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Dubai (UAE) - 19 January 2015: After being surprisingly beaten to the finish tape 12 months ago, Ethiopia's Meselech Melkamu will be going all out to go one better and win her first Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon women's title when the world's richest marathon takes to the streets of the emirate on Friday (January 23).
Despite starting as favourite in 2014, Melkamu had to settle for second place behind compatriot Mulu Seboka in a time of 2:25:23, well outside her personal best, before taking on the Boston Marathon where she claimed fifth place in 2:21:28.
This year she returns ranked third quickest in an even stronger women's field behind fellow Ethiopian, two-time champion and Dubai course record holder Aselefech Mergia and Kenyan flyer Lucy Kabuu.
Now 29, Melkamu ran her personal best when she made a superb marathon debut with victory in Frankfurt in 2012, clocking 2:21:01 despite almost freezing conditions - at the time, the third fastest debut ever. She is also the African 10,000m record holder with 29m:53.8s and it's that speed on the track that suggests potential for running even faster in the marathon.
“In future I want to run marathon times that are as good as at 10,000m,” says Melkamu, who comes from a running family and who will feature alongside three former women's winners in an event held under the patronage of HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Dubai Sports Council.
Such is the quality of the women's field, in what is likely to be unprecedented strength in depth for a city marathon, 23 women have entered with personal bests of sub-2:28.
Scheduled to get underway at 7.00am on Umm Seqeim Road outside the Dubai Police Academy, the marathon - and associated 10km Road Race (7.15am) and 4km Fun Run (11am) - will attract the largest field ever seen in the 16-year history of the IAAF Gold Label event
And while general online registration has now closed, last minute runners who wish to enter can do so in person through the event's online portal at run number collection at Skydive Dubai, next to Zero Gravity in Dubai, on Tuesday and Wednesday (January 21-22) from 10am to 7pm, with payment by credit card only. Only runners for the Marathon and the 10km Road Race will be permitted to enter - the 4km Fun Run is now closed.
In addition to Standard Chartered as title sponsor, the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon is supported by the Dubai Sports Council, adidas, Dubai Eye 103.8FM, Sport 360, Masafi, Dubai Holding, Dubai Police and the RTA.
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