Eliud Kipchoge, the world record holder, has won the men's prize again ©Getty Images

Kenyans Eliud Kipchoge and Gladys Cherono have been named Best Marathon Runners of 2018 by the Association of International Marathons and Distance Races (AIMS).

For Kipchoge in particular, the award is no surprise: the 34 year-old smashed the world record by a towering 78 seconds in Berlin in September, five months after winning this year's London Marathon.

The 2016 Olympic gold medallist has now picked up the prestigious award four times in a row; he has won 11 of his 12 marathons since winning in Hamburg in 2013.

Cherono, 35, also won in Berlin, in the year's fastest time, 2 hours 18min 11sec.

The awards were presented at the annual Gala staged by AIMS and the Hellenic Athletics Federation (SEGAS) at the Megaron, a concert hall in central Athens.

Lifetime achievement awards were presented to Horst Milde, founder of the Berlin Marathon in 1974, and Japan's Hiroaki Chosa, a former AIMS President.

Two other races will be recognised: the SwissCityMarathon-Lucerne, which is to get the Green Award, and the Belgrade Marathon, honoured with the Social Award.

Dejan Nikolić, the Belgrade event's general manager, explained that the race has been used successfully in recent times as a platform for a range of socially-oriented initiatives, including awareness-raising for health and cancer scanning and a programme known as Heroes of the Belgrade Marathon. 

Gladys Cherono has taken the women's award ©Getty Images
Gladys Cherono has taken the women's award ©Getty Images

The Gala is part of the build-up to this year's Athens Marathon here, the Authentic (AMA), which will see nearly 19,000 runners tackle something approximating to the original Marathon journey in 490 BC from the eponymous coastal town to the Greek capital.

The 36th edition of this race will take place on Sunday (November 11).

Kipchoge's remarkable 2:01.39 in Berlin has put talk of breaking the mythic two-hour barrier firmly back on the agenda.

The previous year, he ran 2:00.25 at the Italian motor-racing circuit of Monza, though since he and other elite athletes were paced and sheltered by a lead car and relays of supporting runners, this did not count for the purposes of records attributed by the International Association of Athletics Federations.

There is no danger of the two-hour barrier being broken on Sunday on the notoriously tough Athens course.

The best men's time run on the course stands at 2:10.37, run by Felix Kandie, another Kenyan, in 2014.

The five best women's times were all set in the 2004 Olympic Marathon race, won in 2:26.20 by Mizuki Noguchi of Japan.