by Brett Larner
Satoshi Osaki of Team NTT Nishi Nihon, 6th place finisher at the 2007 World Championships and 2006 Asia Games bronze medalist, ran a 10-second PB of 2:08:36 to take 3rd at the 2008 Biwako Mainichi Marathon and likely make the 2008 Beijing Olympics team, close behind World Championships silver medalist Mubarak Hassan Shami of Qatar, the winner in 2:08:23, and World Championships 4th place finisher Yared Asmeron who ran a 7-minute PB of 2:08:34 to take 2nd. Osaki was himself followed closely by Team Nissin Shokuhin's Yuzo Onishi, who ran an impressive 4-minute PB of 2:08:54.
Biwako was the final selection race for the Japanese men's marathon team to be sent to Beijing Olympics. The top Japanese finisher needed to break Arata Fujiwara's 2:08:40 mark from the Tokyo Marathon and be one of the top overall finishers to have any chance of being selected. Conditions at the start were 10 degrees and sunny with intermittent wind. The race was planned to begin with an initial pace of 15:05 per 5 km. The first split was slightly fast, 15:00, but an enormous pack containing all the domestic and international favorites stayed right behind the pacemakers at this challenging pace. Team Asahi Kasei's Mitsuru Kubota, who qualified for last summer's World Championships by finishing as top Japanese at last year's Biwako, dropped off the rear of the pack after the 5 km mark, the first of the casualties.
Accelerating to jockey for position while approaching a drink station, the 7th km passed in 2:56. Many could not handle this change and the pack fractured, but a surprising number of runners with PBs in the 2:12 to 2:15 range remained, including Yuki Abe, Yusuke Kataoka, Takehisa Okino, Yuzo Onishi, Tomohiro Seto and Yared Asmeron. 10 km passed in 30:02. Shortly afterwards, Team Toyota's Kensuke Takahashi, who had a strong showing at December's Fukuoka International Marathon, was the next favorite to fall away from the pack.
Accelerating again at the 11 km drink station, a small pack containing Asmeron, Dmytro Baranovsky (Ukraine), Mubarak Hassan Shami (Qatar), Jose Rios (Spain), Okino, Osaki, Seto and a few others broke away from the main pack. It was a short-lived move as the trailing runners caught up around 12.5 km. Mexico's Pablo Almedo was the next to lose contact, slowing at 13 km and dropping out at 14 km. Almedo was followed by Team Asahi Kasei's Tadayuki Ojima, who had run 2:08:18 to win Biwako 4 years ago. Around the 15 km point Australia's Lee Troop fell away, the remaining 36 runners hitting the mark in 45:10.
2 fast km in a row, 2:58 for 17 km and 2:56 for 18 km, eliminated Kataoka, Kenji Noguchi of Team Shikoku Denryoku and Kenyan Peter Kariuki. During these fast km, Asmeron notably held a stable position at the front of the pack, looking at ease running much faster than his 2:15:14 PB would have predicted. Komazawa University's powerful Koichi Sakai, running his debut marathon, dropped back at around 19.5 km. 20 km passed in 1:00:07, a 14:58 split for the last 5 km.
At the 20.5 km drink station, Asmeron launched a surprise attack. The pack once again fractured, this time with Baranovsky, Seto and Team Honda's Masakazu Fujiwara unable to keep up. Many were cheering for Fujiwara, who had run the national student marathon record of 2:08:12 while at Chuo University but has been injured ever since and was doing his first marathon in 5 years. Caught in the gap between packs were 2-time Biwako winner Rios and Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki's Yuki Abe, a 2:13:47 marathoner. Abe earned many fans at last year's Biwako when as a no-name runner he was the only Japanese to go with the lead pack of foreigners in the last quarter of the race.
Despite Asmeron pushing the pace to a fast 2:56 for the 21st km, Rios and Abe re-entered the lead pack. At the halfway point, 1:03:22, the pack consisted of 10 runners plus 2 pacemakers. Asmeron continued his assault, running ahead of the pacemakers much of the time and dropping a 2:54 for the 23rd km, too much for Team Honda's Takashi Horiguchi and Team Nissin Shokuhin's Yuzo Onishi, a 2:12:53 marathoner. Asmerom was very impressive, continuing to look calm and in control of both himself and the race. The group reached 25 km in 1:15:01, a 14:54 5 km split. 1 pacemaker dropped out, and shortly afterwards Koji Watanabe of Team Osaka Gas and Takehisa Okino of Team Chugoku Denryoku lost contact.
