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used with permission
Mekubo Mogusu on his way to a course record at the Yosenkai 20 km in Tachikawa, Japan, 10/20/07. The Kenyan men's team for the 2008 World Half Marathon Championships to be held Oct. 12 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil is undoubtedly the best in the field, with four of its five members sporting sub-hour marks within the last year. Possibly the least well-known, with only one international race to his name, is Mekubo Mogusu. Paradoxically Mogusu also has probably the largest fan base thanks to his status as a publicly-beloved figure in Japan. Who is this man Mogusu?
Mekubo Mogusu calls Kenyan Olympic marathon gold medalist and half marathon world record holder Samuel Wanjiru both his biggest rival and his biggest inspiration. Mogusu was born Dec. 25, 1986 in Kiyomitay, Kenya, six weeks after Wanjiru. Like Wanjiru, Mogusu was selected as an 'exchange student' by one of Japan's powerhouse running high schools. While Wanjiru went to northern Japan to attend the dominant Sendai Ikuei High School, Mogusu went to the mountains southwest of Tokyo to attend Yamanashi Gakuin Prep High School. Wanjiru was a high school star, setting the half marathon world record, 10000 m junior world record and Japanese all-comers half marathon record, while Mogusu was just another Kenyan 'exchange student.'
After graduation, most such Kenyan students, including Wanjiru, go straight into the professional jitsugyodan corporate running world where they can make good money to send back home. Mogusu took a different route. Having lived in Japan for a few years and absorbed some of the culture, he set his sights on running in the greatest of the ekidens. "I want to run in the Hakone Ekiden," he said in a 2005 interview. "For me that is more important than money." Mogusu entered Yamanashi Gakuin University with dreams of a stage record on the 2nd leg, Hakone's most competitive stage.
As a 1st year student Mogusu began turning heads. In his first month at university he broke 28 minutes for the first time in the 10,000 m, then a few weeks later while dominating the Kanto Regional University Track and Field Championships ran 13:27.14 for 5000 m, a mark which is still his PB. He ran 1:01:28 in the Sapporo International Half Marathon during the summer of 2005 to kick off the ekiden season. At the Yosenkai 20 km road race, a qualifying event for teams which did not place in the top ten at the previous season's Hakone Ekiden, Mogusu ran 57:22 to set a new course record. Two weeks later he had the stage best time on the anchor leg of the All-Japan University Ekiden, covering the 19.7 km route in 57:10.
Despite these achievements, he didn't receive national attention until Jan. 2, 2006, when he ran the 2nd stage of the Hakone Ekiden. Most universities put their best runners on this 23.2 km leg, leading to some of the best competition of the Japanese racing year. Mogusu started the stage in 12th place. After some initial trouble with his tasuki, Mogusu took off. Hard. He began flying by other runners, passing so rapidly that race announcers started laughing in amazement. Mogusu took the lead within the first 10 km, passing the 10 km mark in 27:37, half marathon world record pace at the time, with a wide margin over the stage record of 1:06:46. He faded during the hills in the final 3 km to finish in 1:07:29, good enough for the stage best title but missing his goal of a new stage record by 43 seconds. Yamanashi Gakuin maintained Mogusu's lead for much of the ekiden before finishing 2nd overall, its best showing in years.
Mogusu began the 2006 season in similar fashion, again dominating the Kanto Regionals and winning the 5000 m at the National University Championships. At October's Izumo Ekiden he ran 28:33 for the 10.2 km final leg, a new stage record but one of obviously little satisfaction as Mogusu's face betrayed his disappointment with Yamanashi Gakuin's performance as a team. Mogusu followed up his Izumo run the next month with another stage record, this time on the 19.7 km anchor leg of the All-Japan University Ekiden where he clocked 56:31 but again showed visible disappointment. The stage looked set for him to complete his big three university ekiden hat-trick with a stage record in Hakone, where he was again scheduled to run the 2nd stage. Before Hakone he had a one-off race appearance, running on the Kenyan national team at the International Chiba Ekiden alongside great countrymen including Sammy Korir, Martin Mathathi and Gideon Ngatuny.
Yamanashi Gakuin rivals Tokai University came into the 2007 Hakone Ekiden with two great stars, junior Hideaki Date and sophomore Yuki Sato. Defying the conventional logic, Tokai's coach Toshihiro Arai put the superior Sato on the 1st stage and left the ace 2nd leg to Date, ostensibly to create a lead too great for Juntendo University's unearthly uphill specialist Masato Imai to make up on the legendary mountain climbing 5th stage. Sato set a new stage record for the 1st leg with a massive lead over the rest of the field. Mogusu started in 11th place, 4:34 behind Date, and another, more cunning possible motive for Tokai's lineup soon became apparent.
