the 2007 World Championships in Osaka.

She almost won her first Olympic medal in Beijing the following year when she was fourth in a race won by her teammate, the world record-setting Gulnara Samitova-Galkina.

It was in 2009 that she first gave serious attention to the marathon, although she’d made a stab at the distance back in 2004, when she was fifth in Honolulu, and 2005, when she finished eighth in the Chicago Marathon in 2:31:03.

When she returned to the event six years ago it was with greater success. She lowered her PB by nearly five minutes to finish fourth in Dubai in 2:25:53 before enjoying her first taste of success in Los Angeles, running just six seconds slower.

She was on the podium again in 2011 when she placed second in Tokyo, followed by another PB in Berlin that September, good enough for fifth in a race that featured Florence Kiplagat, Paula Radcliffe and Irina Mikitenko.

She returned to Tokyo at the start of 2012 and, despite running two minutes quicker than the previous year, finished fifth again in 2:26:46.

That didn’t exactly make her one of the favourites for Olympic medals as most observers focused on the Kenyans, Ethiopians and her heralded Russian teammate Liliya Shobukhova.

But while Shobukhova dropped out, and many of the favourites fell back, Arkhipova’s steady start paid dividends as she came within touching distance of the title.

She didn’t race at all in 2013 but returned to action last year when she finished 13th in Boston before lowering her half marathon PB to 73:34 in September and placing fourth in the Istanbul Marathon in November.

Personal notesShe was born Tatyana Valeriyevna Petrova and has sometimes been referred to as Tatyana Petrova Arkhipova since she got married.


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ANA DULCE FÉLIX (PORTUGAL)Born: 23 October 1982 Azurém, Guimarães Marathon best: 2:25:40 New York 2011London Marathon record: 2014- 8th 2:26:46Other World Marathon MajorsBoston: 2013- 9th 2:30:05New York: 2010- dnf, 2011- 4th 2:25:40, 2014- 12th 2:35:33Other major city marathonsVienna: 2011- 2nd 2:26:30Marathons in major championshipsOlympics: 2012- 21st 2:28:12

Career notesThe 2012 European 10,000m champion made her marathon debut in Vienna in April 2011, finishing a few seconds behind Fate Tola, and ran her PB in New York later that year when she was fifth behind Inga Abitova in 2:25:40 (later promoted to fourth when Abitova was disqualified).

It was an encouraging start to her marathon career for Ana Dulce Félix – a woman who once doubted she could make it as a professional athlete – and good enough to win a place on Portugal’s marathon team for the 2012 Olympics. She finished 21st on the wet roads in London, just a few weeks after winning the European 10,000m title in Helsinki.

She returned to the British capital 12 months later for her London Marathon debut a year after running in the ill-fated 2013 Boston Marathon where she finished ninth in 2:30:05.

Félix ran well in London last year to place eighth, the third European behind her compatriot Jéssica Augusto and Tetyana Gamera of Ukraine.

Félix began her international career as a junior at the 2000 and 2001 World Cross Country Championships but failed to make an impression, finishing outside the top 60. It wasn’t until 2007 that she tasted any kind of success, winning the Portuguese 10,000m title for the first time.

She returned to international competition the following year at the World Cross Country Championships and then finished 13th at the World Half Marathon Championships and 17th at the European Cross Country Championships.

It’s at cross country that she’s had most success, winning European silvers in 2011 and 2012, and bronze medals in 2010 and 2013, as well as taking team golds with Portugal in 2008, 2009 and 2010. She was also 15th at the World Cross in 2009, leading Portugal to a team bronze.

On the track, she ran 10,000m for Portugal at the 2009, 2011 and 2013 World Championships, finishing eighth and top European in 2011. She was seventh at the 2010 European Championships when she faded over the second half of the race. She made amends two years later when she triumphed in Helsinki.

She broke the Portuguese half marathon record running 68:33 to finish second in Lisbon in 2011, having finished second in 2010 and third in 2009 at the Great North Run.

She won the Portuguese road running championships over 10km in 2013 and 2014, and lowered her PB to 32:16 in the Lisbon 10km at the end of December.

She ran in the European Championships 10,000m final in Zürich last summer, but could only place 10th, and was 12th in last November’s New York Marathon.

She won the Portuguese 10km road race title on 11 January this year and a month later was second in the Five Mills cross country race in Italy. She won the Portuguese cross country title in March ahead of Sara Moreira and was fifth at this year’s Lisbon half marathon in 70:27.

Personal notesDisheartened by her first taste of international competition in 2000 and 2001, Félix took a low-paid job in a clothing factory thinking she would never make it as a professional. It was Jéssica Augusto who persuaded her to quit the job and focus full-time on running.

Her goal is to break Rosa Mota’s 29-year-old Portuguese marathon record of 2:23:29.