Thus by the 26 km marker the pack was down to 7, with pacemaker Isaac Macharia leading Asmeron, Shami, Rios and pre-race domestic favorites Osaki and Tomoyuki Sato of Team Asahi Kasei, a 2:09 marathoner who ran in last summer's World Championships. The surprise final member of the lead pack was Abe, once again showing great courage and ambition. The pace slowed to 3:03 per km over the next 5 km, but at 28.5 km first Sato and then Abe abruptly fell out of the pack. Sato quickly overtook Abe and tried unsuccessfully to regain contact with the leaders. Ahead of him, Shami dropped to the rear of the pack, while behind him Onishi, who had slowed at the 23 km mark, remained in sight and began to advance on Abe. Asmeron pushed again at 29 km, and Shami quickly moved up to avoid losing contact. Osaki now slipped to the rear.
The lead group of 5 hit 30 km in 1:30:16, the slowest 5 km split so far in the race. When pacemaker Macharia dropped out at 30 km, Asmeron immediately launched another attack, answered instantly by Shami. Osaki and Rios made no attempt to cover the move, running together while Sato continued to try to recatch them. Asmeron opened a small lead on Shami, but the leaders essentially remained in 2 pairs. Farther back, Onishi passed Abe and advanced on Sato, who now showed signs of strain from the early fast pace. 35 km passed in 1:45:30 for Shami and Asmeron and 1:45:57 for Osaki and Rios. Osaki at this point was 1 second faster than Arata Fujiwara's 35 km split in the Tokyo Marathon, the mark he would have to beat to have a chance for the Olympic team. He was focused and intent, but Rios was visibly losing his concentration, repeatedly checking his watch and looking around.
At 36.5 km Shami made what would be the race's decisive move, dropping Asmeron without effort. Osaki and Rios slowed to 3:13 per km, while Onishi caught Sato. It looked probable that Onishi would continue to advance and catch Rios and Osaki, making it a 2-man race for the coveted top Japanese slot. Osaki had other ideas, however, as he launched his final spurt at 38 km, rapidly dropping Rios and beginning to make up the distance to the fading Asmeron. Onishi quickly caught Rios but could no longer get any closer to Osaki.
Shami hit 40 km in 2:01:16, a 15:46 5 km split which, considering that he was running away from the other leaders, showed how much the entire field had slowed. Osaki reached 40 km in 2:01:53, a 15:56 5 km split and now 13 seconds behind Arata Fujiwara's mark. Osaki ran the final 2 km with great desperation, reaching the track just seconds behind Asmeron. Unfortunately for Osaki, the Eritrean was not finished yet and was able to match his speed over the final 600 m, maintaining his lead as Shami reached the tape 11 seconds ahead. Asmeron was clearly exhausted but recorded an impressive PB of almost 7 minutes. Osaki came in 3rd in 2:08:36, his fantastic final stretch helping him to beat Arata Fujiwara's time by 4 seconds. Onishi also finished in remarkable style, running a 4-minute PB to also break 2:09. 7 runners broke 2:10, an unusual feat in the Japanese race circuit.
Osaki wept openly during his post-race interview, and with good cause. Rikuren official Keisuke Sawaki, who had given Arata Fujiwara great praise at the Tokyo Marathon, was likewise very positive about Osaki's peformance. He said that in his opinion Osaki's performance against the 2nd and 4th place finishers from the World Championships together with his excellent finish time made for a 'respectable' result. He concluded by saying, "Rikuren will consider all the selection races and performances and will make a fair selection for the Olympic team." The organization's decision about the team's membership will be announced on Mar. 10.
Top 10 Results
1. Mubarak Hassan Shami (Qatar): 2:08:23
2. Yared Asmeron (Eritrea): 2:08:34 PB
3. Satoshi Osaki (NTT Nishi Nihon): 2:08:36 PB
4. Yuzo Onishi (Nissin Shokuhin): 2:08:54 PB
5. Tomoya Shimizu (Sagawa Express): 2:09:23 PB
6. Jose Rios (Spain): 2:09:38
7. Tomoyuki Sato (Asahi Kasei): 2:09:59
8. Kazuki Ikenaga (Konica Minolta): 2:10:44 debut
9. Masakazu Fujiwara (Honda): 2:12:07
10. Toshiya Katayama (NTT Nishi Nihon): 2:12:30
The IAAF's report on Biwako is here.
(c) 2008 Brett Larner
all rights reserved.
