Defending champions Cosmas Lagat of kenya and Worknesh Alemu of Ethiopia will return to the 17th edition of the Tata Mumbai Marathon on January 19.
The men and women singles champions stand to earn dollar 45,000 each, plus dollar 15,000 bonus for a course record, in the IAAF Gold Label event.
Like Lagat, Ethiopia's Alemu upset the pre-race form book in 2019 and won in Mumbai in a personal best of 2:25:25. She improved her best to 2:24:42 later in 2019 when finishing sixth at the Amsterdam Marathon in October.
Lagat will be aiming to become just the second man to win back-to-back Tata 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.
Kenya's Lagat won 12 months ago in decisive fashion when he broke away from the rest of the leading pack around 29 kilometres into the race. He was out on his own over the final 13 kilometres, almost a third of the race, before crossing the line in 2:09:15, the second fastest winning time in the history of the Tata Mumbai Marathon.
Having come home just 40 seconds outside the course record of 2:08:35, set by his compatriot Gideon Kipketer in 2016, Lagat will be back on the start line in the City of Dreams motivated not only by the possibility of pocketing another dollar 45,000 first prize cheque but also the dollar on offer for a course record.
Both races this year will have a tough field as 14 men have times faster than 2:10:00, out of which 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 and although that time came almost eight years ago, when he won the Dubai Marathon, he showed that he is still a very competitive runner at the highest level by taking second place in the Hamburg Marathon in 2:08:26 last April.
The fastest women in the field is another Ethiopian, Amane Beriso, who had a stunning marathon debut when she ran 2:20:48 for second place in the 2016 Dubai Marathon, which placed her third on that year's world list. Beriso took a break from competitive running last year so it will be interesting to see what sort of form she will bring to her first race in 15 months.
All the leading women will have as their target the course record of 2:24:33 set by Kenya's Valentine Kipketer in 2013.
Approximately 50,000 runners will take to the roads in Mumbai for six different races in what has become a traditional annual event in the city on the third Sunday of January.
In addition to the marathon ? which has a total prize fund of dollar 405,000 ? there is a half marathon, a 10km race, a Dream Run (5.9km), Senior Citizens Race (4.2km) and a Champions with Disability Race (1.5km).