Gebrselassie in Dubai record bid

Ethiopian marathon legend aims to break his own world record on January 22

Dubai: The organisers of the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon are pulling out all the stops to ensure that a new world record is set when the race takes place here on January 22.

With Haile Gebrselassie having revealed that he aims to break his world record of 2hours 03:59minutes at the Dubai Marathon, officials are setting up an environment to ensure that the existing record, set at Berlin on September 28, 2008, is broken.

"The best pacemakers are being flown in to ensure that Gebrselassie is able to go for the record at the required pace. We have also included some of the finest runners to race along with Gebrselassie to make sure that he does not slacken at any stage due to lack of stiff competition," said Ahmad Al Kamali, the General Co-ordinator of the Dubai Marathon.