Former champions Lemi Berhanu and Worknesh Degefa will be among the elite line-up when the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon celebrates its 20th edition on the streets of the UAE on 25 January.

The 121st running of the Boston Marathon on Monday (17) will start in the outer-suburban town of Hopkinton and stream downhill through six other towns before arriving at the finish line for the IAAF Gold Label Road Race.

Lemi Berhanu and Meseret Mengistu led podium sweeps for Ethiopia at the Xiamen International Marathon on Monday (2), the first IAAF Gold Label Road Race of 2017.

The Xiamen International Marathon, the first IAAF Gold Label Road Race of 2017, will welcome a field of some 30,000 runners on Monday (2), but the star attraction will be Boston Marathon champion Lemi Berhanu.

Ethiopia’s Atsede Baysa and Lemi Berhanu Hayle will each face a pair of former champions when they defend their titles at the Boston Marathon on 17 April.

Ethiopia's Lemi Bernanu Hayle and Atsede Baysa won at the 2016 edition of the Boston Marathon, the 120th running of the IAAF Gold Label Road Race, crossing the line in 2:12:45 and 2:29:19 respectively on Monday (18).

Only Kenya’s Wilson Kibet and the Ethiopian living legend Haile Gebrselassie have managed back-to-back wins at the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon but reigning champion Lemi Berhanu will hope to join this elite club at the IAAF Gold Label Road Race on Friday (22).

An unprecedented number of former winners will start the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon after reigning champion Lemi Berhanu and 2014 winner Tsegaye Mekonnen confirmed their participation in the IAAF Gold Label Road Race on January 22.

Hayle Lemi Berhanu was the winner of the 2015 Orlen Warsaw Marathon, the 21-year old rising star from Ethiopia triumphing at the IAAF Silver Label Road Race in 2:07:57 to take his career record to three wins from three marathons on Sunday (26

Ethiopia’s sub-2:05 man Markos Geneti and Hayle Lemi Berhanu, the latter the fastest marathoner in the world this year, head the field at the Orlen Warsaw Marathon, an IAAF Silver Label Road Race, on Sunday (26).

Ethiopia’s Lemi Berhanu emerged as the unexpected champion at the 2015 Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon, crossing the line at the IAAF Gold Label Road Race in a world-leading time and big personal best of 2:05:28 on Friday (23)