Skip to main content

Fujiwara, Gebrselassie, Kawauchi, Mathathi Headline Fukuoka International Marathon Field

http://www.chunichi.co.jp/s/chuspo/article/2012110801001672.html
http://mainichi.jp/sports/news/20121109k0000m050013000c.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

On Nov. 8 the organizers of the Dec. 2 Fukuoka International Marathon announced the elite field for this year's Moscow World Championships selection race edition.  The domestic field of four consists of London Olympian Arata Fujiwara (Miki House) and 2011 Daegu World Championships team members Hiroyuki Horibata (Team Asahi Kasei), Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref.) and Yoshinori Oda (Team Toyota).  Eleven athletes from seven countries including former world record holder Haile Gebrselassie (Ethiopia) and, in his marathon debut, 2007 World Championships 10000 m bronze medalist Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC), make up the international field.

Japanese men must run 2:07:59 or better to qualify for the World Championships team.  Speaking at the press conference announcing the field, Federation executive Toshio Kiuchi commented, "It would be great to see a Japanese athlete break the finish tape," expressing the hope that Fukuoka will see its first Japanese winner in eight years.

2012 Fukuoka International Marathon Elite Field
Fukuoka, 12/2/12

 Haile Gebrselassie (Ethiopia) - 2:03:59
Dmytro Baranovskyy (Ukraine) - 2:07:15
Isaac Macharia (Kenya) - 2:07:16
Henryk Szost (Poland) - 2:07:39
Arata Fujiwara (Miki House) - 2:07:48
Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref.) - 2:08:37
James Mwangi (Kenya/Team NTN) - 2:08:38
Yoshinori Oda (Team Toyota) - 2:09:03
Cyrus Njui (Kenya/Team Hitachi Logistics) - 2:09:10
Hiroyuki Horibata (Team Asahi Kasei) - 2:09:25
Harun Njoroge (Kenya/Team Komori Corp.) - 2:09:38
Frank de Almeida (Brazil) - 2:12:03
Cuthbert Nyasango (Zimbabwe) - 2:12:08
Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - debut - 58:56 half marathon
Mohamed Trafeh (U.S.A.) - 1:00:39 half marathon

General Division - others expected from cancelled ING New York City Marathon
Andrew Lemoncello (GBR) - 2:13:40
Yusei Nakao (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 2:14:43
Simon Bairu (Canada) - 2:19:52

Pacers
Reid Coolsaet (Canada)
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Hassan Runs NR/CR for Osaka Win, Dibaba Hits Women's CR, Yoshida and Shuley Earn Legends

This was maybe the most entertaining marathon in years. After rocking the 2nd leg at last year's Hakone Ekiden Hibiki Yoshida (Sunbelx) ran an incredible 1:01:01 CR for the 21.9 km New Year Ekiden 2nd leg last month, equivalent to a 58:47 half marathon. That predicted a 2:03:27 marathon if he ever ran one, and when Yoshida announced he was debuting at this year's Osaka Marathon he wasted no time in saying it'd be a shot at the 2:04:55 NR. Things went out fast enough with a 14:50 split through 5 km, 2:05:11 pace, but Yoshida just couldn't hold back and took off at 8 km. He clearly DGAF about what was probably going to happen as his projected finish kept getting faster, 2:04:41, 2:04:15, 2:03:51, 2:03:40, edging closer and closer to what his New Year time predicted, but not helped along by the fact that he missed 4 out of his first 5 drink bottles. People laughed, and then cheered him on. 30 km was the first time he slowed, his finish projection dropping to 2:03:53, an...
3 comments
Read more

Osaka Marathon Preview

The Osaka Marathon is Sunday, one of Japan's biggest mass-participation races and the next stop on the calendar for its elite marathoners hoping to qualify for the L.A. Olympics marathon trials in the fall of 2027. Last year it snowed mid-race, but this year is looking warmer than ideal given the season, with sunny skies, almost no wind, and temps forecast to be 11˚ at the start and rising to 19˚ by the time the winners are finishing. NHK is broadcasting Osaka with a heavy emphasis on the men's race, and if you've got a VPN you should be able to watch it from overseas. There's also official streaming on Youtube starting at 8:30 a.m. local time, although it doesn't look like it's the same as what NHK will be showing. Given Osaka's history at the elite level as the continuation of the men-only Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, the women's field is small relative to the men's, just enough to tick World Athletics' label requirements and with almost no do...
1 comment
Read more

Nagoya Women's Marathon Elite Field

Last year's top 3 Sheila Chepkirui , Sayaka Sato and Eunice Chebichii Chumba are back for this year's Nagoya Women's Marathon on Mar. 8, but things are being set up more for it to be a race between Chepkirui, 2:17:49 in Berlin 2023, Aynalem Desta , 2:17:37 in Amsterdam last fall, and Japanese NR holder Honami Maeda , 2:18:59 at the Osaka International Women's Marathon in 2024. Aynalem has the freshest sub-2:20 of the 3, with neither Chepkirui nor Maeda having done it in 2 years. Maeda's only recent result is a 1:10:07 from Houston last month, but when she ran her NR she didn't have any kind of tuneup race to indicate her fitness so it's probably best not to read too much into that. If it goes out as a 2:18 race those are the only 3 who can probably hang with it. If it turns out to be more of a 2:20 race like when Chepkirui won in 2:20:40 last year then there's a group of 7 at the 2:20-2:22 level who will be in the picture, including Chumba, Selly Chep...
Post a Comment
Read more