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Kenji Noguchi Goes for the Top in Biwako Mainichi Marathon

http://www.shikoku-np.co.jp/sports/local/article.aspx?id=20080301000085

translated by Brett Larner

For those who want to make the Beijing Olympics men's marathon team, Sunday's Biwako Mainichi Marathon is the last chance. Team Chugoku Denryoku's Tsuyoshi Ogata, who was 5th at last summer's World Championships, and Atsushi Sato, who was 3rd at December's Fukuoka International Marathon, are both likely to be picked for the team. After these runners remained 2 races to decide the 3rd man. At the Tokyo Marathon, Arata Fujiwara (Team JR East Japan) ran 2:08:40 to finish 2nd and make Biwako the object of intense observation.

The favorite for top Japanese in Biwako is Satoshi Osaki (Team NTT West Japan). At the World Championships last summer he was 6th, leading some to advise him to sit out the selection races and hope for a slot. Having finished in the top 3 in 6 of his 8 marathons, Osaki was unsatsified with his World Championships result and went back into training for another qualifier. He is ready to go. His closest domestic competitor is expected to be Tomoyuki Sato (Team Asahi Kasei) who will be looking to improve on his PB of 2:09:43.

A potential dark horse is Kagawa Prefecture's Kenji Noguchi (Team Shikoku Denryoku). It has been 3 years since Noguchi ran a full marathon, but he has been training at a high-altitude camp in Kunming, China through the winter and is in excellent condition. 3 years ago he ran his PB of 2:16:04, but he will of course be looking to improve upon this mark and to come in as top Japanese in order to make the Beijing grade.

Overseas competition includes World Championships 2nd place finisher Mubarak Hussan Shami (Qatar) and Dmytro Baranovsky (Ukraine), the fastest man in the field with a PB of 2:07:15. An outright win by a Japanese runner will not be easy.

Translator's note: Although the headline of this article is about Noguchi, it doesn't actually say much about him. His 2:16:04 PB certainly doesn't reflect his ability, particularly after a strong 2007. Noguchi ran a 1:02:20 PB at the World Road Running Championships in Udine, Italy last October. He ran on the Japanese national team in November's International Chiba Ekiden, had a good turn in the New Year Ekiden, and most recently finished 2nd behind marathon national record holder Toshinari Takaoka at the Himejijo 10 Mile Road Race on Feb. 11. A breakthrough performance is quite possible.
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