Just three weeks after the end of the IAAF World Championships, world-class athletics returns to the Chinese capital on Sunday (20) in the form of the Beijing International Marathon, an IAAF Gold Label Road Race.New champions will also be crowned in Beijing as no previous winner is featured among the elite athletes. This year&rsquo;s field women&rsquo;s is led by Aliaksandra Duliba of Belarus. The 27-year-old Duliba set her personal best of 2:23:06 in January, when she finished eighth at the Dubai Marathon.Ethiopia&rsquo;s Abebech Afework, who finished one place behind Duliba in Dubai with a personal best of 2:23:33, will also be competing in Beijing. The 24-year-old used to be more of a half marathon specialist but moved up to marathons two years ago.Kenya&rsquo;s Helena Kirop is another serious contender to watch out for on Sunday, despite almost reaching veteran status. The 39-year-old veteran is the winner of 2010 Prague Marathon and 2011 Venice Marathon, where her career best time of 2:23:37 on the hilly course improved the race record by more than three minutes and still stands now.Her rich and varied experience of running in China will be an advantage for Kirop. She has run three times at the Yellow River Estuary International Marathon in the Chinese city of Dongying, finishing as the runner-up in 2012 and fifth in 2013 before claiming the title this year in 2:31:38.The women&rsquo;s field also includes the Ethiopian pair of Betelhem Moges who has a best of 2:24:29, set when finishing 11th in Dubai this year, and Sechale Dalasa, who clocked a PB of 2:26:27 when finishing fifth in Shanghai in 2012 and started this year with a fourth-place finish at the Houston Marathon in 2:27:12.However, regardless of the quality and depth of the women&rsquo;s field, challenging the course record of 2:19:39 set in 2003 by China&rsquo;s four-time winner Sun Yingjie may be too much to ask for.<h3>10 men under 2:10</h3>In the men&rsquo;s field, four runners have bests faster than the 2:07:16 course record set two years ago by Ethiopia&rsquo;s 2013 world bronze medallist Tadese Tola but none of them have managed to run faster than 2:10:00 so far this year.Ethiopia&rsquo;s Berhanu Shiferaw is the fastest man in the field with a best of 2:04:48, set when he finished second at the 2013 Dubai Marathon, while Kenya&rsquo;s Mariko Kiplagat Kipchumba was the winner of the 2014 Xiamen Marathon and ran his best time of 2:06:05 in 2012 when winning in Reims, but the fastest time for the 41-year-old in 2015 is just a modest 2:14:38 in Riga.Twice a winner of the Marrakech Marathon, Stephen Tum has a personal best of 2:06:35 but is even further away from the top level this year, with his 2015 best being 2:15:51.Ethiopia&rsquo;s Bekana Daba Tolesa is arguably the most in-form runner on the elite list. Boasting of a best of 2:07:04 when winning the Houston Marathon in 2011, Tolesa clocked 2:09:41 to come home second at the Barcelona Marathon in March.The field also features six more sub-2:10 runners: Ethiopians Abrha Milaw (2:07:46), who was third in Xiamen this year, Houston Marathon winner Birhanu Gedefa (2:08:03), Dereje Tadesse Raya (2:08:46) and Chala Adugna (2:09:42), as well as Ugandan duo Daniel Kipkorir Chepyegon (2:08:04) and Jackson Kiprop (2:09:32), the latter finishing 10th at the World Championships last month.The Beijing Marathon will see a series of reforms this year with the date of the race being moved forward from October to September and the starting hour changed to 7:30am local time to hopefully avoid hot temperatures. The organisers have also made some adjustments to the route in order to make the course flatter, with the starting line still being in the famous Tiananmen Square and the finish just outside the Bird&rsquo;s Nest stadium.About 30,000 runners will participate in Sunday&rsquo;s race. The organisers have omitted the half marathon and 10km races this year, and all the participants will be competing in the full-length race.&nbsp; Vincent Wu for the IAAF

Just three weeks after the end of the IAAF World Championships, world-class athletics returns to the Chinese capital on Sunday (20) in the form of the Beijing International Marathon, an IAAF Gold Label Road Race.

