Eritrea&rsquo;s Afewerki Berhane and Poland&rsquo;s Karolina Nadolska impressed at the Vidovdan Road Race, one of the most prestigious road events in Bosnia and Herzegovina, winning at the IAAF Bronze Label road race in Brčko on Saturday (22).
Berhane ran with Romania&rsquo;s Nicolae Soare for the first seven kilometres with Morocco&rsquo;s Mourad Murafit close behind. Berhane upped the pace for the final three kilometres and Soare was able to stay with him all the way up to the final 500 metres when Berhane edged ahead, eventually winning in 29:07.
Berhane, the first Eritrean man to win in Brcko, said afterwards that he enjoyed the course but the heat and humidity prevented him from running faster.
Nadolska led the women&rsquo;s race from the outset. Defending champion Katsiaryna Karneyenka tried to make a move after six kilometres but Nadolska withstood the challenge and maintained her lead to the end, winning in 33:49.
&ldquo;Spectators were cheering throughout the whole race but the humidity created a lot of problems, not just for me but for all runners,&rdquo; said Nadolska, who became the first Polish athlete to win in Brcko.
Organisers for the IAAF
<h3>Leading results</h3>
Men 1 Afewerki Berhane (ERI) 29:07 2 Nicolae Soare (ROU) 29:20 3 Mourad Marofit (MAR) 29:45
Women 1 Karolina Nadolska (POL) 33:49 2 Katsiaryna Karneyenka (BLR) 33:57 3 Soukaina Atananew (MAR) 34:12

Eritrea’s Afewerki Berhane and Poland’s Karolina Nadolska impressed at the Vidovdan Road Race, one of the most prestigious road events in Bosnia and Herzegovina, winning at the IAAF Bronze Label road race in Brčko on Saturday (22).

Nadolska and Berhane victorious in Brcko

There are many unknowns about the marathon, but the 2016 Blackmores Sydney Marathon on Sunday (18) offers a little more intrigue than the average 42.195km journey.
While retaining a starting point in North Sydney and the showcasing of two Sydney icons in the Harbour Bridge, which it crosses in the first five kilometres, and the Sydney Opera House, where the race finishes, the course has been tweaked. Race organisers promise this will make the IAAF Gold Label Road Race course &ldquo;flatter and faster&rdquo;, which remains to be seen.
But they are on safer ground with the third part of the commitment that it will be &ldquo;even more beautiful.&rdquo; Like New York, Sydney, with its harbour and luxuriant inner-city parks, is a city to be enjoyed more than one in which to attack marathon records.
Nonetheless, the race records of 2:11:18 and 2:29:42 should both be in reach for the winners given the deep and even men&rsquo;s and women&rsquo;s fields assembled.
Two names at opposite ends of the age and experience spectrum stand out as possible winners. Eritrea&rsquo;s 19-year-old Mogos Shumay makes his marathon debut, backed by impressive recent credentials at cross-country, half-marathon and World U20 championships while, in the women&rsquo;s field, 35-year-old Karolina Nadolska, an accomplished track distance athlete and runner-up in the 2014 Osaka Women&rsquo;s marathon, returns to the 42.195km event after a year off for the birth of a baby daughter.
There will be no lack of competition in either field. Five men boast personal bests faster than 2:10, with three of those &ndash; Ethiopia&rsquo;s Mulugeta Wami and Debebe Tolossa, and Essa Ismail Rashed of Qatar &ndash; having run 2:07.
Merima Mohammed of Bahrain has the fastest PB on the women&rsquo;s side at 2:23:06 with Jarzynska one of four others with fastest times in the 2:26-range.
<h3>Shumay&rsquo;s strong credentials</h3>
For one so early in his career, Shumay brings performance credentials most would be happy to take into retirement. He was 14th in the U20 race at the IAAF World Cross Country championships in Guiyang in 2015. Later that year, still only 18, he ran 1:01:09 in finishing 10th behind 2016 world half-marathon silver medallist Bedan Karoki.
Shumay ran through 10km in that race in 27:58, just over a second slower than the track 10,000 metres PB of 27:56.96 that he ran in the Payton Jordan Invitational meeting in Palo Alto earlier in 2016. All of this suggests great potential at the marathon distance, similar to his compatriot Ghirmay Ghebreslassie, winner of the 2015 world title in the marathon just before his 20th birthday.
Wami&rsquo;s 2:07:11 best dates back to Amsterdam in 2012, but his more recent 2:08:37 last year suggests he remains a serious threat to those with winning aspirations in Sydney. Tolossa&rsquo;s 2:07:41 also goes back to 2012, but he has run 2:09 times both in finishing third in Houston and seventh in Warsaw last year.
Rashed ran 2:07:54 in Amsterdam two years ago and his recent marathon performances &ndash; Seoul 2015 (17th), Amsterdam 2015 (16th) and Chongqing 2016 (10th) have not been impressive. Looking a more likely prospect is Ethiopia&rsquo;s Belachew Alemayehu whose last two marathons &ndash; sixth in Seoul last year and 12th in Dubai at the start of 2016 &ndash; have been 2:09:48 and 2:09:49.
Another debutant, Sota Hoshi, has good track performances and has run a 1:01:18 half-marathon. He may prove to be the best of the Japanese entrants as Tomohiro Tanigawa and Takuya Noguchi boast best times of 2:11 and 2:12 respectively.
<h3>Nadolska vs Mohammed in women&rsquo;s race</h3>
Nadolska, who made her marathon debut under her maiden name Jarzynska&nbsp;as long ago as Warsaw in 2007, was consistently in the 2:26-2:30 range through to 2014 when she took time off for the birth of her daughter. She has not raced much since then, but a record which also includes 15:25/31:43 performances and a 15th place in the 10,000 at the Moscow 2013 world championships commands respect.
Merima Mohammed has personal bests of 2:23:06 and 1:08:36, though both date back to the earlier part of her career. Looking at more recent form, Goitetom Haftu, with an eighth place 2:27:44 in Dubai two years ago and a 2:30:19 in Santiago last year, looks a more obvious challenger as does China&rsquo;s Yinhi Le with a 2:27:35 from last year and 37th place in the world championships in Beijing.
The race is certain to crown new champions as neither of last year&rsquo;s winners Hisanori Kitajima and Mirriam Wangari are back to defend. The race records were set in 2014, 2:11:18 by Gebo Burka and 2:29:42 by Biruktayit Eshetu, both of Ethiopia.
Upwards of 33,000 participants are expected in the marathon and associated events which make up the Sydney Running Festival.
The race will be broadcast live on Australia&rsquo;s Ten network with a <a href="http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/special-features/in-depth/blackmores-sydney-running-festival-watch-live/news-story/d7a918669c5bc0988ccb0ba6fcf951e7">live stream here</a>&nbsp;beginning at 06:00 local (GMT+10). Live coverage will also be provided in China for the first time.
Len Johnson for the IAAF

