NAIROBI, Oct. 7 (Xinhua) -- Two time champion Philemon Rono from Kenya and training mate and former Olympic champion Stephen Kiprotich of Uganda will have no love lost when they face off in the Toronto Marathon on Oct. 21 in Canada.
The two, who are preparing in the shadows of world record holder Eliud Kipchoge under coach Patrick Sang in Eldoret, will be eyeing fast time in Toronto as they target making the national team for the 2019 World Championships in Doha and the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.
"Once we are on the marathon course, we are opponents and the best man will win," said Rono on Sunday.
"But we always train together and watch everything that Kipchoge does. For now we want to improve on the time," he added.
This comes after Kipchoge raised the bar higher when he broke the world marathon record to 2:01:39 taking off one minute and 18 seconds from the previous mark held by Dennis Kimetto in Berlin from 2014.
Like many of the world's best marathon runners, Rono prefers to race just two marathons a year.
Although he started Boston in April, the dreadful conditions scampered his plans and he failed to finish. That might well prove to be a positive development in his build-up to Toronto. Now his focus is completely on getting his Toronto hat-trick.
"It is important for me to want to write history, to become the man to win three consecutive Toronto races and to set a course record again," he said.
"It's possible to run faster and if the weather is good then, maybe, another personal best time."
Rono and Kiprotich, however, will face strong challenge from Dubai marathon champion Tsegaye Mekonnen, a late inclusion and New Zealand's Jake Robertson.
The quartet is eyeing fast time with the course record of 2:06:52 set by Rono last year likely to be smashed. Mekonnen clocked 2:04:32 on his marathon debut in the Dubai Marathon in 2014.
"I feel good and I am recovering from my injury. In this state I would say that I am in between the 2:05-2:06 range.
But I hope to run even better at the Toronto race," said Mekonnen, who has been recovering from a knee injury.
Kiprotich lost to Mekonnen in Hamburg last year and believes he will have his revenge in Toronto.
