Athletics superstars Eliud Kipchoge, Kenenisa Bekele, Joshua Cheptegei and Geoffrey Kamworor are to take part in a worldwide virtual team relay marathon next month.

The marathon, which will take place between 6 and 7 June, is open to all athletics fans worldwide.

An initiative of the NN Running team, MA RA TH ON is a virtual team relay marathon race where people around the world can form a team of four to cover the marathon distance.

Each individual runner covers 10.5k so the team completes a full marathon together, alone. This allows participants to safely run solo in their own locations while running in a team via the virtual standings.

“I can say that myself and my teammates are really looking forward to join the relay in this wonderful initiative," said Kipchoge, the world marathon record holder.

"It has been an unusual time whereby all runners had to readjust their plans after having prepared well towards their own goals for this past spring season.

"We all look forward to a positive future and I believe that this a great first step in that direction. Marathon is a sport whereby elite athletes and fun runners are actually all racing in the same race. It’s what makes our sport unique and I find the essence of this to be beautiful.“