There are many unknowns about the marathon, but the 2016 Blackmores Sydney Marathon on Sunday (18) offers a little more intrigue than the average 42.195km journey.

Shumay’s marathon debut under the spotlight in Sydney

Ukraine&rsquo;s Tetiana Gamera-Shmyrko will return to the Osaka Women's Marathon on 25 January and bid to become just the second woman to win in the Japanese city on three successive occasions, after organisers of the IAAF Silver Label Road Race announced their elite field on Friday (26).In what will be the 34th edition of the race, Gamera-Shmyrko will be looking to emulate the feat of Romania&rsquo;s Lidia Simon, who won three times between 1998-2000.Two former winners will also be looking to add to their list of titles: local hope and 2012 Osaka winner Risa Shigetomo and Latvia&rsquo;s 38-year-old Jelena Prokopcuka, who took the honours in Osaka in 2005 but is still running well and finished fourth last month in the New York Marathon.Kenya&rsquo;s Margaret Agai, Ethiopia&rsquo;s Melkam Gizaw and Poland&acute;s Karolina Jarzynska complete the small but classy contingent of overseas invited runners.Among the Japanese women are two-time Osaka runner up Mari Ozaki as well as Azusa Nojiri and Yuko Watanabe, who were third in 2012 and 2013 respectively.Organisers for the IAAF<h3>Elite field (with PBs)</h3>Jelena Prokopcuka (LAT) 2:22:56 Risa Shigetomo (JPN) 2:23:23 Margaret Agai (KEN) 2:23:28 Mari Ozaki (JPN) 2:23:30 Tetyana Gamera-Shmyrko (UKR) 2:23:58 Azusa Nojiri (JPN) 2:24:57 Yuko Watanabe (JPN) 2:25:56 Melkam Gizaw (ETH) 2:26:24 Karolina Jarzynska (POL) 2:26:31 Kaoru Nagao (JPN) 2:26:58 Rika Shintaku (JPN) 2:30:37 Hiroko Miyauchi (JPN) 2:32:20 Shoko Mori (JPN) 2:35:10

Ukraine’s Tetiana Gamera-Shmyrko will return to the Osaka Women's Marathon on 25 January and bid to become just the second woman to win in the Japanese city on three successive occasions, after organisers of the IAAF Silver Label Road Race announced their elite field on Friday (26).