Satoshi Osaki of Team NTT Nishi Nihon, 6th place finisher at the 2007 World Championships and 2006 Asia Games bronze medalist, ran a 10-second PB of 2:08:36 to take 3rd at the 2008 Biwako Mainichi Marathon and likely make the 2008 Beijing Olympics team, close behind World Championships silver medalist Mubarak Hassan Shami of Qatar, the winner in 2:08:23, and World Championships 4th place finisher Yared Asmeron who ran a 7-minute PB of 2:08:34 to take 2nd. Osaki was himself followed closely by Team Nissin Shokuhin's Yuzo Onishi, who ran an impressive 4-minute PB of 2:08:54.
Biwako was the final selection race for the Japanese men's marathon team to be sent to Beijing Olympics. The top Japanese finisher needed to break Arata Fujiwara's 2:08:40 mark from the Tokyo Marathon and be one of the top overall finishers to have any chance of being selected. Conditions at the start were 10 degrees and sunny with intermittent wind. The race was planned to begin with an initial pace of 15:05 per 5 km. The first split was slightly fast, 15:00, but an enormous pack containing all the domestic and international favorites stayed right behind the pacemakers at this challenging pace. Team Asahi Kasei's Mitsuru Kubota, who qualified for last summer's World Championships by finishing as top Japanese at last year's Biwako, dropped off the rear of the pack after the 5 km mark, the first of the casualties.
Accelerating to jockey for position while approaching a drink station, the 7th km passed in 2:56. Many could not handle this change and the pack fractured, but a surprising number of runners with PBs in the 2:12 to 2:15 range remained, including Yuki Abe, Yusuke Kataoka, Takehisa Okino, Yuzo Onishi, Tomohiro Seto and Yared Asmeron. 10 km passed in 30:02. Shortly afterwards, Team Toyota's Kensuke Takahashi, who had a strong showing at December's Fukuoka International Marathon, was the next favorite to fall away from the pack.
Accelerating again at the 11 km drink station, a small pack containing Asmeron, Dmytro Baranovsky (Ukraine), Mubarak Hassan Shami (Qatar), Jose Rios (Spain), Okino, Osaki, Seto and a few others broke away from the main pack. It was a short-lived move as the trailing runners caught up around 12.5 km. Mexico's Pablo Almedo was the next to lose contact, slowing at 13 km and dropping out at 14 km. Almedo was followed by Team Asahi Kasei's Tadayuki Ojima, who had run 2:08:18 to win Biwako 4 years ago. Around the 15 km point Australia's Lee Troop fell away, the remaining 36 runners hitting the mark in 45:10.
2 fast km in a row, 2:58 for 17 km and 2:56 for 18 km, eliminated Kataoka, Kenji Noguchi of Team Shikoku Denryoku and Kenyan Peter Kariuki. During these fast km, Asmeron notably held a stable position at the front of the pack, looking at ease running much faster than his 2:15:14 PB would have predicted. Komazawa University's powerful Koichi Sakai, running his debut marathon, dropped back at around 19.5 km. 20 km passed in 1:00:07, a 14:58 split for the last 5 km.
At the 20.5 km drink station, Asmeron launched a surprise attack. The pack once again fractured, this time with Baranovsky, Seto and Team Honda's Masakazu Fujiwara unable to keep up. Many were cheering for Fujiwara, who had run the national student marathon record of 2:08:12 while at Chuo University but has been injured ever since and was doing his first marathon in 5 years. Caught in the gap between packs were 2-time Biwako winner Rios and Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki's Yuki Abe, a 2:13:47 marathoner. Abe earned many fans at last year's Biwako when as a no-name runner he was the only Japanese to go with the lead pack of foreigners in the last quarter of the race.
Despite Asmeron pushing the pace to a fast 2:56 for the 21st km, Rios and Abe re-entered the lead pack. At the halfway point, 1:03:22, the pack consisted of 10 runners plus 2 pacemakers. Asmeron continued his assault, running ahead of the pacemakers much of the time and dropping a 2:54 for the 23rd km, too much for Team Honda's Takashi Horiguchi and Team Nissin Shokuhin's Yuzo Onishi, a 2:12:53 marathoner. Asmerom was very impressive, continuing to look calm and in control of both himself and the race. The group reached 25 km in 1:15:01, a 14:54 5 km split. 1 pacemaker dropped out, and shortly afterwards Koji Watanabe of Team Osaka Gas and Takehisa Okino of Team Chugoku Denryoku lost contact.
