Defending Tokyo Marathon champions Birhanu Legese and Ruti Aga will face stiff opposition at the World Athletics Platinum Label road race on 1 March.

Birhanu Legese (marathon world rank: 55) and Ruti Aga (marathon world rank: 10) claimed the top spots at the Tokyo Marathon on Sunday (3), landing just the second Ethiopian double in the 13-year history of the IAAF Gold Label road race.

On a cold day when Ethiopian athletes won three of the four elite races, Ruti Aga’s 1:06:39 victory in the Aramco Houston Half Marathon was the most notable, as the IAAF Gold Label road race on Sunday (14) proved to be one of the deepest half marathons in history.

Levy Matebo Omari of Kenya will start as the man to beat while an impressive women’s field will chase a 16-year-old course record at Sunday’s Vienna City Marathon, the 33rd edition of this IAAF Gold Label Road Race.

Kenya’s Sammy Kitwara improved his personal best by one second when he won the EDP Lisbon Half Marathon, an IAAF Gold Label Road Race, in 59:47 on Sunday (20).

Kenyan runners have not dominated the EDP Lisbon Half Marathon in quite the same way that they have other international races over this distance, but with Leonard Komon and Sammy Kitwara on the start line, they look set to feature prominently in this year’s edition of the IAAF Gold Label Road Race on Sunday (20).

The longstanding rivalry between Kenyan and Ethiopian long distance runners will be renewed once again when the 37th annual Freihofer’s Run for Women 5K takes place on Saturday 30 May, after organisers announced their elite field on Wednesday (20).

As far as comebacks go, Mary Keitany couldn’t have enjoyed a better return as she won the Lowertown Brewery Ottawa 10k, an IAAF Silver Label Road Race, in a course record of 31:22 on Saturday (25).

Unheralded Yihunilign Adane’s recorded a surprise last-gasp victory over world junior cross-country champion Hagos Gebrhiwet at the Ethiopian Clubs Cross Country Championships on Sunday (15).

Gilbert Kirui won the IRIS Lotto Crosscup event in Brussels, the last IAAF Cross Country Permit meeting of the year, in a highly impressive fashion on Sunday (23).