Ethiopian duo Soloman Deksisa and Worknesh Degefa will spearhead a robust elite field featuring major city marathon winners and athletes with more than 35 international victories between them when the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon is staged on Friday (January 24).

Deksisa and Degefa boast the excellent Personal Bests in the men and womens fields respectively and will be among the huge favourites when the elite aspect of the IAAF Gold Label event race gets underway at 6 a.m.

For Deksisa who set his PB of 2:04:40 when finishing third in Amsterdam in 2018 its a debut look on the flat and fast roads of Dubai and the 25-year-old will be looking to add to the back-to-back city marathon wins he enjoyed in Hamburg and Mumbai in 2018.

Another Dubai debutant is Kenyas Eric Kiptanui whose personal best of 58:42 makes him the quickest half marathon runner ever entered into the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon and the 29-year-old can hold Dubais reputation as being a ideal course for debutants.

It was only a year in the past when Ethiopias Getaneh Molla won the race on his debut in a path record time of 2:03:34 - and Kiptanui has the explosive achievable to proceed this tradition and possibly finish Ethiopias eight-year dominance of the mens race.

But while Deksisa and Kiptanui are Dubai new boys, for Worknesh Degefa its a welcome return to one of her favored hunting grounds. The diminutive 29-year-old holds the distinction of being the quickest Ethiopian female marathon runner of all time thanks to a wonderful personal best of 2:17:41 - the fifth fastest marathon time ever run by a female set in Dubai just twelve months ago.

As well as that personal best when ending second previous year, Degefa wonin Dubai in 2017 and completed 4th in 2018. A magnificent victory at the Boston Marathon back in April 2019 indicates she stays a serious world talent and will start as a hot favorite this weekend.

As always, however, she will have her challengers, most notably former Boston Marathon winner Bizunesh Deba (2:19:59) and the up-and-coming Bedatu Hirpa, who won the 2017 Athens Marathon at the age of just 18.

Held under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, and under the aegis of the Dubai Sports Council, the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon has once more brought together a field of elites with marathon victories to their names in cities such as Rome, Athens, Milan, Shanghai and Lisbon.

We are glad to be the title sponsor of the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon for the sixteenth consecutive year, stated Rola Abu Manneh, CEO for Standard Chartered Bank, UAE. This flagship event, now in its twenty first year, has emerge as one of the regions most anticipated social and sporting platforms bringing together lots of people from all over the world. For the few hours of the marathon, all participants are united on one single course to the finish line.

As well as the elite runners, the event will additionally entice athletes and participants who prefer to challenge themselves; some who want to be more fit and healthier; some who prefer to increase fund for charity; and some who just prefer an exciting day out with their friends and family. And just like every year, we will have over 600 people from Standard Chartered who will be volunteering or running at the event.

While the elite fields will take to the roads at 6 a.m on Friday with the masses off an hour later at 7 a.m, the honour of getting the day's action underway falls to a stellar global field of wheelchair athletes.
Among these beginning a conflict royale at 5.55 a.m will be the defending champions Marcel Hug and Sandra Graf of Switzerland

"Last year we witnessed two new path records and some incredible Marathon times," stated Event Director Peter Connerton. "This week, the path is the same for the twenty first running of the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon so we are looking ahead to but another outstanding race from a talented crew of elite athletes.

Our thanks go out to our sponsors as well as the Dubai Sports Council and all the Government bodies who come together to offer the framework for this event. Without their help and precious support, a race of this scale on the streets of the city would no longer be possible.

Runners looking to take part in the Marathon, the 10 km Road Race (8.15 a.m) or the 4 km Fun Run (11 a.m) can register online until Thursday (Jan 23) either at dubaimarathon.org or at Run Number series at Jumeirah Beach Hotel Conference Centre. UAE Nationals in specific are encouraged to take part in the event thanks to the #My City_My Race campaign, launched by Dubai Holding.

Khalid Al Malik, Managing Director of Dubai Holding said: We introduced the UAE National Winners Category for the Dubai Marathon as part of our ongoing commitment to community wellbeing and fostering Emirati pride. We are delighted to see that the number of Emirati participants has grown by 325% with more than ever before set to take part in the 2020 edition of the citys signature fitness event. I am also glad to say that more Emirati ladies are taking part in the Marathon. Last year, we noticed nearly 200 Emirati women running throughout the different race categories, which are 21% more than in 2018.

He added:This year, with our #MyCity_MyRace campaign, we have put even more emphasis at the back actively encouraging UAE Nationals of all health levels to take part in the 10 km, 42 km and Wheel Chair categories with early figures showing that 30% more will participate versus last year.
We look forward to seeing record numbers of Emiratis on the start line on Friday and hope that one day, the winner of the full marathon will be a UAE National.

In addition to Standard Chartered as title sponsor, the Dubai Marathon is supported by the Dubai Sports Council, adidas, Dubai Holding, Masafi, Channel four Radio Network, Dubai Municipality, Dubai Police and the RTA. Live TV streaming of the race will be available at http://bit.ly/DubaiMarathon2020.