Gamera-Shmyrko will bid for third Osaka victory

Athletes from 27 nations will be on the start line for the eighth edition of the Carrera de la Mujer in Bogota on Sunday (28), with the multinational women-only field for the IAAF Gold Label Road Race headed by the 2013 IAAF World Championships 10,000m bronze medallist Belaynesh Oljira.Oljira hasn’t quite shown the same form over the shorter distances this year, although she finished third in the African Championships 10,000m last month, as the 24-year-old Ethiopian has set her sights on doing well at the marathon, running a personal best of 2:24:21 in the Boston Marathon earlier this year.She has a best of 31:07 over 10km on the roads, which will be the elite women’s distance in Bogota this year, returning to the course length contested in the first two years of the event before it moved up to 12km.However, with Bogota being at 2625m altitude, higher than either Addis Ababa and Nairobi, fast times are unlikely to be to the fore of any elite runner’s priorities on Sunday.Oljira also has unfinished business in the Colombian capital. Last year, she was touted as the favourite after her podium finish in Moscow only to be a late withdrawal after being diagnosed with typhoid fever just prior to her departure for Bogota.Kenya’s former world youth and junior 3000m champion Veronicah Nyaruai will also be on the start line in Bogota, returning to the race she won in 2012. However, as Nyaruai is having her first international race of the year, perhaps a bigger threat to Oljira on current form is Nyaruai’s well-known compatriot Lucy Kabuu.This year, Kabuu has finished third at the Tokyo Marathon in February in 2:24.16, the following month finished fourth at the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships and then had two good wins on the roads over shorter distances but against high quality fields in India and the USA in May.Other elite overseas runners include USA’s Janet Cherobon, Polish 10,000m and half marathon record holder Karolina Jarzynska, Namibia’s Helalia Johannes and Italy’s Rosaria Console.South America will be well represented by Peru’s Judith Toribio, the three-time winner of the Lima Half Marathon who caused a big surprise when she finished fourth in Bogota last year.Local interest will be sustained by Yolanda Fernandez, who won the first three editions of the race, and Colombian 3000m steeplechase record holder Angela Figueroa, who are expected to duel for the honour of being the first Colombian runner to cross the line.An estimated 18,000 women are expected to participate in the three main races on the day, over various distances, which will be staged in Bogota’s Parque Metropolitano Simón Bolívar. The event can also boast of being one of only two women-only events with IAAF Gold Label Road Race status, the other being the Nagoya Women’s Marathon in Japan.Phil Minshull and organisers for the IAAF

Athletes from 27 nations will be on the start line for the eighth edition of the Carrera de la Mujer in Bogota on Sunday (28), with the multinational women-only field for the IAAF Gold Label Road Race headed by the 2013 IAAF World Championships 10,000m bronze medallist Belaynesh Oljira.

Oljira looking to resolve unfinished business at Bogota's Carrera de la Mujer

It’s always difficult to predict the winner of a marathon, which is, of course, a major part of the race’s appeal.Fans of that unpredictability are bound to enjoy the Sydney Marathon on Sunday (21) which, for the first time in the race’s history, has IAAF Silver Label Road Race status. Both the men’s and women’s fields are stacked with runners of roughly similar credentials.The men’s field boasts three 2:06 runners, though the personal bests of Seboka Tola (2:06:17), Sisay Jisa (2:06:27) and Benjamin Kiptoo (2:06:31) date back to 2011 and 2012.Two further entrants have sub-2:10s to their name. Another boasts strong track performances.Steve Moneghetti, who will be doing race commentary, says he is looking forward to an exciting race.“The quality of the field is outstanding and I am looking forward to a great race with lots of very competitive guys with times under 2:10,” said Moneghetti.On the women’s side, the form is even closer and a little more current. Little more than a minute covers the top four runners on personal bests.“The group of women athletes also looks top class and I expect there to be three or four athletes in both packs which will make for some exciting racing on Sunday,” said Moneghetti.So, little will separate the top runners as they toe the line in north Sydney on Sunday morning and prepare to head off over the iconic Harbour Bridge. If they are all as close together again at the finish line – outside the equally-iconic Sydney Opera House – spectators are in for a morning to savour.If the racing turns out to be as close as the entry statistics indicate, the race records of Yuki Kawauchi (2:11:52 in 2012) and Beruktait Degefa (2:32:46 in 2013), will be endangered. The weather for Sunday morning is expected to be fine, with a predicted maximum for the day of 19°C.Ethiopia’s Tola is fastest in the men’s field. He ran his personal best in Dubai in 2012, the same year as compatriot Jisa ran 2:06:27 in Paris. Benjamin Kiptoo also has Paris to thank for his personal best, too – he ran it in winning the race in 2011.Weldu Negash of Eritrea is also sub-2:10 with his 2:09:14 personal best coming in Rotterdam earlier this year. Perhaps the most interesting of the elite, however, is Japan’s Tsuyoshi Ugachi. He has a best of ‘only’ 2:13:41 from his debut marathon in Dubai earlier this year, but has good track credentials – 13:29 and 27:40 for 5000m and 10,000m respectively – and a half-marathon best of 1:00:58.Course record-holder Degefa is back to defend her title in the women’s race. She ran a personal best of 2:26:22 in Houston earlier this year, but in Kawauchi style will be contesting her fifth marathon for the year in Sydney. Her compatriot, Sechale Delasa, has a best of 2:26:27 and has been consistent in the 2:26-2:27 level over the past three years.Karolina Jarzynska loses nothing to the Ethiopian duo on personal bests, particularly as her 2:26:31 was run in the more competitive environment of the Osaka Women’s Marathon in January this year.Fantu Jimma of Ethiopia rounds out the sub-2:30 entrants with a best of 2:27:31 set in Prague this year.Japan’s Yuka Yano trails the top four on times this year – 2:31:02 – but that performance represented a 10-minute personal best which suggests there could be more to come. Kenya’s Jane Kiptoo (2:31:21) is in the same category. Her 1:09:53 for the half marathon suggests she may have the potential to go faster on Sunday.The 14th Sydney Marathon will set off from Milsons Point at 7:20am. The course will take runners over the Sydney Harbour Bridge, through the northern end of the Central Business District, through Hyde Park, out to Moore Park and around Centennial Park. The course then returns to the CBD, through The Rocks, along Hickson Road and out to Darling Harbour, then back to Circular Quay and along the Harbour Foreshore to finish at the Sydney Opera House; a marathon tourist’s delight, to be sure.If the racing turns out as close as the times suggest, however, the main protagonists may be too busy watching each other to take in the views of one of the world’s most scenic harbours.Len Johnson for the IAAF

