Defending champions head Boston
Marathon fields
AP
28 March 2000 Boston - Ethiopia's Fatuma Roba will go for a record fourth consecutive Boston Marathon victory, and men's defending champion Joseph Chebet of Kenya also is among the entrants for the April 17 race.
Among those expected to challenge Chebet, the world's top-ranked marathoner, are his countrymen, two-time Boston winner Moses Tanui and Ondoro Osoro.
The other top women include South African Elana Meyer, Switzerland's Franziska Rochat-Moser and Kenya's Catherine Ndereba and Lornah Kiplagat.
In addition to the elite runners, a field of 18,000 is expected to start in Hopkinton for the 26.2-mile (42.1-kilometre) run to Boston's Back Bay. The field is the race's largest except for the 100th running in 1996, when nearly 38,000 participated.