Chebet Outlasts Rain for the Win at Lake Biwa, Sakuda 4th in 2:08:59

Japan's 2020 Olympic marathon selection wrapped up in cold, rainy and windy conditions at simultaneous races at Lake Biwa and in Nagoya. The men at the Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon had to break the week-old 2:05:29 national record set by Suguru Osako in Tokyo to replace him on the team, a pretty tough ask in any case but even more so given the conditions. After a starting gun malfunction delayed the start 10 minutes, virtually unheard-of in Japan, the pacers and a lead pack of nearly 50 gave it a go, slow through the first 5 km as they warmed back up but getting onto track for a sub-2:06 before too much time went by.

Early casualties as the pace picked up included past winner Samuel Ndungu (Kenya) and Salah-Eddine Bounasr (Morocco), both DNFs. After 20 km it drifted back toward a 2:07 race, but even at that speed most of the Japanese favorites dropped away, leaving a relatively inexperienced domestic crew up against an international quintet when the last pacers stepped off at 30 km. Osaka police officer Madoka Tanihara went to the front, but a trio made up of 2:05-level Kenyans Evans Chebet and Felix Kiprotich and South African Stephen Mokoka weren't having any of it. Kiprotich initially led the charge away, a move only Naoya Sakuda (JR Higashi Nihon) could try to follow.

At 35 km Chebet laid down another surge that ended up being the one that broke the race apart, running unchallenged through the rain back to the stadium to break the tape in 2:07:29. Mokoka was next in 2:08:05, with Kiprotich holding Sakuda off for 3rd 2:08:48 to 2:08:59. Three other Japanese men, Shoma Yamamoto (NTT Nishi Nihon), Shoya Okuno (Toyota Kyushu) and Kenya Sonota (JR Higashi Nihon) also cleared 2:10 for the first time, with Tanzanian Alphonce Simbu taking 6th in 2:09:23 to make it eight men sub-2:10. And in conditions like these were that is a quality race.

Running the first km in a plastic raincoat, Australian Liam Adams took 13th in a PB of 2:10:48 to put himself into the Australian Olympic team. But Sakuda running 2:08:59 meant that he wouldn't be joining Adams in Sapporo, the clock ticking over 2:05:29 when he was still near the 41 km point to lock in Osako's place on the Japanese Olympic team. That means the final lineup, should the Olympics go ahead, will be:

Suguru Osako (Nike) - 2:05:29, 3rd at MGC Olympic trials race
Yuma Hattori (Toyota - Nike shoes) - 2:07:27, 2nd at MGC Olympic trials race
Shogo Nakamura (Fujitsu - Nike shoes) - 2:08:16, 1st at MGC Olympic trials race
alternate - Shohei Otsuka (Kyudenko - Nike shoes) - 2:10:12, 4th at MGC Olympic trials race

Not a bad national team for any country, and as the product of a brand-new team selection process that brought out their best one that should be a cause for optimism. Let's hope they get the chance to show what they can really do this summer.

75th Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon

Otsu, Shiga, 3/8/20
complete results and splits

1. Evans Chebet (Kenya)- 2:07:29
2. Stephen Mokoka (South Africa) - 2:08:05
3. Felix Kiprotich (Kenya) - 2:08:48
4. Naoya Sakuda (Japan/JR Higashi Nihon) - 2:08:59 - PB
5. Shoma Yamamoto (Japna/NTT Nishi Nihon) - 2:09:18 - debut
6. Alphonce Simbu (Tanzania) - 2:09:23
7. Shoya Okuno (Japan/Toyota Kyushu) - 2:09:28 - PB
8. Kenya Sonoda (Japan/JR Higashi Nihon) - 2:09:50 - PB
9. Felix Chemonges (Uganda) - 2:10:08
10. Koki Yoshioka (Japan/Chuo Hatsujo) - 2:10:13 - PB
11. Ryo Matsumoto (Japan/Toyota) - 2:10:32 - PB
12. Kengo Suzuki (Japan/Fujitsu) - 2:10:37
13. Liam Adams (Australia) - 2:10:48 - PB
14. Kohei Ogino (Japan/Fujitsu) - 2:11:27
15. Madoka Tanihara (Japan/Osaka Police) - 2:11:39 - PB
16. Kyoya Tsujino (Japan/NTN) - 2:12:04 - PB
17. Byambajav Tseveenravdan (Mongolia) - 2:12:32
18. Masatoshi Sakata (Japan/Chuo Hatsujo) - 2:12:36 - PB
19. Yukio Fujimura (Japan/Sumitomo Denko) - 2:13:07
20. Tsubasa Hayakawa (Japan/Toyota) - 2:13:46
-----
DNF - Salah-Eddine Bounasr (Morocco)
DNF - Daniel Muiva Kitonyi (Kenya/Track Tokyo)
DNF - Macharia Ndirangu (Kenya/Aichi Seiko)
DNF - Samuel Ndungu (Kenya)
DNF - Natsuki Terada (Japan/JR Higashi Nihon)

