Organisers of the Chevron Houston Marathon and Aramco Houston Half Marathon have revealed the elite fields for the World Athletics Gold Label road races on 19 January.

The Chevron Houston Marathon and the Aramco Houston Half Marathon, IAAF Silver and Bronze Label Road Races respectively, boast stacked fields for the races on Sunday (15).

Olympic selection has been an underlying theme to every marathon this spring, and that issue will also be foremost on the minds of most of the elite runners at the Prague Marathon, an IAAF Gold Label Road Race, on Sunday (8).

Ethiopia’s Gebo Burka shook off his compatriot Girmay Gebru in the final kilometre of the Chevron Houston Marathon to win the IAAF Bronze Label Road Race in 2:10:55 on Sunday (17).

Ethiopian athletes have won both the men’s and women’s races at the past seven editions of the Chevron Houston Marathon; a trend that looks set to continue at the IAAF Bronze Label Road Race on 17 January.

Two-time champion Stephen Mokoka of South Africa will be looking to take his third consecutive title at the Shanghai International Marathon, an IAAF Gold Label Road Race, while the women’s race will witness a new champion on Sunday (8).

Ethiopia’s Biruktayit Eshetu and Gebo Burka will defend both their titles and their race records in the Blackmores Sydney Marathon, an IAAF Gold Label Road Race, on Sunday (20).

This year’s Gold Coast Airport Marathon on Sunday 5 July will assemble the strongest elite marathon running field in its 37-year history, headlined by the return of the past two men's winners, Kenya’s Silah Limo and Japan’s Yuki Kawauchi, organisers of the IAAF Gold Label Road Race announced on Monday (18).

Gebo Burka and Biruktayit Eshetu came into the Blackmores Sydney Marathon with contrasting form lines, but both emerged as winners to complete a double victory for Ethiopia in the IAAF Silver Label Road Race on Sunday (21).