She started running for the Benfica club in August 2013 and is coached by Sameiro Araujo.


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SARA MOREIRA (PORTUGAL)Born: 17 October 1985 Santo Tirso, PortugalMarathon best: 2:26:00 New York 2014London Marathon record: NoneOther World Marathon MajorsNew York: 2014- 3rd 2:26:00Other major city marathons: NoneMarathons in major championships: None

Career notesSara Moreira ran her debut marathon at New York City last November and made it to the podium, finishing third in 2:26:00 just behind Mary Keitany and Jemima Sumgong.

Previously a track specialist, she won the 2013 European indoor 3000m title and has a handful of silver and bronze medals from European championships, including outdoor 5000m silver and bronze medals from 2010 and 2012, respectively, and an indoor 3000m silver from 2009, plus an under 23 3000m steeplechase bronze in 2007.

At global level, she was a 5000m finalist at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin and finished fifth over 3000m at the World Indoors in 2010. And she was 14th at 10,000m at the London 2012 Olympic Games having run the steeplechase at Beijing 2008.

She was a double gold medallist at the 2009 World University Games, winning both the 5000m and 3000m steeplechase.

As a steeplechaser she broke the Portuguese under 23 record in 2007 and the national senior record in 2008, while her personal best of 9:28.64 was set at the Berlin 2009 World Championships.

At 5000m she ran her PB of 14:54.71 to pick up European silver in 2010, while her 10,000m PB of 31:16.44 was set at the London Olympics.

She ran her pre-2015 half marathon best of 70:08 when finishing fourth at the 2010 Great North Run. She won the Great Birmingham Run half marathon in 2012.

She has won no fewer than 16 Portuguese national titles on all surfaces.

She has also represented Portugal at four World Cross Country Championships from 2008 to 2011, and five European Cross Country Championships, helping Portugal to team golds in 2008, 2009 and 2010.

She was sixth in the 5000m at last summer’s European Championships.

She was second in this year’s Portuguese cross country championships behind Ana Dulce Félix, and second ahead of Priscah Jeptoo in the Lisbon half marathon on 22 March in a personal best of 69:18.

Personal notesShe was born Sara Isabel Fonseca Moreira in Santo Tirso, Portugal.

She was Portuguese sportswoman of the year in 2013.


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ALESSANDRA AGUILAR (SPAIN)Born: 1 July 1978 Lugo, GaliciaMarathon best: 2:27:00 Rotterdam 2011London Marathon record: NoneOther World Marathon MajorsNew York: 2011- 14th 2:33:08Other major city marathonsHamburg: 2009- 1st 2:29:01Rotterdam: 2008- 3rd 2:29:03, 2011- 4th 2:27:00, 2013- 4th 2:27:03Marathons in major championshipsOlympics: 2008- 54th 2:39:29, 2012- 26th 2:29:19Worlds: 2009- 24th 2:33:38, 2011- dnf, 2013- 5th 2:32:38Europeans: 2010- 5th 2:35:04, 2014- dnf

Career notesAlessandra Aguilar has represented Spain in the marathon at seven major championships, including two Olympic Games, three World Championships and two Europeans.

Her best result came in Moscow two years ago when she finished fifth, a great improvement on Daegu two years before, when she did not finish.

She also finished fifth at the 2010 European Championships in Barcelona but found the conditions too tough at the 2014 Europeans in Zürich last summer when she dropped out.

Aguilar made a positive start to her marathon career when she was third in Rotterdam in 2008, breaking 2:30 at her first attempt. That won her a place on Spain’s 2008 Olympic team for Beijing where she placed 54th.

She achieved her first marathon victory in Hamburg the following year before finishing 24th at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin.

She broke her personal best when she returned to Rotterdam in 2011, finishing fourth in 2:27:00. After failing to finish in Daegu, she ran her one and only World Marathon Majors race in New York that November. She finished 14th, a little short of her best.

She was back under 2:30 at the Olympic Games in London the following summer, when she was 26th, and returned to Rotterdam for a third time in April 2013. She was fourth again, just three seconds slower than two years previously.

She ran a personal best of 70:56 to finish 21st at the World Half Marathon Championships last March. She was sixth at the 2010 Great North Run.

Early in her career, Aguilar represented Spain on the track at the 1999 European Junior Championships when she was ninth at 5000m, and at the 2001 World University Games, where she was sixth at 10,000m.

She’s raced at numerous World and European Cross Country Championships since 1999, her highest place being eighth at the 2010 Europeans.

She was fourth in this year’s Spanish cross country championships.

Personal notesShe competes for FC Barcelona.