It’s always difficult to predict the winner of a marathon, which is, of course, a major part of the race’s appeal.

All up for grabs in Sydney Marathon

There were home wins at the 2014 Lodz Marathon Dbam o Zdrowie, an IAAF Bronze Label Road Race, as Yared Shegumo and Karolina Jarzynska were victorious in 2:10:41 and 2:28:12 respectively in the 10th edition of the Polish race on Sunday (13).Shegumo, fourth in last year’s race, made it two back-to-back marathon wins on home soil after also taking the plaudits in Warsaw last September but he was just a few seconds shy of his personal best of 2:10:34 which he set in the Polish capital just over six months ago.Halfway was reached by an 11-strong leading pack in 1:05:29 and a six man group, consisting of Shegumo, fellow Pole Marcin Chebowski, Kenya’s Hassan Mogaya and the Ethiopian trio of 2013 winner Alemayehu Belachew Ameta, Gelgelo Tona and Haile Haja Gemeda were still together six kilometres before the end.However, as Shegumo and Mogaya started to force the pace as part of their own personal duel, the rest came off the back one-by-one.In a thrilling finish, Shegumo managed to pull away from his Kenyan rival in the final 500m and Mogaya had to settle for second in 2:10:47. Tona, who had started to lose contact with the leading pair just over a kilometre from home, was third in 2:10:53.Jarzynska, the Polish half marathon record holder, got huge cheers along the route but it was not enough to propel her to another personal best although she retained the crown she won 12 months ago.On that occasion, 12 months ago, she set what was then a personal best and course record of 2:26:45, which she improved to 2:26:31 when finishing third in Osaka in January, but this year she stopped the clock in 2:28:12.Jarzynska, who finished ninth in the race overall and was running by herself from 20 kilometres, came home more than six minutes clear of Kenya’s Gladys Kibsoi, who was second in 2:34:20.Phil Minshull for the IAAF&nbsp;

There were home wins at the 2014 Lodz Marathon Dbam o Zdrowie, an IAAF Bronze Label Road Race, as Yared Shegumo and Karolina Jarzynska were victorious in 2:10:41 and 2:28:12 respectively in the 10th edition of the Polish race on Sunday (13).

