The strongest ever men’s elite field will contest the Brighton Marathon in April.

Kenyan’s William Chebor and Raymond Kandie, who have both run under 2hr.10min, will battle it out against fellow countrymen Dominic Kangor and Bernard Rotich, who finished first and second last year.

Chebor is the fastest runner on paper in the field with a personal best of 2hr.8min.21sec set in Turin three years ago and will probably start as favourite having won his most recent marathon in Jakarta in October.

Kandie is expected to provide stiff competition with a best time of 2hr.9min.23sec clocked in Barcelona in 2010 while three other runners have also gone under the current course record of 2hr.10min.46sec.

Chris Powner is the leading Briton in the field and will be chasing the qualifying time of 2hr.19min for Scotland’s marathon team for this year’s Commonwealth Games.

Kenya’s Hellen Mugo looks favourite in the women’s race with a personal best of 2hr.27min.16sec which is more than a minute and a half faster than the current course record of 2hr.28min.50sec.