Thus by the 26 km marker the pack was down to 7, with pacemaker Isaac Macharia leading Asmeron, Shami, Rios and pre-race domestic favorites Osaki and Tomoyuki Sato of Team Asahi Kasei, a 2:09 marathoner who ran in last summer's World Championships. The surprise final member of the lead pack was Abe, once again showing great courage and ambition. The pace slowed to 3:03 per km over the next 5 km, but at 28.5 km first Sato and then Abe abruptly fell out of the pack. Sato quickly overtook Abe and tried unsuccessfully to regain contact with the leaders. Ahead of him, Shami dropped to the rear of the pack, while behind him Onishi, who had slowed at the 23 km mark, remained in sight and began to advance on Abe. Asmeron pushed again at 29 km, and Shami quickly moved up to avoid losing contact. Osaki now slipped to the rear.
The lead group of 5 hit 30 km in 1:30:16, the slowest 5 km split so far in the race. When pacemaker Macharia dropped out at 30 km, Asmeron immediately launched another attack, answered instantly by Shami. Osaki and Rios made no attempt to cover the move, running together while Sato continued to try to recatch them. Asmeron opened a small lead on Shami, but the leaders essentially remained in 2 pairs. Farther back, Onishi passed Abe and advanced on Sato, who now showed signs of strain from the early fast pace. 35 km passed in 1:45:30 for Shami and Asmeron and 1:45:57 for Osaki and Rios. Osaki at this point was 1 second faster than Arata Fujiwara's 35 km split in the Tokyo Marathon, the mark he would have to beat to have a chance for the Olympic team. He was focused and intent, but Rios was visibly losing his concentration, repeatedly checking his watch and looking around.
At 36.5 km Shami made what would be the race's decisive move, dropping Asmeron without effort. Osaki and Rios slowed to 3:13 per km, while Onishi caught Sato. It looked probable that Onishi would continue to advance and catch Rios and Osaki, making it a 2-man race for the coveted top Japanese slot. Osaki had other ideas, however, as he launched his final spurt at 38 km, rapidly dropping Rios and beginning to make up the distance to the fading Asmeron. Onishi quickly caught Rios but could no longer get any closer to Osaki.
Shami hit 40 km in 2:01:16, a 15:46 5 km split which, considering that he was running away from the other leaders, showed how much the entire field had slowed. Osaki reached 40 km in 2:01:53, a 15:56 5 km split and now 13 seconds behind Arata Fujiwara's mark. Osaki ran the final 2 km with great desperation, reaching the track just seconds behind Asmeron. Unfortunately for Osaki, the Eritrean was not finished yet and was able to match his speed over the final 600 m, maintaining his lead as Shami reached the tape 11 seconds ahead. Asmeron was clearly exhausted but recorded an impressive PB of almost 7 minutes. Osaki came in 3rd in 2:08:36, his fantastic final stretch helping him to beat Arata Fujiwara's time by 4 seconds. Onishi also finished in remarkable style, running a 4-minute PB to also break 2:09. 7 runners broke 2:10, an unusual feat in the Japanese race circuit.
Osaki wept openly during his post-race interview, and with good cause. Rikuren official Keisuke Sawaki, who had given Arata Fujiwara great praise at the Tokyo Marathon, was likewise very positive about Osaki's peformance. He said that in his opinion Osaki's performance against the 2nd and 4th place finishers from the World Championships together with his excellent finish time made for a 'respectable' result. He concluded by saying, "Rikuren will consider all the selection races and performances and will make a fair selection for the Olympic team." The organization's decision about the team's membership will be announced on Mar. 10.
Top 10 Results
1. Mubarak Hassan Shami (Qatar): 2:08:23
2. Yared Asmeron (Eritrea): 2:08:34 PB
3. Satoshi Osaki (NTT Nishi Nihon): 2:08:36 PB
4. Yuzo Onishi (Nissin Shokuhin): 2:08:54 PB
5. Tomoya Shimizu (Sagawa Express): 2:09:23 PB
6. Jose Rios (Spain): 2:09:38
7. Tomoyuki Sato (Asahi Kasei): 2:09:59
8. Kazuki Ikenaga (Konica Minolta): 2:10:44 debut
9. Masakazu Fujiwara (Honda): 2:12:07
10. Toshiya Katayama (NTT Nishi Nihon): 2:12:30
The IAAF's report on Biwako is here.
(c) 2008 Brett Larner
all rights reserved.
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