Shegumo and Jarzynska provide popular wins in Lodz

Organisers of the 2014 Lodz Marathon Dbam o Zdrowie have made their intentions clear by signing up five men with personal bests of under 2:10 to attack the 12 month old course record of 2:10:02, held by Ethiopia’s Alemayehu Belachew Ameta, at the 10th edition of the Polish race on Sunday (13).In 2013, Belachew Ameta triumphed by just two seconds from Kenya’s Stephen Kibiwot and the pair will duel once again at the IAAF Bronze Label Road Race, which became Poland’s first IAAF Label Rood Race last September.Kibiwot, now 34 and fourth at the 2008 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in his only major international championship, can boast of a personal best of 2:07:54 but that dates from five years ago in Prague.The Kenyan has never quite fulfilled his promise over the classic distance after some impressive half marathon times earlier in his career.Consequently, Balechew Ameta has the role of arguably being the slight favourite despite, on paper, being almost two minutes slower as he improved his personal best of 2:09:50 in Dubai three months ago.Eritrea’s Yared Dagnaw Sharew has a personal best of 2:08:13, but that was also more than three years ago at the 2010 Marathon Eindhoven and he has not broken 2:10 in any of his other 10 marathons.Haile favoured?Perhaps a more realistic threat to the leading pair of Belachew Ameta and Kibiwot is another Ethiopian, Haile Haja Gemeda, who clocked his best of 2:08:35 when finishing fourth just over 12 months ago at the 2013 Rome Marathon.Gemeda Haja will also be motivated to bounce back after his disappointing showing at his last marathon, in Dubai in January, when he could only finish a modest 22nd in 2:17:28.The fifth man on the elite start list who has gone under 2:10 is Kenya’s Peter Kurui, who ran 2:08:56 in the 2011 Turin Marathon but who has not been under 2:10 since.Leading the way for the local runners is 2005 European junior 3000m steeplechase champion Marcin Chebowski.Chebowski has not run a marathon for almost two years but will be looking to improve on his best of 2:10:07 from his last outing, at the 2012 Dusseldorf Marathon, and could also stand a chance of being a rare European winner in a top class race on the continent.Along with Chebowski, also guaranteed big cheers will be Karolina Jarzynska, the Polish record holder in the half marathon.She won in Lodz last year when she set what was then a personal best and course record of 2:26:45 and then improved to 2:26:31 when finishing third in Osaka in January.Jarzynska is aiming to improve on Małgorzata Sobanska's ratified national record of 2:26:08 which has stood since 2001, although Wanda Panfil clocked 2:24:18 to win the 1991 Boston Marathon, just a few months before she took the gold medal at the 1991 IAAF World Championships.Around 6000 runners are expected to take part in the marathon and associated events, including a 10km.Phil Minshull for the IAAF&nbsp;

Organisers of the 2014 Lodz Marathon Dbam o Zdrowie have made their intentions clear by signing up five men with personal bests of under 2:10 to attack the 12 month-old course record of 2:10:02, held by Ethiopia’s Alemayehu Belachew Ameta, at the 10th edition of the Polish race on Sunday (13).

Belachew Ameta and Kibiwot renew their Lodz Marathon rivalry 

The champions from the past three editions of Osaka Women’s Marathon – Tetiana Gamera-Shmyrko, Risa Shigetomo and Yukiko Akaba – have returned to contest the IAAF Silver Label Road Race, which this year &nbsp;doubles as a selection race for the 2014 Asian Games, on Sunday (26).&nbsp; Five runners – Katrin Dorre, Lidia Simon, Lorraine Moller, Carey May and Yoko Shibui – have won the Osaka Women’s Marathon more than once. Can one of this trio add her name to this list?The favorite may be Ukraine’s defending champion Gamera-Shmyrko, who also finished second in 2012.&nbsp; Gamera-Shmyrko, fifth in the London 2012 Olympic Games but who dropped out of her last marathon, the 2013 New York Marathon, has returned full of optimism that she will bounce back after her disappointment in the Big Apple just under three months ago. This year, in her own words, she is in great shape. Her main challenger may be local star Risa Shigetomo, who held off the challenge of Gamera-Shmyrko in 2012 to win with 2:23:23.&nbsp; However, after her breakthrough in the 2012 Osaka Women’s Marathon, Shigetomo has not run a good marathon. She finished 79th at the 2012 Olympic Games in 2:40:06, 12th at the Hokkaido Marathon in a modest 2:51:55 and 11th at the New York Marathon in 2:31:54.&nbsp; Nevertheless, Shigetomo has shown good form over shorter distances recently. In the Queens’ Ekiden last month, she was second-fastest on the 10.9km stage with 35:55 and then in the Inter-Prefectural Women’s Ekiden earlier this month, she was the fastest in the 10km stage with 31:50. The third woman who has a chance to be a multiple winner is 34-year-old Yukiko Akaba, and the 2014 Osaka Women’s Marathon will be the final serious race of her career.&nbsp; Akaba won the 2011 Osaka Women’s Marathon in 2:26:29, and ran a personal best of 2:24:09 at the 2011 London Marathon, but she will also be remembered for her fifth-place finish at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu.Ever since she decided to finish her top-level career in Osaka, Akaba has repeatedly said that she wants to finish her career with the win.Yuko Watanabe, who was third last year in 2:25:56, is potentially one of the women who could spoil the top trio’s dreams of a repeat win.But there is a question mark over her recent form as she was only 34th fastest on the 10km stage of the Inter-Prefectural Women’s Ekiden. However, Watanabe says her training since then has gone well and she feels that she can, at least, improve her personal best.For Mari Ozaki, 37, who recorded a personal best of 2:23:30 in her marathon debut at the 2003 Osaka Women’s Marathon, Sunday’s race will be her sixth outing in Osaka. In fact, the only other marathons she has run in her career are the 2010 London Marathon and the 2005 and 2007 IAAF World Championships, but since Ozaki still ran 2:26:41 for the fourth place last year, she should not be counted out.&nbsp; A lot of eyes will also be on Poland’s Karolina Jarzynska who, after finishing sixth in Osaka 12 months ago, reduced her personal best at the marathon to 2:26:45 in Lodz last April and set a Polish 10,000m record of 31:43.51 in Ostrava last summer, the latter being the fastest European time of the year over 25 laps of the track.Ethiopia’s Marta Lema Megra may also be on the verge of a breakthrough. She ran three marathons in 2013, culminating with 2:28:02 for second place at the Kosice Marathon and says that her goal for Sunday is to break 2:25.&nbsp; Great Britain’s Louise Damen recorded her personal best of 2:30:00 at the 2011 London Marathon and her goal is also to improve her personal best. Damen has received advice about the course from her countrywoman and 2008 Osaka Women’s Marathon champion Mara Yamauchi.&nbsp;&nbsp; Other invited runners from abroad are Kenya’s Hellen Mugo, who recorded her personal best of 2:27:16 in Carpi in 2010, Russia’s Natalya Puchkova, who recorded her personal best of 2:30:17 at the 2012 Hannover Marathon, and Italy’s Deborah Toniols, who has a best of 2:28:31 although that was set back in 2006.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;Ken Nakamura for the IAAF

