Skip to main content

'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.

Most-Read This Week

Keita Satoh Running New Balance Fifth Avenue Mile

1500 m U20 NR holder Keita Satoh (Nike Swoosh TC) is running this weekend's New Balance Fifth Avenue Mile , the first time that a Japanese man has been invited in the race's 45-year history. In university Sato had to change focus away from middle distance to the half marathon-scale lengths of the Hakone Ekiden stages, but since graduating in March and relocating to Flagstaff he has refocused on the 1500 m, going from 3:43.19 in April in his first 1500 m in almost 4 years to 3:38.30 over the course of 5 races. Fifth Avenue will be his last race before heading back to Japan for one more track 1500 m and some down time. Men's entries with best 1500 m times in last 3 years: Stefan Nillessen (NED) - 3:29.23 (2025) Flavien Szot (FRA) - 3:30.74 (2025) Oliver Hoare (AUS) - 3:31.07 (2024) Jake Heyward (GBR) - 3:31.18 (2026) Titouan Le Grix (FRA) - 3:31.46 (2026) Romain Mornet (FRA) - 3:31.62 (2025) Adam Spencer (AUS) - 3:31.83 (2026) Pieter Sisk (BEL) - 3:31.85 (2025) Gary Martin (...

Multiple National Records This Weekend

Olympic and World champion Haruka Kitaguchi got the biggest headlines among Japanese athletes this weekend, overcoming a rough last year and a half that included injury and a coaching change to break her own javelin throw NR by over a meter and a half to win the inaugural WA Ultimate Championship in Budapest. U20 WR and Asian AR holder Ziyi Yan opened with a big 68.05, 0.67 m further than Kitaguchi's best-ever from back in 2023. That could have been the end, but Kitaguchi came back from a 61.15 m first attempt to throw a massive 68.92 m NR on her next one, ultimately enough for the win. She still has a long way to go to match the 18-year-old Yan's 71.74 m from May, but it was a clear statement that Kitaguchi is back. Back home at the National Corporate Track and Field Championships in Kyoto, women's pole vault NR holder Misaki Morota continued a solid comeback season of her own, bettering her NR from May by 1 cm with a 4.51 m on her first attempt. Morota took another 3...