© 2020 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Chepkirui Over Sato Again to Win 2nd-Straight Nagoya Women's Marathon, Chen Breaks Malaysian NR (updated)

This year's Nagoya Women's Marathon felt like a changing of the guard, with some the bigger domestic names over the last few years fading early and a lot of newer faces stepping up with quality debuts or second marathons. The front group was set to be paced for 2:20 flat with the 2nd group at 2:23:30 to hit the auto-qualifying time for the 2027 MGC Race, Japan's L.A. Olympics marathon trials race in Nagoya. Up front things went out OK, but after a 33:10 split at 10 km Ayuko Suzuki , 2:21:22 here 2 years ago, lost touch, ultimately finishing 23rd in 2:33:28. Windy conditions started to play with pacers' ability to keep things steady and the pace slowed majorly over the next 10 km, but even with a 34:05 second 10 km there were big-name casualties. 2024 Nagoya winner Yuka Ando was next to drop, ending up 17th in 2:30:32. NR holder Honami Maeda was next, followed quickly by Bahraini Kenyan Eunice Chumba and debuting Wakana Kabasawa . Maeda faded to 21st in 2:31:21, whil...

Nagoya Women's Marathon Preview and Streaming (updated)

Japan's winter marathon season of 6 major races in 7-straight weekends wraps up Sunday with the world's largest women-only marathon, the Nagoya Women's Marathon . The weather is looking pretty good, 6˚ at the start rising to 10˚ by the finish and sunny skies, but a moderate 7 m/s NW wind means a headwind finish that might impact the potential for some fast times. Official streaming kicks off at 9:00 a.m. local time. Live results will be here . Sheila Chepkirui won last year in 2:20:40, breaking away from Sayaka Sato and Eunice Chebichii Chumba at 30 km and hanging on for the win. Sato negative split a 2:20:59 PB for 2nd, Chumba fading to 3rd in 2:21:36. All 3 are back this time, but they have pretty serious competition from Aynalem Desta , 2:17:37 in Amsterdam last fall, and Selly Chepyego Kaptich , 2:20:03 in Barcelona 2023. And of course, Japanese NR holder Honami Maeda . Maeda ran 2:18:59 at the Osaka International Women's Marathon in 2024 to make the Paris Oly...

How it Happened

Ancient History I went to Wesleyan University, where the legend of four-time Boston Marathon champ and Wes alum Bill Rodgers hung heavy over the cross-country team. Inspired by Koichi Morishita and Young-Cho Hwang’s duel at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics I ran my first marathon in 1993, qualifying for Boston ’94 where Bill was kind enough to sign a star-struck 20-year-old me’s bib number at the expo. Three years later I moved to Japan for grad school, and through a long string of coincidences I came across a teenaged kid named Yuki Kawauchi down at my neighborhood track. I never imagined he’d become what he is, but right from the start there was just something different about him. After his 2:08:37 breakthrough at the 2011 Tokyo Marathon he called me up and asked me to help him get into races abroad. He’d finished 3rd on the brutal downhill Sixth Stage at the Hakone Ekiden, and given how he’d run the hills in the last 6 km at Tokyo ’11 I thought he’d do well at Boston or New York. “I...

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