The champions from the past three editions of the Osaka Women’s Marathon – Tetiana Gamera-Shmyrko, Risa Shigetomo and Yukiko Akaba – have returned to contest the IAAF Silver Label Road Race on Sunday (26).  

Gamera-Shmyrko is bidding to be first back-to-back Osaka winner in 14 years 

The organisers of the 33rd edition of the Osaka International Women’s Marathon, an IAAF Silver Label Road Race, have announced that Ukraine’s reigning champion Tetiana Gamera-Shmyrko&nbsp;will defend her title on 26 January.Gamera-Shmyrko, who won earlier this year in 2:23:58, will be bidding to become the first woman since Romania’s Lidia Simon won the third of her three consecutive titles in 2000 to successfully defend her crown in the Japanese city.The Ukrainian is one of four former champions who are scheduled to be on the start line in Osaka next month, but the only non-Japanese runner among that quartet.Japan’s marathon record-holder, 2004 Olympic champion and 2003 Osaka winner Mizuki Noguchi, has the accolade of being the fastest woman in the field with her time of 2:19:12 from the 2005 Berlin Marathon.Noguchi also holds the course record with her time of 2:21:18 from when she won a decade ago, although the course was modified slightly in 2011 in a bid to produce faster times. She will be accompanied by her compatriots Yukiko Akaba and Risa Shigetomo, the 2011 and 2012 winners respectively.Also on the start line will be Yuko Watanabe and Mari Ozaki, who finished third and fourth in this year’s race.Watanabe set her personal best of 2:25:56 in Osaka and went on to win the Sapporo Marathon in August while Ozaki, now 38, has also finished second in Osaka twice and has a third place to her name.There will also be a lot of local interest in how the talented Japanese runners Sayo Nomura and Sairi Maeda&nbsp;perform on their debuts over the classic distance.In addition to Gamera-Shmyrko, the contingent of international runners includes Poland’s Karolina Jarzynska, Kenya’s Hellen Mugo and Ethiopia’s Marta Lema.Phil Minshull for the IAAFLeading entries (with best times): Mizuki Noguchi (JPN) 2:19:12 Risa Shigetomo (JPN) 2:23:23 Mari Ozaki (JPN) 2:23:30 Tetiana Gamera-Shmyrko (UKR) 2:23:58 Yukiko Akaba (JPN) 2:24:09 Yuko Watanabe (JPN) 2:25:56 Karolina Jarzynska (POL) 2:26:45 Hellen Mugo (KEN) 2:27:16 Marta Lema (ETH) 2:28:02 Louise Damen (GBR) 2:30:00 Natalya Puchkova (RUS) 2:30:17 Deborah Toniolo (ITA) 2:31:20 Sayo Nomura (JPN) debut Sairi Maeda (JPN) debut

The organisers of the 33rd edition of the Osaka International Women’s Marathon, an IAAF Silver Label Road Race, have announced that Ukraine’s reigning champion Tetiana Gamera-Shmyrko will defend her title on 26 January.

