Mumbai: Defending champions Cosmas Lagat and Worknesh Alemu will return to the Tata Mumbai Marathon to defend their titles at the prestigious IAAF Gold Label Road Race which is set to be the strongest marathon ever to be staged in the country.
The marathon which will be held here on January 19, will feature 14 men, who have run faster than 2:10:00, making it the strongest marathon ever in India.
Lagat will be aiming to become just the second man to win back-to-back Mumbai Marathon titles in the race's 17-year history, following in the footsteps of fellow Kenyan John Kelai who won in 2007 and 2008.
Of those men, nine have run faster than the course record during their careers and six have run under the super-elite benchmark of 2:07:00.
The four fastest men in the field are all Ethiopians, led by Ayele Abshero who has a personal best of 2:04:23.
Lagat won last year in decisive fashion when he broke away from the rest of the leading pack around 29 kms into the race. The Kenyan was out on his own over the final 13km, almost a third of the race, before crossing the line.
Lagat will be back on the start line motivated not only by the possibility of pocketing another US $ 45,000 first prize cheque but also the US $ 15,000 on offer for a course record.
Like Lagat, Ethiopia's Alemu upset the pre-race form book in 2019 and won in Mumbai with a personal best of 2:25:25, which was also the second fastest winning time in the Marathon's history.
