Skip to main content

Beppu-Oita Marathon Preview


The Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon is going ahead this Sunday, for at least a part of its field. TBS will be broadcasting it live starting at 11:50 a.m. Sunday local time, and JRN will cover it on @JRNLive. There's no word at this point on official streaming, but you could always give mov3.co a go.

Two weeks before the race, organizers announced that they were cutting back the field of nearly 4,000 to only those with qualifying times under 2:30, entrants in the blind marathon division, and qualified locals, a total of about 500. That pretty much eliminated women from the race, including 7-time Hofu Marathon winner Hisae Yoshimatsu, leaving Tokyo Paralympics gold medalist Misato Michishita (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) as the probable favorite in the women's race unless a local is ready to run sub-3.

The men's entry list is heavily dominated by people who part of the Miracle in Lake Biwa last year, Shuho Dairokuno (Asahi Kasei) and Tsubasa Ichiyama (Komori Corp.) leading the way at 2:07:12 and 2:07:41 from that race. Four others on the list have run 2:08 recently, three at Lake Biwa, with two 2:09 veterans rounding out a sub-2:10 club that's as good as in any past year at Beppu-Oita, even without an international field. The lone Ethiopian in the race, 2019 Fukuoka 3rd-placer Derese Workneh (Hiramatsu Byoin), is locally-based in Kyushu.

Along with the field of proven talent, sub-61 half marathoners Kiyoshi Koga (Yasukawa Denki) and Yusuke Nishiyama (Toyota) are on the list for their debuts fresh off good runs on the New Year Ekiden's longest stage. Track specialist Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Asahi Kasei) is running for real after a couple of less-serious marathon stabs, and likewise doing it off a good New Year run. Last time around Aoyama Gakuin University's Yuya Yoshida made a big impact at Beppu-Oita in his debut, and this time the 2022 Hakone Ekiden champ team has four members on the list including Hakone member Takayuki Iida, who ran the equivalent of a 1:02:21 half marathons on his stages, and sub-63 half marathoners Taiki Miyasaka, Ryo Nishikubo and Shungo Yokota.

Beppu-Oita counts heavily in the new qualification system for the Oregon World Championships and the revamped MGC 2024 Olympic marathon trials qualifying system. Currently sitting at #7 in the JMC rankings, bib #1 Dairokuno would need to run 2:05:27 here to move into the #1 spot and have a chance of scoring a place on the Oregon team if he's not overtaken by someone in Osaka or Tokyo. That's not very likely, but a sub-2:10 top 3 finish, a sub-2:09 finish in 4th-6th, or a sub-2:08 in any placing would get him or any of the others into the MGC race and a chance for the 2024 Paris Olympics team. Scoring enough to stay in the top 8 in the JMC rankings after Osaka and Tokyo would also work for MGC qualifying, so whether or not it's obvious at the time there are a lot of potential story lines at work for this and the other upcoming races.

70th Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon

Elite Field Highlights
Beppu, Oita, Feb. 6, 2022
times listed are best in last 3 years except where noted

Shuho Dairokuno (Asahi Kasei) - 2:07:12 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Tsubasa Ichiyama (Komori Corp.) - 2:07:41 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Daisuke Hosomori (YKK) - 2:08:28 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Hiroto Fujimagari (Toyota Kyushu) - 2:08:30 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Takuya Fujikawa (Chugoku Denryoku) - 2:08:45 (Tokyo 2020)
Yuta Koyama (Toenec) - 2:08:46 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Ryo Hashimoto (GMO) - 2:09:29 (Beppu-Oita 2019)
Hisanori Kitajima (Yasukawa Denki) - 2:09:54 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Shogo Kanezane (Chugoku Denryoku) - 2:10:17 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Tadashi Suzuki (Suzuki) - 2:10:46 (Hofu 2020)
Derese Workneh (Ethiopia/Hiramatsu Byoin) - 2:10:52 (Fukuoka Int'l 2019)
Taiki Yoshimura (Asahi Kasei) - 2:11:13 (Hofu 2019)
Yuichi Okutani (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 2:11:16 (Beppu-Oita 2020)
Tomohiro Tanigawa (Konica Minolta) - 2:11:54 (Hofu 2020)

