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Ishida Wins 50th Anniversary Nobeoka Marathon Just Off CR

by Brett Larner

Tokai University graduate Kazuya Ishida (Team Nishitetsu) won the 50th running of the Nobeoka Nishi Nihon Marathon in outstanding style, taking more than 30 minutes off his PB to set the second-fastest winning time in Nobeoka history, 2:11:57, over a close-knit pack of four that stayed together until late in the race.  The lead pack went out on track for a 2:10 CR, with the numbers up front remaining substantial until after 25 km.  By 30 km the lead pack was down to Ishida, 2:10 runner Kazuki Ikenaga (Team Konica Minolta), Kota Noguchi (Team Toyota) and first-timer Koji Kobayashi (Team Subaru).  The lead changed hands frequently, but by 40 km Ishida was on his own, keeping things on track well enough to dip under 2:12.

Ikenaga outlasted the less-experienced Noguchi and Kobayashi to take 2nd in 2:12:09, another excellent time for Nobeoka, with Noguchi reaching his goal of a sub-2:13 PB and Kobayashi also managing to stay sub-2:13 for a good debut.  Despite its position as a developmental race, all told the results in Nobeoka were on a par with those at last week's Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon, with one man running 2:11 and three 2:12 versus Beppu-Oita's two Japanese men in 2:11 and two in 2:12.  Prior to today only two men had ever run 2:11 in Nobeoka and only six had run 2:12.

2012 Nobeoka Nishi Nihon Marathon
50th running, Noboeoka, Miyazaki, 2/12/12
click here for complete results and splits

1. Kazuya Ishida (Team Nishitetsu) - 2:11:57 - PB
2. Kazuki Ikenaga (Team Konica Minolta) - 2:12:09
3. Kota Noguchi (Team Toyota) - 2:12:28 - PB
4. Koji Kobayashi (Team Subaru) - 2:12:52 - debut
5. Naoki Inoue (Team Komori Corp.) - 2:15:38 - debut
6. Yoshito Nagaiwa (Team Kanebo) - 2:15:52 - debut
7. Jun Matsumoto (Team Aichi Seiko) - 2:16:35 - PB
8. Tomoya Yamaguchi (Team Kanebo) - 2:16:50 - debut
9. Kenichi Kita (Team Kyudenko) - 2:17:25
10. Takashi Toyoda (Team Honda) - 2:17:42 - PB

(c) 2012 Brett Larner
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