Biwako Mainichi Marathon - Elite Field Preview

by Brett Larner

The next selection race for the Japanese men's marathon team for the 2009 World Championships in Berlin takes place Mar. 1 at the Biwako Mainichi Marathon, one of Japan's most prestigious elite races. Biwako, also known as the Lake Biwa Marathon and usually referred to in official listings as the Otsu marathon after the town in which the race takes place, became Japan's first IAAF Gold Label road race earlier this year in a suprising move possibly designed to counter main sponsor Rohm's withdrawal of support following this year's race. Biwako's future may be in question but as a World Championships selection race this year's edition is sure to continue the event's history of offering the spring's most dramatic domestic men's racing.

Biwako has not yet released its official entry list, but below is a compilation of athletes who have thus far publicly declared an intent to run. The official entry list should be available within the week.

2009 Biwako Mainichi Marathon - Preliminary Elite Field
Jose Rios (Spain) - 2:07:42 (Biwako '04)
Kazutoshi Takatsuka (Team Komori Corp.) - 2:08:56 (Biwako '04)
Tomoya Shimizu (Team Sagawa Express) - 2:09:23 (Biwako '08)
Kenichi Kita (Team Kyudenko) - 2:11:41 (Nobeoka '06)
Takashi Ota (Team Konica Minolta) - 2:12:10 (Tokyo '08)
Masaya Shimizu (Team Asahi Kasei) - 2:12:31 (Biwako '06)
Masayuki Kobayashi (Team Subaru) - 2:14:41 (Biwako '04)
Hayato Kono (Team Subaru) - 2:15:11 (Biwako '06)
Tsuyoshi Kato (Team Komori Corp.) - 2:15:49 (Tokyo '08)
Tomoya Shirayanagi (Team Toyota Boshoku) - 2:29:37 (1/2 mar. PB 1:02:57)
Takashi Maeda (Team Toyota Boshoku) - 2:30:41 (1/2 mar. PB 1:02:38)

Debut Marathoners With Half Marathon PB
Kazuyoshi Shimozato (Team Nissan) - 1:02:00
Chiharu Takada (Team JR Higashi Nihon) - 1:02:27
Noriaki Takahashi (Team Subaru) - 1:02:41
Satoru Sasaki (Team Asahi Kasei) - 1:03:21
Masatomo Akutsu (Team JAL Ground Service) - 1:03:28
Yuya Shiokawa (Team Subaru) - 1:03:47
Yuji Mizukami (Team Subaru) - 1:04:11
Shigeru Furukawa (Team Subaru) - 1:04:19
Issei Kowata (Team Subaru) - 1:04:41
Bunta Kuroki (Team Yasukawa Denki) - 1:05:35

(c) 2009 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Comments

Most-Read This Week

19-Yr-Old Munakata Breaks Miura's U20 NR to Win Ageo City Half Marathon

The Ageo City Half Marathon is always big, the main race that the coaches of Hakone Ekiden-bound university men's teams use for firming up their entry rosters for the big show. That makes what's basically an idyllic small town race into one of the world's great road races, with depth unmatched anywhere. One of the top-tier people on the start list at 1:02:07, Kodai Miyaoka (Hosei Univ.) took the race out fast, but the entire pack was keying off the fastest man in the race, Reishi Yoshida (Chuo Gakuin Univ.), 1:00:31. Yoshida reeled Miyaoka in before 5 km and kept things steady in the low-1:01 range, wearing down the lead group to around 10 including his CGU teammate Taisei Ichikawa , a quartet from Izumo and National University Ekiden runner-up Komazawa University , 2 runners from local Daito Bunka University , 2:07:54 marathoner Atsumi Ashiwa (Honda), and Australian Ed Goddard . Right after 15 km Komazawa went into action, Yudai Kiyama , Hibiki Murakami and Haru Tanin

Ageo City Half Marathon Preview and Streaming

This weekend's big race is the Ageo City Half Marathon , the next stop on the collegiate men's circuit. Most of the universities bound for the Jan. 2-3 Hakone Ekiden use Ageo to thin down the list of contenders for their final Hakone rosters, and with JRN's development program that sends the first two Japanese collegiate finishers in Ageo to the United Airlines NYC Half every year a lot of coaches put in some of their A-listers too. That gives Ageo legendary depth and fast front-end speed, with a 1:00:47 course record last year from Kenyan corporate leaguer Paul Kuira (JR Higashi Nihon) and the top 26 all clearing 63 minutes. Since a lot of programs just enter everybody on their rosters you never really know who on the entry list is actually going to show up, but if even a quarter of the people at the top end of this year's list run it'll be a great race, even if conditions are looking likely to be a bit warmer than ideal. Chuo Gakuin University 's Reishi Yoshi

10000 m NR Attempt In the Works Saturday at Hachioji Long Distance - Streaming and Preview

There are a bunch of other time trial meets this weekend and next, but Saturday's Hachioji Long Distance is the last big meet for Japanese men, 8 heats of Wavelight-paced 10000 m finely graded from target times of 28:50 down to 26:59 for the fastest heat. Heat 6 at 17:55 local time is effectively the B-race, with 35 Japan-based Kenyans targeting 27:10 at the front end, and in a lot of cases a spot on their teams at the New Year Ekiden national championship on Jan. 1. Corporate teams are only allowed to field one non-Japanese athlete in the New Year Ekiden, and only on its shortest stage, and getting to that has a big impact on African athletes' contracts and renewal prospects. Toyota Boshoku , Yasukawa Denki , Chugoku Denryoku , Aisan Kogyo , JR Higashi Nihon , Subaru and 2024 national champion Toyota are all fielding two Kenyans, and Aichi Seiko three. For people like Toyota's Felix Korir and Samuel Kibathi , getting as close to the 27:10 target time as they can and

japan running news

Search This Blog