In his racing leading up to the 2007 Hakone Ekiden two things had become evident about Mogusu. First, he absolutely refused to allow others to run with him under any circumstances. Second, in an ekiden he would run as hard as possible right from the outset if another school's runner was ahead of him. With Date's huge lead ahead of him Mogusu went crazy, running as though he hoped to make up the 4:34 margin by himself. He went through 10 km in 27:20, 1:40 ahead of the stage record. At 13 km he was 1:50 ahead of the course record and 2:47 behind Date. By 15 km as he began to hit the 2nd stage's hills he was in 2nd place, but still far behind the talented Date, only 1:34 ahead of the course record and beginning to slip. At 20 km he was down to 1:00 ahead of the course record.
In the final 3.2 km the unthinkable happened, as some of the runners Mogusu had left far behind began to retake him. Race announcers shouted, "This is the first time this sight has ever been seen! Japanese runners passing Mekubo Mogusu!" The Kenyan staggered to the finish line in 6th place in 1:08:53, only the 6th-fastest time of the 20 runners on his stage and 1:24 slower than his previous year's time. Humiliated and completely spent, Mogusu was carried weeping by his teammates from the finish area. Yamanashi Gakuin's performance as a team echoed Mogusu's run as the school failed to finish in the seeded top 10 and dropped into Hakone's lower tier. Had Tokai's Coach Arai understood Mogusu's psychology and shrewdly placed Sato on the 1st stage specifically to eliminate the #2-ranked Yamanashi Gakuin as a contender? It seems quite likely. If Date had run the 1st stage then Mogusu would have been able to overtake Sato and his result may not have been so self-destructive.
After this disaster, Yamanashi Gakuin coach Masahito Ueda reprimanded Mogusu, telling him that as the best runner on the team it was up to Mogusu to show leadership and self-discipline and not to just try to carry the entire team himself. Mogusu took these words to heart, returning a month later to round out his sophomore year with a sparkling 59:48 course record and PB at the Marugame Half Marathon, just seconds off Wanjiru's Japanese all-comers record. Significantly, it was a completely solo effort, with 2nd place finishing in 1:02:11.
As Mogusu entered his third university season, he felt that his results to date showed a lack of stamina and he began to adjust his training accordingly, increasing his mileage. After another domination of the Kanto Regionals, including a half marathon meet record 1:03:10 on Kanto's notoriously tricky loop course, Mogusu returned to the Sapporo Half. He appeared to try to start with a relatively conservative pace, but when top Japanese runner Atsushi Sato caught up to Mogusu in the first few km and challenged him for the lead position Mogusu immediately threw down his pace and sped away. He faded slightly toward the end but still broke the one hour mark for the 2nd time, setting another course record of 59:54, again in a solo effort which saw 2nd finish in 1:01:31. Primarily due to his inability to withstand Sato's early challenge, however, Mogusu missed his goal of breaking Wanjiru's Japanese all-comers record. After a high-mileage summer he won the National University Championships 10000 m in a meet record and PB of 27:52.79, then turned around and ran the Ichinoseki International Half Marathon, again breaking an hour with a 59:58 course record. It was yet another solo effort, this time with 2nd in a distant 1:04:19.
Clearly on a roll, Mogusu carried on into ekiden season with a 57:01 course record at the 20 km Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai race. He said afterwards that he was angry with himself for not breaking 57 but vowed to do better next time. He did. At November's All-Japan University Ekiden Mogusu showed the self-control and stamina he had been developing throughout 2007, holding back to pass 10 km in 28 minutes before opening up and finishing the 19.7 km stage in 55:32, breaking his own year-old stage record by 59 seconds. The disbelief on the face of Nihon University's anchor as Mogusu rocketed past just before the finish to take the final seeded position was a fitting image for the impact the new, disciplined Mogusu would have.
Thus, Hakone 2008. It was Mogusu's 3rd attempt at achieving his dream of a record on Hakone's 2nd stage, the most prestigious of records in the most important of Japanese races, a dream for which he had given up on four years of money-making professional running. Wanjiru had in the meantime gone on to multiple world records in the half marathon, invitations to compete world wide, and a stellar marathon debut. Other Kenyans had come and filled team positions which might have been Mogusu's. He began the 2nd stage as a lovable character for the massive non-runner television audiences which tune in to the Hakone Ekiden each year, a strong little foreigner who just tried too hard and couldn't quite make it. This year, though, things were different. As in the All-Japan University Ekiden, Mogusu went through 10 km in a relatively slow 28 minutes, under control and maintaining a conservative margin under the course record. As he continued it became clear that he would not fall apart this time, and Mogusu held on for a 1:06:23 finish, a new stage record by 23 seconds. "I'm very happy to finally reach my dream," he said in a post-race interview. "Next year maybe I'll try the 5th stage."
