MELBOURNE, Nov 29: The inaugural Great Australian Run has attracted two of the world’s biggest athletics stars, Ethiopian legend Haile Gebrselassie and women’s world marathon champion Catherine Ndereba of Kenya.

Also entered in the 15-kilometer race Sunday is Olympic champion Constantina Dita of Romania, who is expected to duel with Australia’s best female distance runner, Benita Johnson.

Gebrselassie, the Sydney Olympic 10,000-meters champion, became the first man to go under 2 hours, four minutes for the marathon with his 2:03.59 in Berlin in September.

The Ethiopian star says he believes he can still lower his marathon record, but was more conservative about what to expect over the shorter - by nearly a third - distance on Sunday.“It depends on the weather, the other athletes, we will see,” he said.

“I’m OK. After Berlin I went home and took some days off. Of course Sunday will be very challenging because it is 15k and it is a fast race.”

Craig Mottram is also entered, but the Australian 5,000-meter track specialist has never attempted a race at top level beyond 12 kilometers.

He admits the tempo of a race featuring Gebrselassie, Commonwealth Games marathon champion Samson Ramadhani and Kenyan half-marathon specialist Patrick Makau will be the key to his performance.

“Training’s been going well, but I’m not going to break the world record. If these guys have that in mind, they’ll probably have a bit of a gap on me,” Mottram said.

“If they trot off the line and go slow, I’ll be a good challenger. If they go for the world record, I think it’s unlikely.”

The race through the streets of Melbourne has also attracted more than 4,000 recreational runners.—AP