Workneh Over Shimoda at Beppu-Oita, Preisner Runs 2:08:58 for CAN #2

It's a rare year that there's no wind at all at the Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon, and the field took advantage of it with a pack run that lasted until the very last stage of the race. It really was a race of pure attrition, steady between 2:07:15 and 2:07:30 pace as it shook down from a lead group of over 30 to just 8 by the time the last two pacers stopped at 30 km: Japanese runners Yuta Shimoda (GMO), Hironori Kishimoto (GMO), Tomoki Yoshioka (Kyudenko), Takanori Ogata (Toyota Kyushu) and Yuichi Yasui (Toyota), former Takushoku University captain Workneh Derese (Ethiopia/Hiramatsu Byoin), and internationals Ben Preisner (Canada) and Hicham Laqouahi (Morocco). Their split of 1:30:31 put Preisner 39 seconds up on Cam Levins' 30 km NR and on track for 2:07:19, 51 seconds under the Paris Olympics qualifying time.

Shimoda took over once the pacers were out, a 2:59 for the 31st km enough to get rid of Ogata and Yasui. Yoshioka was next, and just past 32 km Laquoahi dropped too to make it a four-way race up front. Between 34 and 35 km the pace slowed enough that in was clear Preisner would need to turn it around to still have a chance at the Olympic standard, the lead group's 1:45:57 split at 35 km projecting to 2:07:44. Shimoda gestured for Workneh to take over, and even though he did the pace still slacked. Shimoda took over again at 37 km with a hard surge that gapped Kishimoto and Preisner, but Workneh answered and pulled away with what ended up being his winning move, taking almost 3 minutes off his best to win in 2:07:58.

Shimoda held on to 2nd in 2:08:24, with Kishimoto finding a 2:08:38 in himself in his debut for 3rd. Preisner could only watch as the Olympic standard slipped away, but his 2:08:58 PB for 4th was good enough to land him at 2nd in the Canadian record books. Yasui gutted out a 2:09:30 for 5th after dropping off earlier, but maybe the grittiest run came from Laqouahi, who was lying on the road with less than 5 km and staggering when he got back up but still managed a 2:11:42 for 10th. Happy with his victory after struggling with the marathon since his sub-2:11 debut in 2019, Workneh gave his winning interview in fluent Japanese. "I had good altitude training for this, and I'm not surprised that I won," he said.

The Beppu-Oita women's field is always small, and this year only two women were under 2:50. Social media influencer Aoi Makara followed up a couple of recent good half marathons with a 9-minute PB of 2:40:31 for the win. In the T11 class men's race, Shinya Wada took 1:02 off his own WR with a new mark of 2:23:27.

72nd Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon

Beppu, Oita, 4 Feb. 2024

Women

1. Aoi Makara (unattached) - 2:40:31 - PB

2. Rieko Koshi (unattached) - 2:43:40

3. Sonoka Nakayama (unattached) - 2:50:22 - PB

Men

1. Workneh Derese (Ethiopia/Hiramatsu Byoin) - 2:07:58 - PB

2. Yuta Shimoda (GMO) - 2:08:24

3. Hironori Kishimoto (GMO) - 2:08:38 - debut

4. Ben Preisner (Canada) - 2:08:58 - PB

5. Yuichi Yasui (Toyota) - 2:09:30

6. Tomoki Yoshioka (Kyudenko) - 2:10:03 - PB

7. Yuki Muta (Logisteed) - 2:10:28 - debut

8. Takanori Ogata (Toyota Kyushu) 2:10:47 - PB

9. Reo Kuniyuki (SGH) - 2:11:27

10. Hicham Laqouahi (Morocco) - 2:11:42

11. Fumihiro Maruyama (Asahi Kasei) - 2:12:28

12. Shota Saito (JFE Steel) - 2:12:39

13. Akito Terui (Subaru) - 2:13:57

14. Genta Kuramoto (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 2:14:01 - debut

15. Ryo Osaki (Komori Corp.) - 2:14:18

16. Daigo Tomimura (unattached) - 2:14:50 - PB

17. Yuta Koyama (Toenec) - 2:15:03

18. Kazuma Taira (Kao) - 2:15:10 - PB

19. Kosuke Yamada (Toyota Boshoku) - 2:15:25 - PB

20. Kensuke Yamaguchi (Toyota Kyushu) - 2:15:34 - PB

21. Shogo Kanezane (Chugoku Denryoku) - 2:16:23

22. Tatsunori Hamasaki (Nanji AC) - 2:16:54

23. Shinya Kotabe (Kurosaki Harima) - 2:16:56 - debut

24. Tomohiro Okuyama (unattached) - 2:18:31 - PB

25. Tatsuki Ishii (Track Tokyo) - 2:19:29 - PB

26. Shunpei Oda (Komanechi RC) - 2:19:41

-----

DNF - Aychew Bantie (Ethiopia)

DNF - Mohamed Reda El Aaraby (Morocco)

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

10000 m National Championships Preview

Less than five months since the 2023 10000 m National Championships went down at the 2021 Olympic stadium in Tokyo, the 2024 edition happens Friday at Shizuoka's Ecopa Stadium, with NHK broadcasting it live starting at 19:25 local time. Doubling up on Nationals like this lets Japanese athletes double dip on placing points to try to get into the Paris Olympics on rankings. But between the number of people who've hit the 30:40.00 women's standard and 27:00.00 men's standard and the lopsided eight spots given away to top placers at World XC, there are only four women's spots and three men's available via rankings. Of those, three of the four women's spots and two of the three men's spots are currently occupied by top placers at December's 2023 Nationals, Ririka Hironaka , Haruka Kokai and Rino Goshima for women and Ren Tazawa and Tomoki Ota for men. The 2023 Nationals did get close to the standards, with Hironaka leading the top four women under

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

japan running news

Search This Blog