Course record-holders hoping to fine-tune Olympic preparations

Both Victorian athletes already own the event's half-marathon course records, with Robinson running 61:38 in 2020 and Diver 71:04 two years later.

Expected to be imminently announced in the Australian team for the Olympic marathon in Paris, the race will be part of their final preparation before departing for Europe.

The sight of Diver running through a finish banner has become a regular occurrence in Launceston with the Irish-born 47-year-old a multiple champion over the half-marathon and 10km.

She set her half-marathon PB of 1:08:50 in Marugame, Japan, the same year she claimed the Launceston course record.

The mother-of-two became the oldest athletic competitor to represent Australia at the Olympic Games when she finished 10th in Tokyo (in 2:31.14) at the age of 44.

Robinson, 33, also set his half-marathon PB of 59:57 in Marugame in 2020 and, like Diver, has achieved the 10km-half-marathon double in Launceston.

Set to begin at 8am, the half-marathon carries a World Athletics Label - the first time a Tasmanian event has been awarded such status - and is expected to sell out, with only 33 places remaining.

More than 1800 entries have been received across all four events, already exceeding last year's total of 1455.

James Rungaru carries the fastest personal best in the field, having produced a 59:37 in 2018. The 29-year-old Kenyan was sixth at the World Cross-Country Championships junior race in 2011 and has since become a Japanese resident. He ran 2:08:21 at the Fukuoka Marathon in December 2022 but has not raced since.

The remaining men's field is a roll call of Australia's best current athletes including dual Olympian Liam Adams, defending champion Ed Goddard, Riley Cocks, Reece Edwards, Liam Boudin, Jacob Cocks and Adrian Potter. The top 10 ranked men all have lifetime bests inside 65 minutes, making it the deepest half-marathon field assembled on Australian soil in recent times.

Launceston's Rio Olympian and 2021 champion Milly Clark is building up to full training for the first time since the start of the pandemic while world road running representative Tara Palm, Sydney 10 winner Abigail Nordberg, Rebecca Lowe and Meriem Daoui will also line up.

Race organisers have to apply to the World Athletics for 'label' recognition and show that their race meets a number of criteria.

The Clifford Craig Foundation, which works to help the Launceston General Hospital, has been named as the official charity of the event.