Little-known Ethiopian runners Abay Girma Tadesse and Argachew Assefa Tola have confirmed participation for the November 18 Kass Marathon in Eldoret.

The two have little to write home about but will no doubt add the foreign aspect in sixth edition of the Kass Marathon. While little is known as far as Asseffa is concerned, Tadesse has a poor personal best time of 2:33:1, which he posted in 2009 at the Sevilla Marathon.

Tadesse took part in the same race in 2010 and ran an even poorer time of 2:34:53. Race director, Moses Tanui said they expect more entries from Rwanda, who have also shown interest. Last year's winners' Paul Koech and Rita Jeptoo are expected to defend their titles.

With a Sh1.5 winning prize in both categories--which makes the race stand on equal footing with Standard Chartered Nairobi Marathon as the highest pay award for a race on Kenyan soil--the battle will simply be breathtaking.

Speaking yesterday in Eldoret during a breakfast meeting, Tanui said the certification of the course by IAAF has propelled the event to acquire international standards.

He said the organisers will document the course record since it has been Association of International Marathon series. "The committee will later set a bonus prize for the course records broken because we will be documenting it," he said. The CEO Media Julius Lamaon said any previous winner who will win again will get additional prize.

"We will be setting a side a prize for any previous winner. We also want to tell athletes to register early because registration dealine is November 15," Lamaon said.