Cheruiyot will join a field that includes fellow Kenyans Moses Mosop - runner-up in this year's Boston Marathon in 2 hourr 3min 06sec, the second fastest time ever recorded although ineligible for record purposes as the Boston course goes from point-to-point rather than in a loop, silver medallist at the 2009 IAAF World Half-Marathon Championships Bernard Kipyego and 2011 Rome Marathon champion Dickson Kiptolo Chumba.

After capturing the 2008 Chicago title in a personal best 2:06:25, Cheruiyot was sidelined by injuries in 2009 and 2010, but he returned to action at this year's Dubai Marathon, where he was runner-up.

Kipyego is a half-marathon specialist with a 59min 10sec personal best and a silver medal from the 2009 IAAF World Half-Marathon Championships.

He ran 2:07:01 in his debut at the 2010 Rotterdam Marathon and turned in a 1:00:09 tune-up race in warm conditions at the Lille Half-Marathon in France on September 3.

They will be joined by sub 2:06 athletes Bazu Worku (2:05:25) and Getu Feleke (2:05:44) of Ethiopia, and Ryan Hall of the United States, who recorded 2:04.58 in Boston this year and has a loop-course best of 2:06.17, recorded when he finished fifth in London three years ago.

Worku is the fastest man in the field in terms of official timings, having run 2:05.25 in Berlin last year.

The previous year, as an 18-year-old, he became the fastest teenager to cover 26.2 miles after his 2:06:16 debut at the Paris Marathon.

Feleke won the 2010 Amsterdam Marathon in a course record 2:05:44.

Ethiopians Bekana Daba, the 2011 Houston Marathon winner and course record holder (2:07:04), and Terefe Maregu will also be on the start line.


After serving as a pacer-maker at the 2010 Bank of America Chicago Marathon, Ireland's Martin Fagan (pictured) returns to contest the full distance.

The Irish national record holder in the half-marathon (1:00:57) will aim for John Treacy's Irish record of 2:09:15.

Australia's Shawn Forest will make his marathon debut after running a half-marathon personal best of 1:01:25 - number six all-time for Australia - in the spring.

Meanwhile, the women's elite field welcomes Ethiopian runners Atsede Habtamu Besuye, the 2009 Berlin Marathon winner, and Askale Tafa, winner of the 2007 Dubai and Paris Marathons.

Besuye ran a personal best 2:24:47 to score a World Marathon Major victory at the 2009 Berlin Marathon, which she followed up with another win at the 2010 Eindhoven Marathon.

She also ran 1:08:29 at the 2007 World Half-Marathon Championships at age 19 - the fastest ever by a teenager.

Tafa's personal best of 2:21:31 ranks second in the women's elite field behind two-time defending champion Liliya Shobukhova of Russia, and she has a wealth of WMM experience with top five finishes at the Boston, London and Berlin Marathons.


Ethiopia's Belainesh Zemedkun Gebre, an up-and-comer who won the 2010 Honolulu Marathon in her debut and ran 1:09:17 at the Prague Half-Marathon in March, and Cruz Nonata da Silva (pictured), one of the top Brazilian distance runners, were also added to the women's field.

"These athletes round out an elite field that is not only dynamic, but has the potential to attack the record books," said Chicago Marathon's executive race director Carey Pinkowski.

"If the weather is good, there could be some reshuffling of not just the Bank of America Chicago Marathon records, but also the list of all-time fastest certified marathons.

"You're looking at a field that is not going to be afraid to push the pace with a mix of young, fearless athletes, and seasoned performers who have tasted victory and success at the marathon distance."

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