Dubai: Some of the fastest road runners in the world of long distance running will line up at the seventh running of the UAE Healthy Kidney 10km race at New York's Central Park today.
Sponsored by the UAE Healthy Kidney initiative, the race has witnessed records in three of the last four years, and many are expecting a further lowering of the race mark of 27.42 minutes when the race is run.
A new record will fetch the winner an additional $20,000 (Dh92,000) Zayed Record Bonus, along with the first-place cheque of $25,000, the largest for any 10K race in the world.
The UAE Healthy Kidney 10K is an open race highlighted by a select field of professional male runners and offers a total of $60,000 in prize money to the top finishers.
Leading the charge in today's race with an 8am start will be the two fastest 10K runners in history, namely Leonard Patrick Komon and Micah Kogo, both from Kenya.
Arguably the hottest road racer on the planet in 2010, Komon lowered the world records at 15K and 10K last autumn; his 26:44 at the Singelloop 10K in the Netherlands bettered Kogo's 27:01 world record from the Parelloop 10K, also in the Netherlands, in 2009.
Kogo, the 2008 Olympic 10,000m bronze medallist, tops the world list so far in 2011 with his 27:15 performance at this year's Parelloop race, but he has lost to Komon in their last four head-to-head match-ups.
Joining Komon and Kogo at the front will be two Ethiopian athletes who have already tasted victory in 2011: Honda Los Angeles Marathon winner (and course record-holder) Markos Geneti and Lelisa Desisa, winner of three major road races so far this year along with four top UAE distance runners.
They will have to contend with Gebre Gebremariam of Ethiopia who set a new Central Park record of 27:42 to win the UAE Healthy Kidney 10K on May 15 last year.