Gamera-Shmyrko among four former winners to contest 2014 Osaka Marathon

The 14th edition of the Shanghai International Marathon, an IAAF Gold Label Road Race, will see a concerted attack on the course records established 12 months ago in the Chinese city, with the focus of attention possibly being more on the women’s race than the men on Sunday (1). Ethiopia’s Aberu Kebede can boast of the impressive best of 2:20:30, set when winning in Berlin last year, and she also ran 2:20:33 in the high-quality Dubai Marathon in 2012. She has the impressive record of winning four of her 10 Marathon outings, including in Berlin in 2010 and in Tokyo earlier this year and so has earned the mantle of being the race favourite in Shanghai.However, she is looking to bounce back after a disappointing showing at the IAAF World Championships in August, when she struggled home in a disappointing 13th place when many people had her tipped as an outside bet for a medal in Moscow. Kebede will have company from three other very strong Ethiopians and they have as their target the course record of 2:24:08 set by their compatriot Feyse Tadese in 2012.Merima Hasen, still only 21, has a best of 2:23.06 set when she was a teenager in 2010 and she went close to that when she finished second in Paris this year with 2:23:14; into the bargain she is noted for her high level consistency with five of her last six Marathons being inside 2:26.Defending champion Tadese is not returning to Shanghai but Ashu Kasim, who finished second last year, will be aiming to do as well, if not better, than 12 months ago when she ran 2:24.09 and just lost out by one second in a very tight finish.Kasim has a certain fondness for Marathons in China, having set her personal best of 2:23:09 when winning in Xiamen last year.Ethiopia’s former 3000m Steeplechase record holder Zemzem Ahmed has converted her talents to the road in the last 18 months and will be looking to improve substantially on her best of 2:27:12 in the third Marathon of her career.Kenya’s Lydia Cheromei can look back on an international career stretching back more than two decades and remains the youngest ever winner at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships after her junior women’s victory in 1991.Now 36, she is still looking to add to her extensive resume. Cheromei was in fine fettle in 2012 and set a personal best of 2:21:30 when finishing sixth in Dubai, one place behind Kebede, and had another good run when winning the Yokohama Marathon in 2:23:07. However, she has struggled to recapture that form this year and she will be racing over any distance for the first time since finishing in sixth place at the Prague Marathon in May, when she didn’t break 2:34.She will be joined on the start line by her fellow Kenyan Emily Samoei, who won the 2012 Barcelona Marathon in a personal best of 2:26:52 although, like Cheromei, she has not been in the same form this year and not gone under 2:30 in her two Marathons so far in 2013.European interests will be represented by Poland’s Karolina Jarzynska, who won the Lodz Marathon in a personal best of 2:26:45. She is also Europe’s leading runner over 10,000m on the track this year, having set a Polish record of 31:43.51 in the Czech city of Ostrava.A tilt at Wanda Panfil’s long-standing Polish Marathon record of 2:24:18, set in the 1991 Boston Marathon, might not be out of the question.Chumba and company look to defend Kenyan crownKenya’s Dickson Chumba is the fastest man on the start list with 2:05:46 to his name, when he set the current Eindhoven Marathon course record in 2012.However, Chumba is intending to have his second Marathon in little more than a month having finished eighth in the Amsterdam Marathon so it could be a question of how much he has left in his legs.Alongside Chumba, there will be two other good Kenyans who have the credentials to reduce the course record of 2:09:01 set by their countryman Sylvester Kimeli Teimet 12 months ago. &nbsp;Samuel Ndungu ran an impressive 2:07:04 to win the Lake Biwa Marathon in Japan on his debut over the distance last year. He followed that up with a run of 2:07:26 to finish seventh in the 2012 Chicago Marathon but has not run a Marathon since.Stephen Chemlany set a personal best of 2:07:44 when finishing fourth at the Berlin Marathon in September but, like Chumba, it will be interesting to see how well he has recovered from that race.Another Kenyan, Jackson Kipkoech Kotut, has a best of 2:07:30, which dates from when he won the 2010 Barcelona Marathon, although he has not gone under 2:10 for three years.Another consistent runner who should challenge for the honours is Ethiopia’s Teferi Kebede, who ran under 2:08 twice last year, including a best of 2:07:35 when finishing third at the Tiberias Marathon in Israel.One runner who might not automatically be considered a favourite but could cause a surprise is Eritrea’s Beraki Beyene, who has the relatively modest personal best of 2:09.01 but who also finished a respectable 11th at the World Championships in Moscow in conditions which saw many ostensibly faster runners wilt badly.Phil Minshull for the IAAF

The 14th edition of the Shanghai International Marathon, an IAAF Gold Label Road Race, will see a concerted attack on the course records established 12 months ago in the Chinese city.

Will Kebede continue Ethiopia's supremacy in Shanghai?

