japan running news

by Brett Larner
photos by Dr. Helmut Winter


This was one for everybody who has ever dreamed big.

For its 70th running the Fukuoka International Marathon brought together a good 2:07~2:08 field with two-time champ and former world record holder Patrick Makau (Kenya), 2015 World Championships silver medalist Yemane Tsegaye (Ethiopia), debuting sub-60 half marathoner Paul Kuira (Kenya/Team Konica Minolta) and more, but for most viewers it was all about Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't).

Kawauchi, the most famous Japanese marathoner of his time, having announced that this would be the last time he would run to try to make a Japanese national team, going for the London World Championships after having missed two Olympic teams.  An injury to his right calf three weeks ago after training too hard too soon after his runner-up finish at the Nov. 6 Porto Marathon, then a sprained left ankle yesterday in his last tuneup run. Everyone around him telling him not to run.  The media saying it…

by Brett Larner
photo credits at bottom
click here for race highlights video courtesy of broadcaster KBC


Former world record holder Patrick Makau (Kenya) ran what he needed to score the win in his return to the marathon today in Fukuoka, sitting back in the pack throughout the race before dropping the competition in the last 4 km to win in 2:08:22.  But the star of the show did not hail from Kenya, or Africa, or Japan.

At the pre-race press conference the top group of contenders were asked what percent confidence they had that they could win.  Favorite Makau said 90%.  2012 Fukuoka winner Joseph Gitau (Kenya/Team JFE Steel) replied 82%.  Last year's winner Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) said 50%, a suggestion of things to come.  Japanese top two Kentaro Nakamoto (Team Yasukawa Denki) and Masakazu Fujiwara (Team Honda) gave only 50% and 20% estimates.  Ser-Od Bat-Ochir (Mongolia/Team NTN), who beat Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) at last December's Hofu Yomiu…

by Brett Larner
photos courtesy Dr. Helmut Winter
click here for more photos and splits via broadcaster KBC



After giving up late in the game last year, 2007 Osaka World Championships 10000 m bronze medalist Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) got it right Dec. 1 at the 67th Fukuoka International Marathon, going to the front at the turnaround near 31.5 km and never looking back as he took the win in 2:07:16.  Defending champion Joseph Gitau (Kenya/Team JFE Steel) tried to go with him but faded  in the final 5 km to finish 2nd in 2:09:00.  After a stunning mid-race move in his tenth marathon so far this year, Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) became the first Japanese man ever to break 2:10 three times in the same year and the sixth to break 2:10 five times in his career as he took 3rd, bearing down on Gitau in the last km but coming up just short of catching him in 2:09:05.

Aussie pacers Collis Birmingham and Ben St. Lawrence took things out on target with a large pack just…

by Brett Larner



Japan’s last top-level marathon of the year takes place this Sunday with the 67th running of the historic Fukuoka International Marathon. In recent weeks Fukuoka has been hit by some high-level withdrawals including 2010 New York City Marathon winner Gebre Gebremariam (Ethiopia), last year’s Fukuoka runner-up Hiroyuki Horibata (Team Asahi Kasei) and 2008 Tokyo Marathon winner Viktor Rothlin (Switzerland), but with four of last year's top six returning it looks set to be a very close-matched and exciting race up front.

Defending champion Joseph Gitau (Kenya/Team JFE Steel) returns as the fastest man in the field with the 2:06:58 time he set last year. In his only recent race, the Oct. 27 Hiroshima Corporate Ekiden, Gitau ran 19:21 for 6.60 km to finish only 4th on the stage nearly a minute behind the winner, and with little else to go on he has to be viewed as a question mark coming in to Fukuoka. His strongest competition should be 2007 World Championships 10000…

by Brett Larner

The Fukuoka International Marathon has released the entry list for its 67th running on Dec. 1 and it's a familiar story line: one marquee African athlete and a half-dozen other foreign athletes in range of the best Japanese men on the list.  Even more so this year, with its top-end list of seven names identical to last year's field save for the substitution of Ethiopian great Gebre Gebremariam for Ethiopian greater Haile Gebreselassie.  Gebremariam gets the official number one seed from Fukuoka organizers due to his heavily aided 2:04:53 from the 2011 Boston Marathon with no note on the entry list of that time being aided, but with a legitimate best of only 2:08:00 from the 2011 New York City Marathon he has just the sixth-fastest PB in the field.  The true top seed goes to bib #21, defending champion Joseph Gitau (Kenya/Team JFE Steel), the only man in the field with a genuine sub-2:07 to his name.  Joining him again are last year's 3rd-placer and Polish n…

by Brett Larner

Click photo for Fukuoka video highlights courtesy of race broadcaster KBC.  Click here for lower-resolution stream.

