Ethiopia's marathon runners will have until May 10 to obtain the qualification minimum for the 11th IAAF World Championships in Osaka, Japan and the 9th All-African Games in Algiers, Algeria.

The new deadline, announced Tuesday by the Ethiopian Athletics Federation (EAF), will apply to all Ethiopian marathon runners who are currently vying for selection to the two events (IAAF qualification standards for Osaka is men- 2:18.00; women- 2:42.00).

All performances must be achieved within the EAF qualification window of Jan. 1, 2006 to May 10, 2007.

More than 35 marathon runners will take part in various major city marathons around the world in the next six weeks.

Meanwhile, the EAF has also urged eight marathon runners to urgently join the national team training regime in order to be considered for this selection.

More than 65 runners have been training under the EAF marathon training program, which started in November 2006.

The EAF has warned that it will take necessary measures on athletes who will not join the rest of their teammates in the national marathon team.

These athletes are Gete Wami, Robe Guta, Gishu Mendaye, Mesfin Admassu, Ayelech Worku, Dire Tune, Leila Aman, and Dereje Tesfaye.

Source: Xinhua