Ethiopia’s Belaynesh Oljira heads a strong field of runners for the seventh edition of the Carrera de la Mujer de Bogotá (Bogota’s Women’s race), an IAAF Gold Label Road Race, on Sunday (29).The 12km race is solely for women and will take place over a 4km loop in the Colombian capital’s Parque Simón Bolívar.Part of the revenue will be dedicated to support campaigns, such as Liga Colombiana Contra el Cáncer, an organisation that fights cancer among women. Around 17,000 runners are expected to take part of the events, which include races from 2km to 12km for various age groups.Oljira, 23, comes to Bogota after the best year of her career. She finished third at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Bydgoszcz back in March and earned a bronze medal over 10,000m at the IAAF World Championships in Moscow last month. She has run 30:31.44 over 25 laps of the track to stand fourth in the world on time this year. Oljira also set a personal best at the Marathon with her 2:25:01 time in Dubai at the start of the year.The 2625m altitude of Bogata will be one of Oljira’s main challenges. Besides that geographical factor, the Ethiopian runner will face rivals including her compatriots Zemzem Ahmed and Hiwot Ayalew, the USA’s Janet Bawcom, Poland’s Karolina Jarzynska, Morocco’s Malika Asahssah, Mexico’s Madai Perez, and the Kenyan pair of Paskalia Kipkoech and Sylvia Kibet.Ahmed, 28, was seventh at the 2008 Olympic Games in the 3000m Steeplechase and won over the barriers at the African Championships that year but is now concentrating on road racing. Ayalew, 23, is a talented performer on all surfaces. She was second at the World Cross Country Championships this year and placed fourth at the 2013 World Championships in the 3000m Steeplechase. On the roads she registered a second place in the New Orleans 10km with a 32:05 personal best and had a victory at the famous Cooper River Bridge Run in Charleston.Bawcom, now 35, was 12th at&nbsp;the London 2012 Olympic Games. Her best performance of the season was her victory at the US 15km National Championships with 49:44.Jarzynska, 32, is also enjoying a good campaign. She was 15th in the 10,000m in Moscow and set a 31:43.51 national record in Ostrava. She also set a 2:26:45 personal best when winning the Lodz Marathon in April.The 30-year-old Asahssah can look back on a victory in Ottawa’s famous 10km race in May and ran her 69:11 Half-marathon personal best in the Rome-Ostia race in March.Perez comes to Bogota in a positive mood after her seventh place in the Marathon at the World Championships and, coincidently, she also placed seventh at the Boston Marathon.Kipkoech, 24, was the silver medallist at the 2012 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships and has plenty of experience in South America, where she achieved her personal bests over 10km (30:57 at Santos, Brazil, on 20 May 2012) and Half-marathon (67:17 at Rio de Janeiro on 19 August 2012). Kibet, 29, will bring to Bogota her illustrious pedigree of two 5000m silver medals at the 2009 and 2011 World Championships. Erika Abril, Carolina Tabares, Yolanda Fernandez and Angela Figueroa will head the Colombian challenge. Abril is the Marathon national record holder while Tabares is the 2013 South American 5000m champion. Fernandez has been the best Colombian runner at the past two editions of this race and Figueroa is the 3000m Steeplechase national record holder. Eduardo Biscayart for the IAAF

Belaynesh Oljira leads strong field at Bogota’s Carrera de la Mujer

For the first time in its 19-year-history, the Prague Grand Prix over 10km, an IAAF Silver Label Road Race, will feature an elite women's race competing alongside the always-strong men's field on 7 September.The race has featured many of the great names of men's distance running in the last two decades, including Paul Tergat, Haile Gebrselassie and Stefano Baldini.&nbsp; From this year, women will be able to add their names to the list of winners. With the introduction of equal prize money for both sexes, the elite athlete coordinator Jana Moberly has been able to put together a competitive group of international women.Great Britain's Gemma Steel finished third in the 2013 Oakley New York Mini 10K in June and two had two other good second-place finishes in high-profile US races earlier this month and should be a contender for the podium in Prague.Steel's compatriot, Susan Partridge will be coming to the Czech capital after a very credible 10th-place finish in the recent IAAF World Championships Marathon.&nbsp; Starting conservatively in the mid-afternoon heat of Moscow, Partridge worked her way up from 43rd place at 5km to make the top 10.&nbsp; Croatia's US-born Lisa Stublic opted to pass on the World Championships in order to concentrate on her training for the ING New York City Marathon in November and she will be looking to tune up for that race in Prague.&nbsp; Poland will be represented by Karolina Jarzynska, 15th in the 10,000m in Moscow, and Dominika Nowakowska, who finished 14th in the 5000m final in the Russian capital.&nbsp; One of the biggest surprises in Moscow was the seventh-place finish of the young Czech teenage talent Anezka Drahotova in the 20km Race Walk. However, the 18-year-old Drahotova, who won the European Athletics Junior Championships 10,000m Race Walk, is also a talented runner and made the final of the 3000m Steeplechase in Rieti.The top African women in the field include Ethiopia's Afera Godfay, the fastest in the field at 31:08, and Kenya's Esther Chemtai and Lucy Njeri Macharia. The men's race could be a duel between Kenya’s Daniel Chebii and Ethiopia’s Mosinet Geremew. Both of them coincidently have the same 10km best of 27:36 on the roads.&nbsp; Chebii was the winner in the Ceske Budejovice Half Marathon last year in the world-class time of 59:49. They could be challenged by the 20-year-old Kenyan Kiprop Limo, the winner of the Stramilano Half Marathon this year, who has a 10km road best of 27:40.Organisers for the IAAF

O2 Prague Grand Prix 10km announces a stellar women's field for the first time