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RKIA EL MOUKIM (MOROCCO)Born: 22 February 1988Marathon best: 2:28:12 New York 2014London Marathon record: NoneOther World Marathon MajorsNew York: 2014- 6th 2:28:12Other major city marathons: NoneMarathons in major championships: None

Career notesRkia El Moukim made an encouraging start to her marathon career when she was sixth in New York last November in 2:28:12, an impressive debut given the strong winds which buffeted the runners for much of the race.

It was the climax of a breakthrough year for the 27-year-old Moroccan who set five personal bests on the roads in 2014 when she did much of her racing in the USA. She ran 32:07 to place third in the New Orleans 10km race in April and ran 40:41 over 12km when she was fifth in Spokane in May.

She lowered her half marathon best to 70:03 to win the Marrakech half marathon in January and then broke the course record with 71:18 to win the Hy-Vee half in Des Moines in April, a race delayed by an hour due to a thunderstorm.

She represented Morocco twice at cross country in 2011, at that year’s World (where she was 36th) and African championships (ninth).

On the track she was Moroccan 5000m champion in 2012.

She has run three half marathons this year. She clocked 72:50 when she was third in Adana, won the Marrakech half on 25 January in 70:48, and was fifth in the New York half in 70:14 on 16 March.

Personal notesEl Moukim began running in 2001 aged 13. She lives and trains in Ifrane, a town in the Middle Atlas region of Morocco, but spends a period each summer racing in the United States where she is based at Roxborough in Pennsylvania.

She is married to Ali Attaki who is also an athlete.

She earned $12,000 for her Hy-Vee victory in Iowa last year, and pledged to buy a car with her winnings.

She is managed by Hicham el Mohtadi, who is head of D1 Athletics Sports Management and lives in Queens, New York.

In the US, El Moukim sometimes trains with Askale Morachi of Ethiopia who is the cousin of double Olympic 10,000m champion and former London Marathon winner, Derartu Tulu.


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IWONA LEWANDOWSKA (POLAND)Born: 19 February 1985Marathon best: 2:28:32 Frankfurt 2012London Marathon record: NoneOther World Marathon MajorsBerlin: 2011- 11th 2:30:38Other major city marathonsEindhoven: 2014- 1st 2:28:33Frankfurt: 2012- 7th 2:28:32Los Angeles: 2012- 4th 2:31:17Warsaw: 2010- 5th 2:41:58, 2014- 2nd 2:32:42Marathons in major championships: None

Career notesIwona Lewandowska missed her personal best by just one second when she won the Eindhoven Marathon last October in 2:28:33.

It was a first victory in six marathons for the former junior international steeplechaser.

Lewandowska made her marathon debut in Warsaw in September 2010 when she was fifth in 2:41:58. She ran the Berlin Marathon a year later and improved by more than 11 minutes to finish 11th in 2:30:38.

After placing fourth in the 2012 Los Angeles Marathon she took another two minutes from her best in that year’s Frankfurt Marathon where she was seventh.

She was runner-up in Warsaw last April before clinching her first marathon win in Eindhoven.

That capped an excellent year for Lewandowska who set PBs at 1500m (4:17.40) and 10km (32:25) in 2014, and won Polish titles at 5km and cross country before finishing eighth at the European Cross Country Championships. She also won the Warsaw half marathon in 73:10, half a minute outside her PB. Her track PB for 5000m 15:35.75 from 2012.

Lewandowska first competed for Poland as a junior in at the 2004 European Cross Country Championships. She ran in the under 23 race in 2007 and was eighth in the seniors in 2014. She ran in the World Cross Country Championships in 2010.

She also represented her country in the 3000m steeplechase at the European under 23 Championships in 2005 and 2007.

Personal notesShe runs for the LKS Vectra Wloclawek club.


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MARY DAVIES (NEW ZEALAND)Born: 27 August 1982 Marathon best: 2:28:57 Toronto 2012London Marathon record: NoneOther World Marathon Majors: NoneOther major city marathonsOttawa: 2010- 7th 2:39:30Toronto: 2012- 1st 2:28:57Vienna: 2009- 8th 2:42:39Marathons in major championshipsWorlds: 2009- 34th 2:38:48, 2013- 37th 2:51:24

Career notesMary Davies ran 2:28:57 to win the 2012 Waterfront Marathon in Toronto. Despite rainy and windy conditions, she clipped almost 10 minutes from her previous best as she broke 2:30 for the first time and beat Kenyan Agnes Kiprop by 36 seconds.

She has twice represented New Zealand at World Championships, finishing 34th in Berlin in 2009 and 37th in Moscow two years ago.

She’s also had top 10 finishes in the Vienna and Ottawa marathons.

Davies won a 10,000m bronze medal at the 2005 World University Games having worn the all-black vest for the first time at the 2004 World Cross Country Championships when she was 53rd.

Her half marathon PB of 1:11:07 was set in Minnesota in 2013.