click here for post-race comments from many of the top competitors in Fukuoka

Despite an expected duel between the debuting Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) and former world record holder Haile Gebrselassie (Ethiopia), completely unheralded Japan-based Kenyan Joseph Gitau (Team JFE Steel), with bests of only 1:01:19 and 2:21:54, stepped up to deal with all the major players' moves and deliver a masterful 2:06:58 win at the Dec. 2 Fukuoka International Marathon, one of the fastest winning times ever on the Fukuoka course.  2011 Daegu World Championships 7th-placer Hiroyuki Horibata (Team Asahi Kasei), coached by marathon great Takeshi Soh, scored one for the corporate leagues as he took down independent rivals Arata Fujiwara (Miki House) and Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref.) for 2nd in 2:08:24, short of the Federation's sub-2:08 World Champion…

by Brett Larner
click here for quotes from the Fukuoka pre-race press conference



The Fukuoka International Marathon has been in the news a lot this fall, hosting the Japanese men's first stab at the Federation's ambitious sub-2:08 World Championships standard, a duel between popular individualists Arata Fujiwara (Miki House) and Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref.) and the marathon debut of the mighty Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC), bringing back 2006 winner Haile Gebrselassie (Ethiopia) and taking in a half-dozen transplants from the cancelled New York City Marathon.  It looks like an exciting, multi-layered race, but despite international interest the IAAF gold-label Fukuoka remains characteristically closed to the world at large.  The race will be broadcast live nationwide on TV Asahi beginning at 12:00 p.m. on TV Asahi.  The best bet for trying to watch online at this stage is still Keyhole TV despite an erratic channel selection since an update earlier this month.  J…

http://www.jiji.com/jc/c?g=spo_30&k=2012111400668
http://www.asahi.com/sports/update/1114/SEB201211140011.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

The Fukuoka International Marathon organizers announced Nov. 14 that three-time London Marathon winner Martin Lel (Kenya), with a best time of 2:05:15, and five other overseas athletes have been added to the elite field for the Dec. 2 race.  The other late additions include London Olympics marathoner Scott Overall (Great Britain), Canadian 10000 m national record holder Simon Bairu and Americans Tim Nelson, Ryan Vail, and Brent Vaughan. All six athletes were scheduled to run the New York City Marathon which was cancelled after a major hurricane hit the east coast of the United States.

2012 Fukuoka International Marathon Elite Field Fukuoka, 12/2/12
field listing includes select general division entrants
Haile Gebrselassie (Ethiopia) - 2:03:59 Martin Lel (Kenya) - 2:05:15 Dmytro Baranovskyy (Ukraine) - 2:07:15 Isaac Macharia (Kenya) - 2:07:…

by Brett Larner
photos by Dr. Helmut Winter

Hot on the heels of a record-setting morning of half-marathon action across the country, the 67th Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, Japan's final domestic selection race for its London Olympics men's marathon team, was tense and exciting, with a string of strong debuts, a national record, and an unexpected last-minute Olympic berth upset making up most of the major results in the top ten.

In cold, rainy conditions Japan-based Kenyan Samuel Ndungu (Team Aichi Seiko) was the surprise winner, marking a steady 2:07:04 debut time for the win.  Ndungu sat tight in the lead pack, which stayed on low-2:07 pace throughout the race, through km in 30:12, 20 km in 1:00:22 and halfway in 1:03:38.  Virtually the entire elite field and the upper echelons of the general division went with him, more than forty men still in contention at halfway.  Some of the few early casualties included Australia's Lee Troop, Canadian Dylan Wykes, and 2:11:00 man Nao…