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'Morocco's Adil Annani Wins Beppu-Oita Marathon'

http://iaaf.org/LRR09/news/newsid=49180.html

Ken Nakamura's excellent IAAF report on the 2009 Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon, linked above, covers much of what I would otherwise say. One small error in his report is that Seiji Kobayashi's PB performance gives him 'little chance' of being selected for the Berlin World Championships, not 'a little chance.' Kobayashi ran Beppu-Oita, aka Betsudai, after finishing 20th in Fukuoka this past December in 2:20:46.

Adil Annani has apparently been coached by the great Moroccan marathoner Abdelkader El Mouaziz since 2007. At the 11 km water station Annani missed his special drink. Looking back over his shoulder he crashed straight on into the next table, falling forward onto the table. It evidently didn't take much out of him.

Another detail worth mentioning was the strong marathon debut by Yuki Kawauchi (Gakushuin Univ.), one of the top runners on this year's Hakone Ekiden 6th stage and the 3rd place finisher at the 2008 Ageo City Half Marathon. Kawauchi was 20th in 2:19:26, but he ran a nearly 5-minute negative split with a first half of 1:12:28 after starting in the back of the field with only a half marathon qualifying time. Kawauchi's splits from 35 km to 40 km and from 40 km to the finish were the fastest in the field, faster than winner Annani's. Although Ryosuke Fukuyama garnered far more attention for his debut, he finished in 19th less than a minute ahead of Kawauchi after running a 1:05:07 first half.

This year's Beppu-Oita was also the final run for the holder of the fastest time ever on the Betsudai course by a Japanese runner, Takayuki Nishida. Nishida won the 2001 Betsudai in 2:08:45 to qualify for the 2001 World Championships in Edmonton, but he never again ran even remotely close to this performance. Following his 2:23:09 25th-place finish yesterday he announced that it would be his last marathon before his retirement at the end of the Japanese fiscal year next month.

Click here for complete results of the 2009 Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon.

Comments

by7 said…
and your race??
Brett Larner said…
Not really worth mentioning, thanks. I felt fine but started getting blisters on both feet after 14 km, then stomach cramps after 16 km. Not sure what happened. All the blisters popped by 25 km and the cramps finally faded around 27 km, so I was able to get more or less back on pace but had lost too much time and missed the 30 km checkpoint by a few seconds. I guess this means I'll be doing Tokyo as a 'serious' race.
Brett Larner said…
Adizero LT. I ran my last two marathons, three half marathons and a 30 km race in this model, including my last two halves in this pair, without problems. I don't know what happened. I had bad blistering the last time I ran Beppu too, but that was in a pair of Asics.

The stomach problems were more the main issue this time, I think.

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