She has a 10km PB of 32:09 from Ottawa in 2013 having won the Houston 10km earlier that year. She won the Houston 10km again this year in 34:53.

Personal notesHailing from Northlands in New Zealand, Davies is now based in Houston, USA, having lived for some time in Ottawa, Canada. She often competes on the US road race circuit.

She played hockey at school before taking up running. She moved to North America to study at Oklahoma State University in 2004 where she became an All-American on the track before moving to Ottawa with her Brazil-born husband Gabriel Sawakuchi, a physics professor.

They had a son, Lucas, born in 2011, and moved to Houston in 2013. Davies gave birth to her second child in July last year.

She is coached by New Zealand-based Ian Babe.

Her goal is to qualify for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.


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ELVAN ABEYLEGESSE (TURKEY)Born: 11 September 1982 Addis Ababa, EthiopiaMarathon best: 2:29:30 Istanbul 2013London Marathon record: NoneOther World Marathon Majors: NoneOther major city marathonsIstanbul: 2013- 2nd 2:29:30, 2014- 5th 2:32:15Marathons in major championshipsEuropeans: 2014- 5th 2:29:46

Career notesElvan Abeylegesse moved up to the marathon for the first time two years ago, having won Olympic, world and European medals on the track, including the 5000m and 10,000m double at the 2010 European Championships in Barcelona.

She won two silvers at the Beijing 2008 Olympics in those same events, beaten both times by Ethiopia’s Tirunesh Dibaba, and was the World Championships silver medallist behind Dibaba in 2007.

She broke the 5000m world record at the Bislett Games in Oslo in 2004, running 14:24.68 to eclipse the 1997 mark of China’s Jiang Bo, while her silver medal-winning time from the Beijing Olympic 10,000m final of 29:56.34 is still the European record for that distance.

As a junior she won European titles at 3000m and 5000m in Grosseto, Italy, in 2001, and at cross country later that year, and she won the European under 23 5000m gold in 2003.

She holds Turkish records at 2000m, 3000m, 5000m and 10,000m on the track, while in 2010 she broke the Turkish half marathon record running 67:07 at the Ra’s Al Khaymah race in the United Arab Emirates. It was the fastest debut half marathon on record and at the time made her the sixth fastest ever.

She ran her first marathon in 2013 when she was second behind Kenya’s Rebecca Cheshire in Istanbul in 2:29:30. She also contested the marathon for Turkey at the European Championships in Zürich last summer, finishing fifth, just a few seconds outside her best.

She was a couple of minutes slower in November’s 2014 Istanbul Marathon, where she was fifth.

She competed for Turkey at last year’s World Half Marathon Championships in Copenhagen, but put in a poor performance, finishing 58th in 75:58.

Personal notesShe was born Hewan Abeye in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, one of seven children, and ran for Ethiopia as a junior at the 1999 World Cross Country Championships in Belfast. She was invited to a meeting in Istanbul and decided to move there, claiming the Ethiopian federation didn’t give her enough support.

She married and changed her name to Elvan Can to acquire Turkish citizenship. She became Elvan Abeylegesse when she got divorced.

Abeylegesse married her long-time partner Semeneh Debelie in February 2011 and took a break from competition that year because she was pregnant. She gave birth to her daughter, Arsema, in July 2011.

She runs for the Enka Sports Club in Istanbul and is coached by Ertan Hatipoglu, a former triple jumper.

The Ethiopian federation no longer allows her to train in their country, although she remains on friendly terms with Ethiopian runners.

In 2010 she received the Pierre de Coubertin World Fair Play Trophy, an annual award given by the International Fair Play Committee. She lent a pair of running shoes to Ethiopia’s Meselech Melkamu just before the 10,000m final at the 2009 World Championships. Melkamu had forgotten to bring her shoes to the track, and she went on to take the silver medal.


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DIANE NUKURI (BURUNDI)Born: 1 December 1984 Kigozi-Mukike, BurundiMarathon best: 2:29:35 Amsterdam 2014London Marathon record: 2014- 12th 2:33:01Other World Marathon MajorsBoston: 2013- 8th 2:29:54Chicago: 2010- 22nd 2:39:09New York: 2011- 20th 2:41:21, 2013- 10th 2:30:09Other major city marathonsAmsterdam: 2014- 3rd 2:29:35Honolulu: 2014- 7th 2:37:11Los Angeles: 2011- 4th 2:33:47Marathons in major championshipsOlympics: 2012- 31st 2:30:13

Career notesDiane Nukuri has broken the Burundi marathon record three times in the last three years, first at the London Olympics when she was 31st in 2:30:13, then in the 2013 Boston Marathon when she was eighth in 2:29:54, and most recently last October when she was third in the Amsterdam Marathon in 2:29:35.