Elated and full of confidence, it seemed as though 2007 had been the year in which Mogusu had finally grown up. Rather than return to Marugame for another solo run, Mogusu made the excellent decision of heading to the U.A.E. for his international debut, February's Ras Al Kaimah Half Marathon, the same event in which Wanjiru had set one of his world records the previous year. He came away with a disappointing 5th place finish in a time of only 1:00:35, with the four runners ahead of him all breaking the hour mark. What happened? While race reports on Ras Al Kaimah did not describe Mogusu's performance, it seems likely that his critical flaws came into play. In other words, unaccustomed to dealing with competitors of equal ability he most likely tried to front-run against the world-class field of fellow sub-hour half marathoners, spent everything he had, and was left behind in the final push. His subsequent results as he began his fourth and final year of university bear this guess out.
Mogusu sets the Japanese National University 10000 m record of 27:27.64 at the 2008 Kanto Regional University Track and Field Championships.
Once again Mogusu kicked off the academic year by singlehandedly controlling the Kanto Regionals, perfunctorily winning the 1500 m, then setting the Japanese national university record of 27:27.64 in the 10000 m. Trailed by fellow Kenyan student Daniel Gitau of Nihon University, Mogusu showed a brief flash of his inability to handle challenges. When Gitau moved to take the lead at 7 km, Mogusu shot back to the front within 30 m and jetted away, leaving Gitau to finish alone in 27:59.05. A week later in pouring rain he broke his own course record in the half marathon with a 1:02:23, impressive given the course and conditions. He was originally scheduled to also compete in the 5000 m a few hours after the half marathon but wisely withdrew. A few weeks later it was again time for the Sapporo Half.
Mogusu sets the half marathon course record at the 2008 Kanto Regional University Track and Field Championships.
Sapporo's field included all three of Japan's Olympic marathoners and a wide range of strong domestic, resident Kenyan and overseas competition, but there was little question that the race would belong to Mogusu. Only tiny Chuo Gakuin University's star senior Masato Kihara, who had shown great potential in his university career largely by trying to tail Mogusu in their head-to-head races, showed indications of a challenge, saying beforehand that he didn't care what time or result he had, he would only aim to stay with Mogusu as long as possible. The result was a near-disaster.
All of Mogusu's hard-won self control vanished as he utterly gave in to his inability to cope with the presence of a rival. Driven mad by Kihara's placid persistence, Mogusu drove through 3 km in 8:04, on track for a sub-57 minute half marathon. Kihara gave up on the ridiculous pace by 4 km, leaving Mogusu to gradually flounder his way home to a 1:00:52 victory, just 12 seconds ahead of younger Kenyan newcomer Harun Njoroge. Mogusu repeatedly looked back in fear as he slogged through the final kilometer. Although Mogusu initially claimed after the race that he had been going for a world record but had failed because it was too hot, when he admitted that he had felt some pressure from Kihara the truth rang out.
Mogusu hoped to be selected for the Kenyan Olympic team in the 10000 m but did not make the grade. He was instead named to the preliminary lineup of the Kenyan team for the World Half Marathon alongside the newly crowned king Wanjiru. Although Wanjiru withdrew from the team due to fatigue from the Olympics, Mogusu made the final roster. Losses to Gitau at both 5000 m and 10000 m at September's Japanese University Nationals were inconsequential as his focus was likely on the more important world-level event. But how will he do in Rio?
In all honesty a spectacular meltdown is the most likely result. Despite a stellar 2007 which showed the promise of Mogusu being a true world great, 2008 since Hakone seems to show that Mogusu has held on to his improved physical ability but let slip the important lessons. The same lessons that Wanjiru said were the most significant things he learned in Japan on his way to becoming an Olympic champion. The same lessons Mogusu will need if he is ever to compete on the international level or reach his stated of goal of running the 2012 Olympic marathon. Patience and self-control. With them he could become one of the best, running alongside Wanjiru in the London Olympics. Without them the world will only view him the way he was on the starting line of the 2008 Hakone Ekiden 2nd stage: a supremely talented and lovable fool.
A complete listing of Mekubo Mogusu's best times and career annual highlights can be found here.
(c) 2008 Brett Larner
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