Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront preview

The champ is back to defend his title at this year’s Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon.

Ethiopian Sahle Warga Betona was last year’s surprise winner in 2:10:36 and will be back racing with countryman and training partner Deressa Chimsa. Both will be looking to take home some prize money and break the Canadian all-comers record. The winner will take home $25,000 and there is a bonus ranging from $25,000 to $50,000 for breaking the all-comers record, depending on how much its broken by.

Betona set a new PB of 2:08:19 this summer in Paris. Chimsa holds a PB of 2:05:42 from 2012 in Dubai.

Looking to break up the Ethiopian tandem will likely be Henry Sugut of Kenya. He is a three-time champion at the Vienna Marathon, setting his PB of 2:06:58 there in 2012.

Rounding out the top four elites is Morocco’s Abderrachime Bouramdane. He set his PB of 2:07:33 in the 2010 London Marathon and went on to finish fourth at the 2011 World Championships.

The top Canadian prospects are Eric Gillis and Rob Watson.

Eric Gillis of Antigonish, N.S., competed for Canada in the 2012 Olympic marathon finishing 22nd. He qualified for the games here at the Waterfront Marathon in 2011 with his PB of 2:11:28. He also represented Canada in the 2008 Olympics in the 10,000m.

Rob Watson of London, Ont., holds a PB of 2:13:37 and represented Canada this summer a the World Championships, finishing 20th.

Watson and Gillis will both be looking to break Jerome Drayton’s Canadian record of 2:10:09, a time that’s tied to a $38,000 prize purse―$1000 for each year it has stood.

The Canadian women will also likely put on a good show. Like the men’s, the women’s Canadian record holds a substantial prize purse: $28,000.

Another London, Ont., runner, Lanni Marchant is Canada’s top marathoner at the moment and holds a PB of 2:31:51 from Rotterdam in 2012, where she placed fifth. She also competed for Canada in August at the World Championships but walked the last portion of the race because of extreme heat.

Marchant’s biggest Canadian competitor will be Krista DuChene of Brantford, Ont. DuChene, like Marchant, also competed at World Championships and set her PB of 2:32:06 at the 2012 Rotterdam Marathon.

Lioudmila Kortchaguina is also running and could compete with the other top Canadians. She ran 2:29:42 in Ottawa in 2006 and was the top Canadian female in Ottawa this spring at the Canadian Marathon Championships.

Rounding out the Canadian elites is Natasha Wodak, fresh off her San Jose Half-Marathon win but unproven over 42.2K. Wodak is making her marathon debut this weekend. She seems fit and ready to run fast and is hoping to run 2:35.

The women’s top seeds aren’t as impressive as the men’s, but could still make for a fast race.

Netsanet Abeyo of Ethiopia, the top female seed, will be returning to Toronto after being forced to withdraw because of injury last year. Her PB is 2:24:12. She’s looking to break the course record of 2:22:43

Kenya’s Flomena Daniel holds a PB of 2:24:34 and this spring won the Vienna City Marathon and will likely be Abeyo’s strongest competitor.

Rounding out the top three females is Salomie Getnet of Ethiopia. She holds a breakthrough PB of 2:25:15 from Rome this spring where she finished second.

Both races will be exciting. They are scheduled to start at 8:45am on Sunday.