That was the second of three marathons in 2014, the first coming in London 12 months ago when she was 12th in 2:33:01. She also raced in the Honolulu Marathon in December, finishing seventh, her fourth top 10 finish in two years.

A Sydney 2000 Olympian at 5000m, Nukuri made a modest start to her marathon career in 2010 when she was 22nd in Chicago in 2:39:09. Six months later she improved by more than five minutes and just missed a medal at the Los Angeles Marathon, finishing fourth in 2:33:47, although her first run in New York was more disappointing – 20th in 2:41:21, also in 2011.

She returned to New York in 2013 and was just outside her best on the testing course, finishing 10th in 2:30:09.

She began running in her early teens and was a junior international by the time she was 15, competing at the 2000 World Cross Country Championships, where she was 18th. She qualified for the Sydney Olympics later that year and finished 14th in her 5000m heat after carrying the nation’s flag at the Opening Ceremony, an honour she was given again in 2012.

She won a bronze medal over 10,000m at the Francophone Games in Ottawa the following year, breaking the national junior and senior records in the process. Afterwards Nukuri fled to Toronto seeking asylum from the Burundi civil war.

Courted by US coaches, she moved from Canada to the States and began breaking national records indoors and out at every distance from 1500m to 10,000m, and at 5km and marathon on the roads.

She currently holds eight Burundi records and has so far lowered national bests no fewer than 38 times, including in September 2013 when she ran 32:29.14 to win 10,000m gold at the Francophone Games in Nice.

Earlier that year she broke her own indoor records for one mile and 5000m, and that April improved her marathon record in Boston. She also lowered the national half marathon record to 69:12 finishing second in New York in March 2013. She ran her 10km PB of 31:52 in Cape Elizabeth last August.

While at college in the States, Johnson amassed nine national junior collegiate titles and 17 national junior All-American honours. At university she won two Big Ten Championships, in cross country (2007) and at 5000m (2008).

Personal notesBorn in Burundi, she fled the civil war in 2001 after her father was killed, and gained asylum in Canada, settling with relatives in the Toronto suburb of Pickering.

She moved to El Dorado in Kansas to study at Butler County Community College where she trained with Kirk Hunter while learning English, her third language. After two seasons, she transferred to the University of Iowa to work with coach Layne Anderson who had recruited her from high school.

She was named an All-American three times and won the Wilma Rudolph student athlete award. She left Iowa in 2008 with university records in 10 events and a degree in communications. She married Alex Johnson in 2010 having met her husband at the university.

She still lives in Iowa City and is still coached by Layne Anderson.


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She used to make her living teaching German, Spanish and French at John Flamsted School in Denby, but has recently put her teaching career on hold while she concentrates on achieving her dream of a place on Britain’s Rio 2016 Olympic team.

A qualified open water diver, she has dived with great white sharks at night. She also cycled from Geneva to Nice through the Alps.

SONIA SAMUELS(GREAT BRITAIN & NI)Born: 16 May 1979 WallsendMarathon best: 2:30:56 Berlin 2012London Marathon record: 2012- 19th 2:33:41Other World Marathon MajorsBerlin: 2012- 9th 2:30:56Other major city marathons: NoneMarathons in major championshipsWorlds: 2013- 16th 2:39:03

Career notes Sonia Samuels made her marathon debut in London three years ago when she finished 19th, fourth Briton, in 2:33:41.

She failed to make the British team for the London Olympics but ran at the Berlin Marathon that September and knocked nearly three minutes from her London time to finish ninth.

She was selected for Britain at the 2013 World Championships in Moscow and ran well to finish 16th in 2:39:03.

Samuels took a break from marathon running in 2014 to improve over the shorter distances and, after recording a personal best of 32:39.36, she was selected to run 10,000m for England at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games where she finished seventh.

She went on to win a place in the British squad for the European Cross Country Championships in Samokov last December. She finished 15th, helping Britain’s women to a team gold medal.

She also set 5km and 10km PBs on the roads last year.

Samuels was national junior cross country champion as long ago as 1999 and won the British universities cross country title in 2001.

She made her first international appearance in 1997 at the World Junior Cross Country Championships and ran in the senior World Cross for the first time in 2002.

On the track, she became British 10,000m champion in 2011 having finished third the previous year.

She has a half marathon PB of 72:36 from 2013 when she was sixth in Berlin. She finished third there in 2011. She was 12th at this year’s Lisbon half marathon in 74:20.

Personal notes Previously known as Sonia Thomas, she became Sonia Samuels when she married Nick in 2008. He ran 3:44.2 for 1500m in 2010.

She studied at Loughborough University and was coached by George Gandy until 2013. Now she is guided by Terrence Mahon. She runs for Sale Harriers.


