The Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon will be live on FloTrack on Thursday evening, January 19, at 9:30pm Eastern time in the United States. The FloTrack stream will be available exclusively to viewers in the United States and Canada. (The race is at 6:30 am on January 20 local time.) FloTrack will also be streaming the 2017 Rotterdam Marathon later this spring on April 9, 2017. Dubai and Rotterdam are regarded as two of the fastest marathons in the world for both men and women. The addition of these live streams is part of FloTrack's expanding marathon coverage in 2017, as the Austin Marathon will also be live on FloTrack on February 19. 
On Thursday evening, Kenenisa Bekele, one of the greatest runners of all time, will try to add another world record to his collection in Dubai.

Bekele, 34, set world records in the 5000 meters and 10000 meters in 2004 and 2005, and won Olympic gold medals in 2004 and 2008. In 2014, Bekele made the transition to marathoning with a 2:05:03 run in Paris, one of the fastest debuts ever. His 2:03:03 in Berlin last fall is the second fastest record-legal marathon ever, and just six seconds shy of 2:02:57 world record.

Just like Bekele broke Haile Gebrselassie's world records in the 5K and 10K, he broke Gebrselassie's Ethiopian record in the marathon.

"It was fantastic for me to get a personal best, but I'm still disappointed to have missed out on the world record. But I could see that I still had to make a couple of changes in my training," Bekele said.

2:02:57 for 26.2 miles is 4:41.5 mile pace. But Dubai is no stranger to fast times, and the huge purses attract talented fields.

In addition to Bekele, two Ethiopians with 2:04 personal bests and four 2:05 men will be toeing the line in Dubai. Tsegaye Mekonnen--still just 21--won the race in 2014 as an 18-year-old, running 2:04:32 for the world junior record. Sisay Lemma finished fourth in Dubai, seventh in London, and fourth in Berlin in 2016; his PB is 2:06:56. Olympic 10K bronze medalist Tamirat Tola will line up for his first marathon since 2014. And Kenenisa Bekele's younger brother, Tariku, who has only finished one race since 2014, is scheduled to make his marathon debut. Tariku Bekele is the 2012 Olympic bronze medalist in the 10K.

The times should be seriously fast. The course is flat and straight, and the event has enlisted at least three pacers, including 2:04 marathoner Endeshaw Negesse. Three men broke 2:05 last year, and the winner four of the last five years has run in the 2:04s.

Shure Demise and Meselech Melkamu, both of Ethiopia, are headlining the women's race. The 20-year-old Demise and 31-year-old Melkamu could both threaten the vaunted 2:20 barrier. Demise comes in with a 2:20:59 personal best, and Melkamu's is 2:21:01. Both ran those times in Dubai--Demise was fourth in 2015 and Melkamu was second in 2014.

Like Bekele in the men's race, Melkamu is one of the greatest track runners of all time. Her 29:53 10K is No. 6 all-time, and was the Ethiopian record before 2016. She won marathons in Amsterdam and Hamburg last year.

Tadelech Bekele comes into the race with a 2:22:51 PB (from Dubai in 2015) and Arage Yebrugal has run 2:23:23. Both are Ethiopian.

As the richest and debatably fastest marathon in the world, Dubai is a good as place as any to go for a world record. The winners of the men's and women's races will receive $200,000 each, and a newly increased bonus for a world record will pay an additional $250,000 for the world record.

In both the men's and women's races, second place is worth $80,000, third $40,00, fourth $20,000, fifth $13,000, sixth $12,000, seventh $11,500, eighth $11,00, ninth $10,500, and 10th $10,000.