by Brett Larner
Screencap by @Nakajima_LA. Click to enlarge. Many more screencaps on Nakajima's feed and on the Nobeoka Facebook page.
For the third weekend in a row Japanese audiences were treated to a great marathon broadcast as 24-year-old Hiroaki Sano (Team Honda) made a superlative debut Feb. 10 at the Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon in Miyazaki, outkicking 2009 Ome 30 km winner and fellow debutant Hirokatsu Kurosaki (Team Konica Minolta) over the final kilometer to win in 2:12:14, the 4th-fastest winning time in Nobeoka's 51-year history.
Perfect weather and outstanding mid-2:11 pacing by Ryo Kiname (Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki) kept a large pack together near course record pace until Kiname's departure at 25 km. Although the pace began to slip, the numbers up front thinned over the next 5 km before a surge at 30 km by full-time-working Sho Matsumoto (Dream AC) dramatically culled the numbers. Three first-timers, Sano, Kurosaki and Kazuaki Shimizu (Team Yakult), a…
Screencap by @Nakajima_LA. Click to enlarge. Many more screencaps on Nakajima's feed and on the Nobeoka Facebook page.
For the third weekend in a row Japanese audiences were treated to a great marathon broadcast as 24-year-old Hiroaki Sano (Team Honda) made a superlative debut Feb. 10 at the Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon in Miyazaki, outkicking 2009 Ome 30 km winner and fellow debutant Hirokatsu Kurosaki (Team Konica Minolta) over the final kilometer to win in 2:12:14, the 4th-fastest winning time in Nobeoka's 51-year history.
Perfect weather and outstanding mid-2:11 pacing by Ryo Kiname (Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki) kept a large pack together near course record pace until Kiname's departure at 25 km. Although the pace began to slip, the numbers up front thinned over the next 5 km before a surge at 30 km by full-time-working Sho Matsumoto (Dream AC) dramatically culled the numbers. Three first-timers, Sano, Kurosaki and Kazuaki Shimizu (Team Yakult), a…