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Personal notes Growing up in the Cornish town of Wadebridge, Stepto (then known as Emma Stallard) took part in many sports but didn’t take up running until she was 35.

In the last couple of years she’s been coached by Alan Rowling.

She lives in Redruth and runs for Cornwall Athletics Club.

EMMA STEPTO(GREAT BRITAIN & NI)Born: 4 April 1970 WadebridgeMarathon best: 2:32:40 Frankfurt 2014London Marathon record: 2012- 30th 2:44:17, 2014- 14th 2:36:05Other World Marathon Majors: NoneOther major city marathonsAmsterdam: 2013- 8th 2:35:05Frankfurt: 2014- 7th 2:32:40Toronto: 2012- 9th 2:42:58Marathons in major championships: None

Career notes Emma Stepto finished fourth on her London Marathon debut three years ago, aged 42 – not in the elite race, of course, but in the women’s section of the mass event. She did run from the elite start last April and finished 14th in 2:36:05 – more than eight minutes quicker.

Better still came in Frankfurt last October where she was seventh in 2:32:40, improving her best by two minutes 25. In two years, she has reduced her PB by more than 10 minutes from the 2:42:58 she ran to finish ninth at the 2012 Toronto Marathon.

She took nearly eight minutes from that at the 2013 Amsterdam Marathon when she was eighth in 2:35:05, becoming the third fastest British woman over 40 behind Priscilla Welch and Joyce Smith, and the quickest in that age group for 36 years. She also ranked fourth in the UK for the marathon in 2013; she ranked third last year.

That was only the last of a string of impressive performances by Stepto in 2013, topped by her women’s 40+ UK 5000m record of 16:13.0 in July.

She also placed seventh over 5000m at the British championships and won the Bristol half marathon in 73:40, quicker than any British woman at the Great North Run. She achieved all that despite missing two months with a stress fracture which had forced her to skip the 2013 London Marathon.

Last year she lowered her 10km PB to 33:11 in Leeds and finished third in the Cardiff half marathon in 72:29, another lifetime best.

Having broken Welch’s 5000m mark by eight tenths of a second, Stepto now has her sights set on her UK masters marathon record of 2:26:51.

She won the Bath half marathon on 1 March this year in 73:50 and ran 73:32 to finish fifth at the Reading half on 22 March.


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VOLHA MAZURONAK(BELARUS)Born: 14 April 1989Marathon best: 2:33:33 Lódz 2013London Marathon record: NoneOther World Marathon Majors: NoneOther major city marathonsBaltimore: 2012- 4th 2:40:06Debno: 2012- 1st 2:33:56Lódz: 2013- 2nd 2:33:33Omsk: 2012- 1st 2:44:47Sacramento: 2014- 1st 2:27:33Marathons in major championships: None

Career notes Volha Mazuronak shattered the course record by nearly two minutes when she dipped under 2:30 for the first time to win last December’s California International Marathon in Sacramento, a race that starts shortly after dawn but is run on a downhill course, so doesn’t count for records.

It was the 25-year-old’s third victory in five marathons and she improved her personal best by exactly six minutes.

A former international race walker at youth and junior level, she moved up to the marathon in 2012, winning the Belarussian championships in Debno in 2:33:56. That was in April, and four months later she won again, this time in Omsk, although in a much slower time.

She ran her first overseas marathon just two months later, finishing fourth in Baltimore in 2:40:06. She shaved 23 seconds from her PB when she was second in Lódz in April 2013 before running her quick time in California towards the end of last year.

Mazuronak’s international career stretches back to 2005 when she was fourth in the 5000m walk at the World Youth Championships.

She was fifth at the following year’s World Juniors in the 10,000m walk having finished fourth in the junior 10km race at the World Race Walk Cup in La Coruña that year. She was Belarus junior champion at 10km walk in 2006 and 2007.

She set a half marathon PB of 72:43 last year shortly after finishing seventh over 10,000m at the European Championships in 32:31.15, another PB. She also lowered her 5000m best last summer to 15:35.44, finishing third at the European Team Championships in Tallinn.


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REBECCA ROBINSON(GREAT BRITAIN & NI)Born: 28 October 1982 Marathon best: 2:37:14 London 2010London Marathon record: 2010- 18th 2:37:14Other World Marathon Majors: NoneOther major city marathonsBrighton: 2014- 3rd 2:37:41Marathons in major championshipsEuropeans: 2010- 22nd 2:44:06

Career notes Rebecca Robinson finished third in last year’s Brighton Marathon, just a fraction outside her best time in 2:37:41, good enough to rank fifth in the UK for 2014.

An established international mountain runner, Robinson made her marathon debut on the roads in London in 2010 when she was 18th in 2:37:14, which remains her PB.

