Dai puts title on the line in Hong Kong

Dai Yanyan, the reigning women's champion, will defend her Standard Chartered Hong Kong Marathon title in February. She will also be competing as part of Team China in the Greatest Race on Earth (Groe) series, of which the Hong Kong Marathon is the last leg.

The Groe covers marathons in Nairobi, Singapore, Mumbai and Hong Kong. Four-person teams of runners compete in the series - one runner in each race - with the fastest aggregate time the winner.

Dai's teammates are Liu Xiaohuan, Wang Xiaoshu and Zhang Xin and all have plenty of motivation as the top women's team will collect a cash prize - part of the total cash purse of US$1.4 million.

Liu, 18, represented Team China in the Nairobi Marathon in October, finishing third in a time of 2:50:13. Wang, 19, placed eighth in the Singapore Marathon earlier this month, in 2:46:54. Zhang will compete in the Mumbai Marathon next month.

Dai will take up the baton in Hong Kong on February 12. Dai won this year in 2:34:41.

She performed well in other marathons in the region in 2004, including winning in Macau (2:37:27), finishing second in Shanghai (2:31:41) and coming third in Beijing (2:29:58).