New champions to be crowned at Beijing Marathon

The elite runners in Sunday’s Gold Coast Marathon received their race numbers from Australian marathon legend Robert de Castella at a media conference on Friday afternoon (4), but the question exercising everyone’s mind was: “Will anyone have Deek’s number on Sunday morning.”De Castella had plenty of impressive numbers throughout a stellar career – number one in the world as the winner of the marathon at the first IAAF World Championships in Helsinki back in 1983, fastest in the world with what was then a world best at the 1981 Fukuoka Marathon, and a winner in Boston and Rotterdam.But the number on everyone’s minds on Sunday will be de Castella’s Australian all-comers mark of 2:09:18, which he ran in winning a stirring duel with another 1980s marathon great, Tanzania’s Juma Ikangaa, to win the Commonwealth Games marathon in Brisbane, a short trip up the road from Gold Coast.A second number is 2:09:59, which would give the first sub-2:10 in Australia since that race. A third, is 2:10:00, which would break the race record.Sunday’s race has been accorded IAAF Gold Label status, a step up from the Bronze status of last year and a recognition of the Gold Coast race’s determination to attract a top international field for the marathon, which is the jewel in the crown for a weekend of events.Looking at the field assembled for Sunday’s race, all those numbers should be attainable. Marathon chief executive Cameron Hart certainly thinks so.“In the past, we’ve had two go very close to it,” said Hart, referring to the all-comers mark, “but they’ve been runners out on their own.This year there’s more, 13 who have a chance by Hart’s reckoning. Crucially, they will be led for 25-30km by a pacemaker, the respected US distance runner Sean Quigley.&nbsp;A sub-2:10 and successful assault on Deek’s all-comers mark looks like a very strong possibility, considering the strength of the elite men’s field.Leading the way are co-race record holders: Japan’s Yuki Kawauchi and Kenya’s Nicholas Manza.Manza, who boasts a 2:06:34 personal best from Rotterdam in 2011, also won that year’s Gold Coast race in 2:10:01.The indefatigable Kawauchi, who has a personal best of 2:08:14 and seems capable of grinding out a world class marathon a month, equalled that record last year. The clock on the finish line indicated a 2:10:00 as he crossed, but the time was adjusted up after careful examination of the photo-finish.Unwittingly, that set the scene for this year’s showdown but the race will not be a two-man affair with further 2:06 men in Gebretsadik Abraha Adihana (2:06:23) and Stephen Tum (2:06:35); as well as sub-2:08 duo, Japan’s Arata Fujiwara (2:07:48) and Stephen Kibiwot (2:07:54).There are five more sub-2:10 runners rounding out the elite field and another handful with aspirations towards that elite territory.Sun strategy required“I think it could be a 2:07 or 2:08 race,” said Manza this week. Fujiwara went further, predicting the all-comers mark would also go.The record has survived several determined assaults in the past few years. With the race usually run in sunny conditions and getting warmer, the sting is always in the tail of the Gold Coast race.One sentimental note for Australian fans is the appearance of Lee Troop, twice a sub-2:10 marathoner, in what he says will be his final Australian marathon (he also intends to run New York later in the year).With Deek handing out the numbers and Steve Moneghetti doing television work, Australian men’s marathon royalty is certainly well represented.The women’s race is also strong, though not as strong as the men. Pamela Chepchumba boasts the fastest personal best, but her 2:25:36 dates back to 2007. The Ethiopian pair of Goitetom Tesema and Yebrgual Melese (both at 2:26:21), Kenya’s Emily Samoei (2:26:52) and China’s Lamei Sun, who boasts a 2:27:55 from Beijing in 2012, are more likely to be the women who will contest the victory.Race organisers have done everything right to assemble strong fields. The question remains: will the numbers fall their way on race day.Len Johnson for the IAAF

The elite runners in Sunday’s Gold Coast Marathon received their race numbers from Australian marathon legend Robert de Castella at a media conference on Friday afternoon (4), but the question exercising everyone’s mind was: “Will anyone have Deek’s number on Sunday morning.”

