The Ugandan's sentiments have been echoed by his peers who will line up in a high-quality men's field for the race on Sunday.

Double Olympic 10,000 metres champion Gebrselassie has been asked to run at world record pace as he aims to pull the elite athletes up to the 30 kilometres point of the marathon.

"Haile is the master of the roads so it's great to have him as a pacemaker," London 2012 Olympic and Moscow 2013 world champion Kiprotich said.

"He knows the course and is sure to pace us well."

He added: "The Olympic gold medal I won in London means a lot to me.

"Everyone knows me in Uganda and everyone knows about sport now, which has led to more funding for athletes."

Ibrahim Jeilan, who won 10,000m World Championship gold in Daegu 2011 and is making his marathon debut, said of his Ethiopian countryman: "I didn't ever compete against Haile, so I will be happy to stand on the start line with our great runner.

"With Haile pacing, we have a good chance of a fast time."

Ibrahim Jeilan (left) beat Mo Farah to gold in Daegu 2011 and will line up with him again for Sunday's marathon ©Getty Images



Jeilan beat Mo Farah to gold three years ago in Daegu, with the Briton also making his competitive marathon debut in London.

"I can't say I'll beat him [Mo] again as we all prepare to win and to beat one another, but I've prepared well and something good will happen," added Jeilan.

"I can't say he'll win either, but he'll do something good."

Another Ethiopian, Tsegaye Kebede, will be chasing a third London Marathon victory, having won in 2010 and 2013.

He claimed he was not feeling nervous and has been dreaming of winning the race once again.

Two-times New York Marathon winner Geoffrey Mutai revealed he is determined to run well after dropping out in London last year at 35km.

The Kenyan said: "I didn't run well last year.

"It was painful for me to drop out of the race but my injury was becoming worse so I made the tough decision to stop."

He added: "My preparations have gone really well for this London Marathon and I will focus on running my own race on Sunday."

Fellow Kenyan Wilson Kipsang, who holds the world record at 2 hours 03min 23sec, will also be in the race along with countryman Emmanuel Mutai and Ethiopian Tsegaye Mekonnen.

Yesterday, 5,000m and 10,000m Olympic and world champion Farah said he had gone "straight in at the deep end" by running his first marathon against such strong competition.

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