World’s elite runners set to compete in city’s marathon

Entries for the Plusnet Yorkshire Marathon, which is sponsored by the Yorkshire Post, have flooded in from as far afield as Canada, the USA and the Caribbean. The race will take place in York on October 20, and will see total prize money of £12,000 on offer – the largest sum outside of the London Marathon.

Athletes taking part include John Mutai, from Kenya, who holds a marathon personal best of 2:11:08. The winner of this year’s Lake Annecy Marathon in France, he also won the 2012 Edinburgh Marathon. The women’s race will include Helen Cherono Koskei, from Kenya, who has a personal best of 2:29:33. She took the silver medal in the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. Home-grown talent includes Paul Marchant, from Leeds, who finished this year’s London Marathon in 2:27.

Organiser Lisa Ashcroft said: “Introducing such an impressive prize structure in our first year reinforces our ambitions to be among the UK’s best marathons. That, coupled with an exceptionally flat and fast course, has led to much interest from elite athletes from Britain and across the world. We’re looking forward to seeing some fast times on race day.”