Deek starts the number game at the 2014 Gold Coast Marathon

The course record could be under threat at the 2014 SuisseGas Milano City Marathon as the IAAF Bronze Label Road Race celebrates its 14th edition on Sunday (6).Daniel Kirugut Too – not to be confused with Daniel Kirwa Too – won this race in 2012 in 2:08:39, 14 seconds off his personal best. The Kenyan will return this year with the goal to break Duncan Kibet’s course record of 2:07:53 set in 2008.This year’s field features two sub-2:07 runners, Ethiopia’s Raji Assefa and Kenya’s Stephen Tum.Assefa’s PB of 2:06:24, set at the 2012 Paris Marathon, makes him the fastest in the field. He has twice represented Ethiopia at the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships, his best result being a 12th-place finish in 2007 in 1:00:31.Tum won in Marrakech two years ago with 2:08:51 on his marathon debut and successfully defended his title last year, setting a personal best of 2:06:35.Another one to watch out for is Kenya’s Francis Kiprop whose personal best of 2:07:04 dates back to the 2009 Berlin Marathon, but won in Madrid last year in 2:10:37.The best non-African runners are Brazil’s 2007 Pan-American Games champion Franck Caldeira, who set his personal best of 2:12:03 when finishing sixth in Milan two years ago, and Ukraine’s two-time national marathon champion Igor Olefirenko.The Milan race will double up as the Italian Marathon Championships. Veteran Danilo Goffi, European silver medallist back in 1998 and the top masters finisher at last year’s New York Marathon, will be up against former European junior cross-country bronze medallist Stefano Scaini, husband of 2008 Milan Marathon winner and 2010 European champion Anna Incerti.Defending champion Jepkoech faces strong Ethiopian challengeMonica Jepkoech will defend the Milan title she won last year with a personal best of 2:32:54. The Kenyan also boasts a solid 1:09:12 half-marathon PB set in Lille two years ago.But she will have her work cut out as the women’s field also features Ethiopia’s 2:30:56 runner Debola Wudnesh, winner of the 2010 Barcelona Marathon, and her compatriot Megeresa Megertu, whose PB of 2:31:49 is also superior to Jepkoech’s.Morocco’s Soumiya Labani’s PB of 2:30:48 makes her the fastest in the field, but the 39-year-old’s best performance dates back to 2006. Another interesting entrant is Slovenia’s Mateja Kosovelj, bronze medallist at last year’s European Mountain Running Championships.Kenya’s Visiline Jepkesho, who holds a half-marathon personal best of 1:11:50, will make her marathon debut in Milan.The women’s course record is held by former New York and Boston Marathon champion Margaret Okayo, who clocked 2:24:59 in 2002 over a different course.The race will set off from Rho, near the Fiera Miano on the outskirts of Milan, and finish in front of the Central Piazza Castello, one of the symbols of the Northern Italian city. The course will pass along all the most famous symbols of Milan including the San Siro footbol Stadium, the Navigli, the Duomo Cathedral, the Scala Theatre, the Peace Arch, the Sempione Park and the Arena Civica to finish near the Castello Sforzesco.No less than 4500 runners are expected to take to the streets to take part in the 26.2 mile race but the total figure will increase to about 14,027 participants including the popular Europ Assistance Relay Marathon.The relay, which will involve 2378 teams, is a non-competitive race for teams of four members running for charity organisations to raise funds. It was introduced to the programme in 2010 and has been the key for the growing success of the Milan Marathon.Last year the Milan Marathon earned the AIMS Green Award from the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races, a prestigious award that certifies the strong commitment of the Milan Marathon in implementing all the measures to protect the environment during the race.Diego Sampaolo for the IAAF

The course record could be under threat at the 2014 SuisseGas Milano City Marathon as the IAAF Bronze Label Road Race celebrates its 14th edition on Sunday (6). 

Former winners Too and Jepkoech return to Milano City Marathon

The course record could be under threat at the 2014 SuisseGas Milano City Marathon as the IAAF Bronze Label Road Race celebrates its 14th edition on Sunday (6).