She was selected to run at that summer’s European Championships in Barcelona where she finished 22nd, helping Britain to a team bronze medal.

She’d placed 45th at the previous year’s World Half Marathon Championships and was 17th at the European Mountain Running Championships that July, her best performance in three appearances at that event.

She was 30th at the 2012 World Mountain Running Championships in Italy and last September improved to finish 14th in that event after winning the UK mountain running title for the first time in August.

Robinson ran a half marathon best of 72:40 when she was fifth in Cardiff last October while she was 12th, 10th, 11th and 12th at the Great North Run between 2008 and 2013. She won the Miami half marathon in 2010.

Personal notes Robinson runs for Kendal.

She is a trained doctor, and works in Sheffield as a registrar in sports and exercise medicine.

KENDALRUNNING CLUB


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Awards & Bonuses for Elite Races

Awards for place

Men Women1 $55,000 $55,0002 $30,000 $30,0003 $22,500 $22,5004 $15,000 $15,0005 $10,000 $10,0006 $7,500 $7,5007 $5,000 $5,0008 $4,000 $4,0009 $3,000 $3,00010 $2,000 $2,00011 $1,500 $1,50012 $1,000 $1,000 $156,500 $156,500

Total prize money: $313,000

Time & Record Bonuses

Men WomenAny runner recording sub: Any runner recording sub:(not cumulative) (not cumulative)2:05:00 $100,000 2:18:00 $100,0002:06:00 $75,000 2:20:00 $75,0002:07:00 $50,000 2:22:00 $50,0002:08:00 $25,000 2:23:00 $25,0002:08:30 $15,000 2:24:00 $15,0002:09:00 $10,000 2:25:00 $10,0002:09:30 $5,000 2:26:00 $5,0002:10:00 $3,000 2:27:00 $3,0002:11:00 $1,000 2:28:00 $1,000

Any runner achieving the following will receive (in addition to the above):

• First in race and men’s course record (2:04:29) - $25,000• First in race and women’s only course record (2:17:42) - $25,000• First in race and men’s world record (currently 2:02:57) - $125,000• First in race and women’s only world record (currently 2:17:42) - $125,000


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British Runners

The British athletes listed below are those who will line-up at the ‘elite’ start lines. To be considered part of the elite entries British athletes must satisfy the following criteria:

Men: athletes who have run a sub-2:18:00 marathon or sub-67:00 half marathon between 1 January 2014 and 31 December 2014.

Women: athletes who have run a sub-2:38:00 marathon or sub-1:17:00 half marathon between 1 January 2014 and 31 December 2014.

These athletes are all offered travel expenses and two nights accommodation. Any other athlete achieving these times at the 2015 Virgin Money London Marathon will have their travel expenses reimbursed.

British Men

Bib Name Club PB (year) Age Bib name17 Scott Overall Blackheath & Bromley 2:10:55 (11) 32 OVERALL27 Matthew Hynes Gateshead Debut 27 HYNES

British Women

Bib Name Club PB (year) Age Bib name120 Sonia Samuels Sale Harriers, Manchester 2:30:56 (12) 35 SAMUELS121 Emma Stepto Cornwall 2:32:40 (14) 45 STEPTO123 Rebecca Robinson Kendal 2:37:14 (10) 32 ROBINSON

Note: Paula Radcliffe will not start with the elite women’s field, but among the British Championship runners who line up behind the elite men on the blue start at Blackheath. Her details are:

1255 Paula Radcliffe Bedford & County AC 2:15:25 (03) 41 PAULA


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PAULA RADCLIFFE(GREAT BRITAIN & NI)Born: 17 December 1973 Davenham, CheshireMarathon best: 2:15:25 London 2003London Marathon record: 2002- 1st 2:18:56, 2003- 1st 2:15:25, 2005- 1st 2:17:42Other World Marathon MajorsBerlin: 2011- 3rd 2:23:46Chicago: 2002- 1st 2:17:18New York: 2004- 1st 2:23:10; 2007- 1st 2:23:09, 2008- 1st 2:23:56, 2009- 4th 2:29:27Other major city marathons: NoneMarathons in major championshipsOlympics: 2004- dnf, 2008- 23rd 2:32:38Worlds: 2005- 1st 2:20:57

Career notesPaula Radcliffe returns to the London Marathon for the first time since 2005 to make what is expected to be her final appearance as a competitive athlete on the course where 12 years ago she revolutionised the notion of how fast a woman can run 26 miles 385 yards.

Radcliffe won the 2003 London Marathon in 2:15:25, averaging 5 minutes 9.9 seconds per mile (or 3:12.56 per km). It was the first and only time in history that the women’s world record came within 10 minutes of the contemporary men’s record (2:05:38). She is the only female athlete to run the marathon quicker than 2:18 and she’s done it three times.