Debut/Do-Over
Kiyoshi Koga (Yasukawa Denki) - 1:00:49 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2020)
Yusuke Nishiyama (Toyota) - 1:00:55 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2020)
Akira Akasaki (Kyudenko) - 1:01:46 (Ageo City Half 2019)
Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Asahi Kasei) - 1:01:57 (Marugame 2020)
Riki Nakanishi (Toenec) - 1:02:02 (Osaka 2020)
Taiki Miyasaka (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:02:26 (Takanezawa 2020)
Ryo Nishikubo (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:02:30 (Takanezawa 2020)
Shungo Yokota (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:02:36 (Hi-Tech 2022)
Yuya Kawata (Subaru) - 1:02:38 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2021)
Noriaki Oyama (Konica Minolta) - 1:02:41 (Marugame 2020)
Shogo Ise (Konica Minolta) - 1:02:53 (Marugame 2019)
Takayuki Iida (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:03:10 (Takanezawa 2019)
Chihiro Ono (Asahi Kasei) - 46:20 (Kumamoto Kosa 10-Miler 2019)

© 2022 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Goshima and Kasai Win 10000 m National Titles, Maeda Breaks U20 Asian Record

Rino Goshima and Jun Kasai stepped up with PBs to win the 2024 National Championships 10000 m titles Friday at Shizuoka's Ecopa Stadium. In the women's race, Goshima, 4th in last December's 2023 National Championships 10000 m, went out front from the start with Kenyan teammate Judy Jepngetich pacing and 2023 3rd-placer Haruka Kokai in tow. Things were never on track to hit the 30:40.00 Paris Olympics standard, but except for a brief dip to 3:08 at 7000 m Goshima held steady at 3:05 to 3:06/km even as Kokai and Jepngetich fell off. With blood dripping from her left knee after getting spiked by Jepngetich, Goshima closed in 3:03 to take 5 seconds off her best from December's Nationals and win in 30:53.31, moving up to all-time Japanese #6. Jepngetich also PBd at 31:09.42 without counting in the standings, with Kokai 2nd in 31:10.53 and Kazuna Kanetomo 3rd in a PB 31:59.29. The runner-up last time, Yuka Takashima was last in 33:33.27. The men's race went out in a
1 comment
Read more

Ichiyama 8th at Copenhagen Marathon

Currently the #10-ranked Japanese man in the marathon with the fastest-ever domestic time at the elite Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon, Tsubasa Ichiyama (Sunbelx) made his international debut at Sunday's Copenhagen Marathon , literally an international debut as it was his first time outside the country. Ichiyama hoped to be in contention to break the 2:08:23 CR and go for the win, and with cool and breezy conditions ran easy in the lead group through 30 km. But something ate away at almost everyone as time went by, several people in the lead men's and women's groups saying humidity, and past 30 km Ichiyama fell off. Falling as low as 9th, he rallied after 40 km to finish 8th in 2:13:07. "It was different than in Japanese races," he said. "I'm used to bigger packs and more even pacing, but this was a kind of racing I hadn't done before. There's a lot to think about. I didn't feel like I was sweating a lot, but I got really thirsty and started sk
Post a Comment
Read more

Golden Games in Nobeoka Top Results

  For everyone not running yesterday's 10000 m National Championships , where the Asahi Kasei corporate team dominated the men's race with four out of four men sub-28 including winner Jun Kasai , 27:17.46, the grand dame of Japan's long distance time trial circuit was happening on AK's home ground in Miyazaki at the Golden Games in Nobeoka . Not including kids' races, a total of 74 women and 227 men ran in 14 heats of 5000 m, with a packed-in crowd of fans lining the track beating on metal sponsor boards with batons. It's a pretty awesome meet, and memorable performances included: National champion Kamimura Gakuen H.S. standout Caroline Kariba continued to kill it in the second month of her corporate league career, winning the 5000 m A-heat in 15:00.95 in a race where 3 out of the top 4 including her ran PBs. National champion Meijo University seemed flat at this point in the season, with none of its people under 16 minutes and star Nanase Tanimoto leading
1 comment
Read more