NAIROBI, March 5 -- Buenos Aires Marathon winner Evans Chebet, Felix Chemonges and Felix Kiprotich will all lead Africa's quest to conquer the Lake Biwa Marathon in Japan on Sunday.
The trio are part of the international runners who have been called upon not only to compete and win the race in fast time, but also to inspire and keep the right level of pace and pull along the Japanese athletes who are in their final push to seal the Olympic qualifying mark.
Chebet, who clocked two hours and five minutes in last year's performance in the Argentine capital, will have to dig deep to deny and keep at bay the expected challenge from compatriot Kiprotich and Ugandan Chemonges, who have equally fast times to their credit.
"It will be tough at this stage of competition, but that is exactly why I had to train harder. My preparations have gone on well and as I depart to Japan, I can emphatically say am ready for the battle. Hopefully the win will be mine," said Chebet on Thursday in Nairobi.
For the home athletes, it will be their last chance to make the 2020 Olympic team. All they have to do is to break the 2:05:50 national record.
Also of interest is debutante Patrick Mwaka of Kenya, who is fresh from setting a personal best time of 60:53 at the National Corporate Half Marathon Championships last weekend.
Uganda's Chemonges will be a man under scrutiny as he seeks to hit two birds with one stone in his tour of Lake Biwa.
Chemonges hopes he can act as a springboard for selection in the Ugandan team for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
He said his next outing is to make the Uganda team for Olympics. "I will do something at Lake Biwa, I must do something," Chemonges said.
"I have brought the right mindset to training, so that I love training. But I also know I must get the right rest and eat at the right time, and I have just tried to follow these things," he added.
Chemonges trains alongside the likes of 2017 Olympic champion Stephen Kiprotich and Jackson Kiprop, a World Championship and Olympic marathoner, as part of a new training group in Kapchorwa, Uganda, which has acted as a huge boost for his preparations for big races.
"I never train alone. We train as a team and our performances show the whole world what a great advertisement it is to work together," he said.
The Ugandan, 24, shattered his personal best by more than four minutes to set a stunning national record of 2:05:12 at the 2019 Toronto Waterfront Marathon.
Other Kenyans at Lake Biwa Marathon are Paul Kuira (2:11:58), Michael Githae (2:09:21) and (Samuel Ndungu (2:06:02) and Macharia Ndirangu (2:07:53).
There is also Alphonce Simbu of Tanzania who was sixth in last year's race clocking 2:08:27.