Kenya’s sub-2:07 runners Philip Sanga and Nicholas Kamakya head the start list of the HAJ Hannover Marathon, but South Africa’s defending champion Lusapho April and German marathon record-holder Arne Gabius are very much in the focus ahead of the IAAF Silver Label Road Race on Sunday (9).

Three-time HAJ Hannover Marathon winner Lusapho April will line up against German record-holder Arne Gabius at the IAAF Silver Label Road Race on 9 April.

Of all the athletics events contested at major championships, the marathon is often one of the most unpredictable.

Sisay Lemma and Gulume Tollesa became the first Ethiopian duo to win both the men's and women's races at the Frankfurt Marathon when they triumphed at the IAAF Gold Label Road Race on Sunday (25).

Germany’s Arne Gabius hopes to come home in front of around 15,000 runners in the Frankfurt Marathon, an IAAF Gold Label race, and get a rare win on Sunday (25) for a European male marathoner at a top level race over the classic distance.

Six world-leading marks were among the highlights of the 10th PSD Bank Meeting in Dusseldorf on Thursday (29), with St Kitts’ evergreen sprinter Kim Collins showing there is still plenty of zip in his legs despite near veteran status.

Joyce Chepkirui returns to the ASICS Grand 10 in Berlin on Sunday (12) with the aim of putting herself on the top of the pile for the 10km distance on the roads this year.

Defending champion Vincent Kipruto will return to the BMW Frankfurt Marathon on 26 October, but he will face a pair of Ethiopians with sub-2:05 bests at the IAAF Gold Label Road Race.

A late reinstatement of Germany’s initially disqualified women’s 4x100m team led to joy in the host nation’s camp, and turned a four-point deficit into a three-point lead over defending champions Russia at the end of the first day of the 2014 European Team Championships in Brunswick on Saturday (21).