DEFENDING Tees Valley Half Marathon champion Zak Kihara faces a fierce double challenge for the £1,000 first prize in a record 1,500-strong field at Redcar tomorrow.

The 30-year-old Kenyan will be lining up against fellow countryman Simon Toniu, who beat him two weeks ago in Belfast’s Titanic 10K, and Mongolian Olympic Games marathon international Serod Batochir, who has settled on Tyneside.

Batochir has caused a stir in North-East athletics by deciding to link up with Morpeth Harriers as he prepares for the 2112 Olympics in London and made a winning UK race debut last weekend in the North Tyneside 10K.

The 27-year-old hit the headlines in the Far East last April by winning the Good Luck Beijing Marathon in a new Mongolian record of 2 hours 14 mins 15 secs, before going on to finish a disappointing 52nd in the Olympic marathon in a time of 2:24:19, after passing the halfway mark in a rapid 65 mins 56 secs.

Tonui, winner of the 2005 Blaydon Race, is the brother of Raymond Tonui, who was runner-up to Kihara at Redcar last year. He won the Bath Half Marathon last month in a quick 63 mins 9 secs, going one better than Raymond, who was second last year, and he again upstaged his brother in Belfast on April 5, winning in 29 mins 45 secs, six seconds ahead of Kihara.

Since winning at Redcar last year in exactly 67 minutes, Kihara, who has settled in the UK and runs for Midlands club Birchfield Harriers, has won the Sheffield Half Marathon in 65 mins 12 secs. He has a half-marathon pb of 63 mins 45 secs and beat Simon Tonui over the distance in the 2005 Stround Half Marathon before going on to win marathons at Loch Ness and Edinburgh.

The women’s race – also with a first prize of £1,000 – should see a Kenyan head-tohead between Joyce Kandie, who won the Bath and Reading half marathons, and Joyce Kirui, runner-up at Bath. They have halfmarathon pbs of 71 mins and 72 mins 8 secs respectively.

The leading UK entry is Aldershot’s Susie Bush, who was third at Reading and has a pb of 74.03.

■ Northern Champions Chester-le-Street are still without injured Scottish cross country champion Freya Murray in today’s National Six Stage Road Relay Championships in Sutton Coldfield, but welcome back England international Alyson Dixon.

The team is: Tracy Laws, Angela Hibbs, Emma Waterhouse, Maxine Czarnecka, Morag McDonnell and Alyson Dixon.