Former Santiago de Chile Marathon winners Luka Lobuwan Rotich and Julius Kipyego Keter will return to the IAAF Bronze Label Road Race in the Chilean capital on Sunday (2).
Rotich won this race in 2015 in 2:11:43 and then came within one second of that mark to finish runner-up last year. The 28-year-old has a marathon personal best of 2:08:12.
Another former winner, Julius Kipyego Keter, is also returning to Santiago. The 28-year-old Kenyan won in the Chilean capital in 2011 and 2013 and finished fourth last year. He has started his season well with a 2:10:34 second-place finish in Hong Kong in February. He followed that with a victory one week later at the Guadalajara Half Marathon, running 1:03:55 at altitude. If he gets close to his season&rsquo;s best, he could challenge the men&rsquo;s race record of 2:11:01, set by Victor Kipchirchir in 2016.
&ldquo;The circuit was improved back for 2013, so there are fewer hills and it is overall faster,&rdquo; said Keter at the press conference preview to the race. &ldquo;The temperature is also perfect, so we hope to have a good day and that the competition brings our performances to a good level. There are fine athletes from Kenya, the rest of Africa and other nations. We believe we can have a good race.&rdquo;
Fellow Kenyans Richard Sigei Kiprotich and Dominic Kangor Kimwetich are also among the pre-race favourites.
Kiprotich, 32, comes to Santiago with a half marathon personal best of 1:01:08 and a marathon PB of 2:08:28, both from 2015. This will be his first race in South America and his first competitive outing of 2017.
Kimwetich will also open his season in Santiago. The consistent 27-year-old ran four marathons in 2016: 2:11:43 to finish sixth in Barcelona, 2:11:45 to win in Riga, 2:11:49 to finish third in Warsaw and 2:13:19 to finish second in Macau. His personal best of 2:09:36 was set in Brighton in 2014.
The women&rsquo;s race presents a clash between South America&rsquo;s top marathon runner Ines Melchor and Kenyan duo Olga Kimaiyo and Salome Jerono Biwott.
Melchor, the South American record-holder at 2:26:48, will return to Santiago where she holds the 2:28:18 race record from her triumph in 2015. Melchor was 25th in the marathon at the 2012 Olympics but had a disappointing experience in Rio last year as she did not finish the race. This will be her first race of 2017.
Kimaiyo won in Santiago in 2016 with 2:35:24. The 28-year-old has a personal best of 2:29:15 from the 2014 Amsterdam Marathon. &ldquo;The field is a very competitive one, so whoever wins will have to have a good race and post a good time,&rdquo; said Kimaiyo.
Biwott set her personal best of 2:30:47 last year and is the only one of the three favourites who has already competed in 2017. The 34-year-old Kenyan ran 2:32:54 to finish fifth at the Seville Marathon in February.
The Santiago Marathon goes around the Chilean capital in one loop, starting at 565m of elevation and going as high as 665m of altitude before descending back to 565m for its conclusion. The race will start and end at the Plaza de la Ciudadan&iacute;a by the Presidential Palace.
Eduardo Biscayart for the IAAF

Former Santiago de Chile Marathon winners Luka Lobuwan Rotich and Julius Kipyego Keter will return to the IAAF Bronze Label Road Race in the Chilean capital on Sunday (2).

