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Showing posts with the label Nobuaki Takata

Sang, Simon Win 27,000-Strong Inaugural Osaka Marathon

http://www.pjnews.net/news/291/20111030_2

translated and edited by Brett Larner

Stretching from Osaka City Hall to the south part of Osaka Bay, 27,000 runners took part in Kansai's first mass-participation marathon, the Oct. 30 Osaka Marathon.  With a surge at 30 km Elijah Sang (Kenya) became the race's first champion, winning in 2:12:43.  In post-race comments Sang told the media, "I think this will be a very fast course.  The cheering was incredibly loud, so I never got tired or had to back off.  Things went as planned and I made a move at 30 km.  I was able to win because I was running for the win."

Veteran Lidia Simon (Romania) won the women's race in 2:32:48.  "The course is an easy one without any difficult sections," she said, "but I had trouble maintaining my speed after the turnaround.  I wasn't able to hit my target of a sub-2:30 time, but I did manage to achieve my other goal of winning.  My next goal will be to run in London for my f…
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Kawauchi, Kipsang Headline First Osaka Marathon Elite Field

by Brett Larner

The organizers of next month's first edition of the new Osaka Marathon have officially made their entry into the already crowded fall marathon season with the release of the elite field for the Oct. 30 race.

Topping the men's field with a 2:07:29 best is 2009 Tokyo Marathon champion Salim Kipsang (Kenya).  His best competition, a surprise entry coming just less than two months after the Daegu World Championships, is 2:08:37 runner Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref.) who beat Kipsang at the 2010 Tokyo Marathon.  Other overseas runners include Elijah Sang (Kenya) and Woody Harrelson lookalike Alexsey Sokolov (Russia), who also ran in the World Championships.  The small domestic field includes Japan's two other top amateur runners after Kawauchi, 2009 Copenhagen Marathon winner Toyokazu Yoshimura and infamous wig runner Nobuaki Takata.

The women's field consists primarily of veterans, led by Olympic medalist Lidia Simon (Romania), Hokkaido Marathon course record…
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2009 As Seen By JRN Readers

JRN's most-read articles of 2009 by month:

January
Japanese runners to watch in 2009. - Jan. 8
Bringing back the classic: Fukushi in Osaka.- Jan. 23

February
Masters runner Yoshihisa Hosaka sets 60+ world record at Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon.- Feb. 2

March
Reiko Tosa's "homemade" training for Tokyo finale.- Mar. 18
The man in the wig speaks.- Mar. 25

April
Mimura leaves Asics to start own company.- Apr. 5
A report from Rikuren's New Zealand training camp.- Apr. 11

May
Weekend Japanese track action roundup.- May 18

June
Phuket Marathon helping to rebuild local economy. - June 16

July
From the editor: women's marathoning and the autumn sky.- July 2
Big Mouth scores the big ticket - Ueno in Berlin.- July 28
Life after 2:08 - an interview with Takayuki Nishida.- July 29

August
Osaka Mayor Hashimoto announces Osaka Marathon for 2011.- Aug. 6
Showing women a new way: Yukiko Akaba's challenge.- Aug. 12
Yukiko Akaba talks about her final training for World Championships marathon.- Au…
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Tsegaye Kebede Makes History in Fukuoka

Kebede makes history. Click photo for video highlights of the 2009 Fukuoka International Marathon. Click here for lo-res version.


by Brett Larner

Beijing Olympics and Berlin World Championships double bronze medalist, defending champion and Japanese all-comers record holder Tsegaye Kebede of Ethiopia lived up to expectations and more with a history-making 2:05:18 win at the 2009 Fukuoka International Marathon. Kebede's time was a PB by two seconds and a new course and new Japanese all-comers record, no doubt pleasing race organizers and his accountant by keeping Fukuoka among the world's very best courses. Most significantly, though, Kebede's performance was the 10th of the year to break 2:06, the first time the top ten fastest times of the year have cleared this former barrier. Coming in the last first-rate marathon of the year worldwide, it seals 2009 as the start of a new era in men's marathoning.

Kebede breaks the sound barrier. Click photo for more great pictures, de…
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Fukuoka Time - Watch Live Online (Updated)

by Brett Larner

Kebede vs. Mogusu - click for preview video

Update 12/5: 2005 World Championships bronze medalist and 2004 Fukuoka winner Tsuyoshi Ogata (Team Chugoku Denryoku) has withdrawn due to illness.

The 63rd Fukuoka International Marathon takes place this Sunday, Dec. 6. With the puzzling and almost total absence of elite Japanese runners this year the focus is rightfully on the foreign field, and the Japanese media are setting up the race as a two-man show. In the one corner, Beijing Olympics bronze medalist Tsegaye Kebede (Ethiopia) returns after setting the Japanese all-comers record of 2:06:10 at last year's race and then going on to take his PB down to 2:05:20 at the London Marathon in April. In the other, the popular and likeable Kenyan Mekubo Mogusu (Team Aidem), who became a star before graduating from Yamanashi Gakuin University this past April thanks to four years' worth of suicidal Hakone Ekiden runs and a hat-trick of sub-hour half marathons during his junior …
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The Man in the Wig Speaks

translated and edited by Brett Larner




Osaka-based amateur runner Nobuaki Takata (32, Hirakata Masters AC) came to national attention on Mar. 22 when he ran the Tokyo Marathon wearing a comedy wig featuring an oversized forehead and eyebrows and curly black hair. And he ran well. Qualified for Tokyo's elite division after running 2:19:31 at December's Fukuoka International Marathon, Takata came to the race having finished 9th at the Feb. 7 Hong Kong Marathon in 2:23:31 and having won the Mar. 1 Sasayama Marathon in 2:20:59. He ran with the lead pack for the first 5 km before relaxing his pace, eventually finishing next to women's winner Mizuho Nasukawa (Team Aruze) in 2:25:38.

Takata returned home to find himself a sensation. His entertaining blog How to Run a Marathon Under 2:20 - Jogging is All You Need went from 92 hits the day before the race to over 100,000 hits the next. On Mar. 25 Takata added his account of his run, translated below along with some earlier blog entrie…
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