After her sensational marathon debut in London in 2002, she first broke the world record in Chicago that October, running 2:17:18 with the aid of male pacemakers, and clocked 2:17:42 to claim the ‘women-only’ world record in London in 2005. She went on to add the World Championships title in Helsinki that August, in a championship record time, and she’s also won the New York Marathon three times, running sub-2:24 on each occasion.

The average of her three London Marathon times alone is faster than any other woman has ever run.

Her final marathon on 26 April will be her 13th. In the previous 12 she has won eight while she also finished fourth in New York in 2009, and third in Berlin in 2011. She has produced four of the seven fastest times in history.

However, her dream of winning an Olympic marathon gold was ruined three times by injury. She started the 2004 Olympic marathon as an overwhelming favourite but was forced to drop out of the gruelling Athens race because of illness caused by pain killers. The pictures of Radcliffe sitting beside the Athens road in tears were among the most enduring images of those Games.

Then a toe injury followed by a hip stress fracture meant she lost vital weeks of training in the run-up to the Beijing 2008 Games, where she finished 32nd, again in pain … and more tears.

She was selected for the London 2012 Olympics but pulled out of the team two weeks before the Games with a foot injury which has plagued her ever since.

Before her marathon career took off, Radcliffe won the World Cross Country title twice, claimed two World Half Marathon golds, won the European 10,000m title and a Commonwealth Games 5000m crown. She appeared in five World Championship track finals, clinching 10,000m silver in 1999, and three Olympic finals, finishing fifth over 5000m in 1996 and fourth at 10,000m in 2000.

She made her first competitive appearance for two and a half years on 21 September last year when she was third in the Worcester 10km road race. She also ran a 10km race in Sopot, Poland, last October and ran 15km in Heerenberg, in the Netherlands, on 7 December.

Radcliffe will not start with the elite women’s field, but among the British Championship runners who line up behind the elite men on the blue start at Blackheath.

Personal notesRadcliffe married Garry Lough (a 3:34.76 1500m runner) in 2001, and they have two children – Isla, born in 2007, and Raphael, born in 2010. They live in Monaco and she trains in the south of France and Iten, Kenya.

She has a first class degree in European languages from Loughborough University. In 2002, she received an MBE and was 2002 BBC Sports Personality of the Year. Her great aunt Charlotte won a silver medal in the 4x100m freestyle swimming relay at the 1920 Olympics. She is a BBC TV athletics commentator.


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UK Championships & Bonuses

UK ChampionshipsThe 2015 Virgin Money London Marathon is also the 2015 British Athletics men’s and women’s marathon championships. To compete in the championships an athlete must be a member of a UK Athletics affiliated club and have run the following times in 2013 or 2014:

Men: 2:45, or 1:15 half marathon Women: 3:15, or 1:30 half marathon

2015 World Championships selectionThe 2015 London Marathon elite races are also the official British Athletics marathon trials for the 2015 IAAF World Championships in Beijing. To be eligible for selection athletes must have run the following qualifying times between 1 January 2014 and 16:00 (BST) on 26 April 2015:

Men: 2:14:00 Women: 2:31:00

The first two British athletes to finish the London Marathon who hold the qualifying time will be selected automatically. Marathon performances must be achieved on IAAF accredited courses (as listed on the IAAF website) or at the 2014 European Championships or 2014 Commonwealth Games. The British marathon competitors for the 2015 World Championships will be announced on Tuesday 28 April 2015. British Athletics can select up to three athletes for the individual men’s and women’s marathons.

Currently, the following athletes have achieved the British Athletics marathon standards:Men Individual: Mo Farah (2:08:21), Chris Thompson (2:11:19), Scott Overall (2:13:00)Women Individual: -

BonusesThese bonuses apply to all British athletes eligible to compete for the UK in major championships. These sums are not cumulative.

Men WomenSub 2:11:00 - $8,000 Sub 2:31:00 - $8,000Sub 2:12:00 - $7,000 Sub 2:32:00 - $7,000Sub 2:13:00 - $6,000 Sub 2:33:00 - $6,000Sub 2:14:00 - $5,000 Sub 2:34:00 - $5,000Sub 2:15:00 - $4,000 Sub 2:35:00 - $4,000Sub 2:16:00 - $2,500 Sub 2:36:00 - $2,500Sub 2:17:00 - $1,500 Sub 2:37:00 - $1,500Sub 2:18:00 - $1,000 Sub 2:38:00 - $1,000Sub 2:19:00 - $500 Sub 2:40:00 - $500

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04 THE ELITE RACES - Amazon Web Serviceslondon-marathon.s3.amazonaws.com/.../cms_page_media/...The-Elite … · 04 THE ELITE RACES. ... The two are training ... Personal notes Kipsang