Past champions set to clash at Santiago de Chile Marathon

Luka Rotich Lobuwan notched up the first marathon win of his career when he won the ninth edition of the Santiago de Chile Marathon, an IAAF Bronze Label Road Race, in 2:11:53 on Sunday (12).The pace was very fast at the outset, 30:32 at 10km, and the 26-year-old Kenyan was in the initial break from the peloton at 16km, along South Africa&rsquo;s Desmond Mokgobu and Ethiopian Haile Haja. Just before the halfway point, Lobuwan broke away. He passed the halfway point in 1:04:37 and the 35km mark in 1:48:42. However, he paid the price of his ambitious pace over the first 25km, and just missed the course record by nine seconds. The Kenyan runner has a personal best of 2:08:48 set in Seoul last year but on a warm autumn morning, and without any rivals for the much of the race, he was unlikely to challenge that time.Haja finished a distant second in 2:15:05 with Mokgobu third, another 12 seconds further back. The first South American home was Colombia&rsquo;s Diego Colorado, fourth with 2:17:09.South American record-holder Ines Melchor from Peru made a successful return to the Chilean capital after finishing second in 2013 when she won the women&rsquo;s race in 2:28:18, achieving what Lobuwan just failed to do and setting a course record. For Melchor it was the second-best time of her life and only bettered by her South American record of 2:26:48 from the 2014 Berlin Marathon.She was always in the leading pack along one of the pre-race favorites, Ethiopia&rsquo;s Goitetom Haftu, while with them initially was a less well-known Ethiopian, Alene Sewarge. The pack covered the first 10km in 35:35. By halfway, passed in 1:14:48, only Melchor and Haftu were together at the front.Both runners passed the 25km mark in 1:28:34 and 35km in 2:03:57. Three kilometres later, the Peruvian made her decisive move and shook off Haftu.Melchor posted a negative split, covering the second half in 1:13:20.&nbsp;&ldquo;I started to prepare for this marathon in January. I am at 80 per cent of my potential&rdquo;, said the 28-year-old Melchor. &ldquo;I am aiming to be at top of my form by the Pan American Games in Toronto, which will take place in July.&ldquo;This race was a very good one. The presence of good African runners pushed me to run better and to obtain this excellent performance. This is not an easy course. We have some elevation and the race climbs a few hard hills in the initial part,&rdquo; added the Peruvian winner.Haftu finished second in 2:30:19 and her compatriot Alene third in 2:34:32. Colombia&rsquo;s Angie Orjuela was fourth with a personal best of 2:34:58.An estimated 28,000 runners took place in all the day&rsquo;s races.Local runners Carlos Diaz and Veronica Angel won the 10km in 28:45 and 34:11 respectively while Roberto Echeverr&iacute;a and Valentina Carvallo won the half marathon in 1:05:39 and 1:18:29.Eduardo Biscayart for the IAAF

Luka Rotich Lobuwan notched up the first marathon win of his career when he won the ninth edition of the Santiago de Chile Marathon, an IAAF Bronze Label Road Race, in 2:11:53 on Sunday (12).

Lobuwan and Melchor win at the Santiago de Chile Marathon

The ninth edition of the Santiago de Chile Marathon, an IAAF Bronze Label Road Race, will take place in the Chilean capital on Sunday (12).The race will start and end at the &lsquo;Plaza de la Ciudadan&iacute;a&rsquo;, by the Presidential Palace. Kenya&rsquo;s Julius Keter and Ethiopia&rsquo;s Ehitu Kiros appear as the pre-race favourites.Two-time winner Keter possesses the course record with 2:11:44 from 2013. The 26-year-old arrives in Chile after finishing third at the Guadalajara Half Marathon in 1:03:54 and fourth at the Edinburg 10km in Texas in 28:31.Another Kenyan, Luka Rotich Lobuwan, appears as Keter&rsquo;s most qualified rival. Lobuwan has a marathon personal best of 2:08:12 from Ottawa in 2013 and he recently finished seventh at the Barcelona Half Marathon in 1:02:20.Ethiopian Haile Haja also brings a promising PB, having run 2:08:35 in Rome two years ago. But he was 17th in Hong Kong in January in 2:15:09 in his most recent race at the distance.To date, no Ethiopian has won the women&rsquo;s race in Santiago, but that drought looks set to end this year.With a PB of 2:23:39, Ethiopia&rsquo;s Ehetu Kiros is the fastest entrant in the women&rsquo;s race but she finished 2014 with a season&rsquo;s best of 2:34:50 in Rennes and so would need a significant improvement on that to get back to her best.Another Ethiopian might be a better bet for victory, 28-year-old Goitetom Haftu.Haftu has a 2:26:21 PB set four years ago in Rome and she appears to be more consistent, as she has run faster than 2:30 on six occasions.South American record-holder Ines Melchor from Peru will return to Santiago, where she was second in 2013 with 2:32:11. The 28-year-old finished 25th in the marathon at the 2012 Olympics and broke the South American record in her last race at the distance, finishing eighth in Berlin in 2:26:48.The 2011 Pan-American Games 5000m bronze medallist has only participated in one competitive race in 2015, finishing fourth at the Coamo Half Marathon in 1:15:22.Kenya&rsquo;s Jacqueline Kiplimo set the women&rsquo;s course record in 2013 with 2:30:52.The best long-distance runners from Chile and other South American nations will use the race as a qualification chance for the upcoming Pan-American Games. Chilean veteran Erika Olivera (2:32:23 from 1999) and Roberto Echeverria (2:15:37 from 2008) represent the main hopes for the locals.The race goes around Santiago in one loop. It starts at 565m of elevation, goes as high as 665m of altitude at 32km, and then descends back to 565m. A few hills were eliminated from last year&rsquo;s course in order to make the race faster.Eduardo Biscayart for the IAAF

The ninth edition of the Santiago de Chile Marathon, an IAAF Bronze Label Road Race, will take place in the Chilean capital on Sunday (12).

Past champions set to clash at Santiago de Chile Marathon

Lobuwan and Melchor win at the Santiago de Chile Marathon

Keter and Haftu among the favourites in Santiago de Chile