RWANDA’s ace athlete Dieudonné Disi (pic) has identified Kenya’s Patrick Makau and Ethiopian Merga Deriba as key obstacles in Sunday’s Paris half Marathon.

Merga won last year’s Boston Marathon while Makau has built a reputation as one of the world’s rising long distance athletes. Last year, Makau claimed the Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon in a time of 58:52, just 19 seconds short of the world record time (58:33) held by Samuel Wanjiru.

"They are good athletes so I expect stiff competition from them,” the soft-spoken athlete said.

Disi left for Paris on Wednesday after SN Brussels canceled their Tuesday flight.

The 29-year old had spent three weeks training in Eldoret, Kenya.

The Paris half marathon will be Disi’s second competitive championship this year, after January’s San Blas half marathon in Puerto Rico where he finished sixth.

Over 27,000 participants are expected to run in Paris with the winner pocketing 40,000 euros (Rfw31m).

After Sunday’s showdown, Disi will switch his focus to the longer version (Paris full marathon) slated for April 5.

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