Dubai: Holland's multi-world record holder Lornah Kiplagat has set her sights on the world's richest race after announcing her debut at the 2008 Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon on January 18.
The Kenyan-born star - a Dutch citizen since 2003 - is the second world record holder to be added to the $1 million (Dh3.75 million) race, which also offers a further $1 million (Dh3.75 million) bonus for a new world record.
Strong field
She will join Ethiopian legend Haile Gebrselassie in a field that is coming together as the strongest ever seen in the region.
Like Gebrselassie, Kiplagat was nominated for the 2007 World Athlete of the Year award and is in scintillating form after an early summer calf injury kept her out of the World Athletics Championships in Osaka.
Last month, she broke the world record for both the 20km and Half Marathon with a stunning performance at the IAAF World Road Running Championships in Udine, Italy.
Competing for only the second time since picking up her injury, the 33-year-old defending champion shattered her own 20km record by 24 seconds with a time of 1h:02m:57s, before storming through the last kilometre to claim gold and a new Half Marathon world record in a time of 1h:06m:25s. That sliced a huge 19 seconds from the previous IAAF World record of 1h:06m:44s, which South Africa's Elana Meyer set eight years ago in Tokyo.
"When we announced the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon was being taken to the next level thanks to the support of Dubai Holding, our aim was to attract the very cream of long distance running," said event director Peter Connerton.
"With Haile and Lornah in the line-up, we have two runners with more than 30 world records and six marathon golds to their names - and we're looking to add even more top names to the field in the coming weeks."
A tall, leggy runner and role model to young Kenyan women, Kiplagat also won the World Cross Country title in March in Mombassa, to capture another gold for her adopted nation of Holland, which she has represented since marrying husband/coach Pieter Langerhorst.
"In Kenya for years, people didn't believe women could run so well," she said. "Look at the development now. In Osaka the women got as many headlines as the men. In Udine, I won the race in a Dutch vest with two Kenyan girls next to me - that's the development of Kenyan women's running for me."
