Best ever field assembled for the Brighton Marathon

A quality line-up has been assembled for 6 April as the Brighton Marathon, an IAAF Bronze Label event, welcomes its most outstanding men’s elite field to date.

The fastest two runners in the field, William Chebor and Raymond Kandie of Kenya, have personal bests under 2:10, while all three medallists from last year’s cracking race have opted to return.

Chebor, 31, who clocked 2:08:21 in Turin three years ago, comes to Brighton having won his most recent marathon in Jakarta last October.

In addition to a host of strong Kenyans, a number of fast runners from six other countries will be trying to topple the big names. All told, there are 22 IAAF qualified athletes, six of them women, and for the first time performers from Italy, Eritrea and South Africa join the fray.

Last year, Dominic Kangor of Kenya set the course record of 2:10:46 after a close tussle with Bernard Rotich. That time could well be in danger with the course changes that have taken place making the route faster than ever. The top five have all run faster than the current benchmark.

For Britain, Winchester’s Chris Powner (handicap -2.3)  is making his debut over the distance. He has a best half marathon of 64:45 from Bath two years ago and will be chasing the qualifying time of 2 hours and 19 minutes for Scotland’s marathon team for this year’s Commonwealth Games.

On the women’s side, Kenya’s Hellen Mugo has a best time of 2:27:16 which is more than a minute and a half faster than the current course record of 2:28:50. South African Tanith Maxwell is hoping to win Commonwealth Games selection by getting back close to her best of 2:32:33.

Fastest Briton is Kendal’s Rebecca Robinson (handicap 1.6) with a lifetime best 2:37:14 from the 2010 London Marathon.

The fifth Brighton Marathon takes place Sunday 6 April.