NAIROBI, Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- Four former champions will be gunning for the full marathon's 1.5 million shillings prize money at the Standard Chartered Nairobi Marathon on Sunday.

    Led by Samson Tuiyange, the 2008 full marathon champion, the four will be competing with a host of other runners for the top prize.

    Tuiyange set the course record last year when he clocked 2:10.30. In the men's marathon, Tuiyange will be joined by the 2007 champion John Njoroge Thuita. Thuita unsuccessfully defended his tile last year.

    In the women's marathon, 2007 winner Rose Chesire will be making a return as well as her 2006 counterpart Irene Jerotich.

    The organizers have also confirmed that about 10,000 runners from 42 countries and regions have registered for the race.

    "As usual this year, we have received a good number of foreign entries. The include those residing in and outside the country. USA and Germany have 22 entries each. Other foreign entries include Japan, Italy, Uganda and China," Geoffrey Githinji, the chairman of the National Steering Committee said in a statement on Friday.

    Githinji said the registration ended on Thursday and many rushed to beat the deadline.

    "We are confident that all participants will have registered by end of day tomorrow and we intend to stick to that deadline. So far we have registered 10,000 participants," he said.

    Githinji said one of the objectives of the Nairobi Marathon is to showcase the city of Nairobi and several routes will be used on Sunday.

    Last year, 12.5 million shillings was raised and went into funding cataract operations and Trachoma intervention projects across the country.

    "Last year saw one of our most successful editions of the marathon, thanks to the participant who turned out in large numbers. We raised 12.5 million shillings that went into our Seeing is Believing initiatives across the country," he said.

    "This year, we are calling on all Kenyans to join us and together let us reach more Kenyans facing blindness."