Felix Limo, Tsegaye Kebede and Tsuyoshi Ogata Headline 2008 Fukuoka International Marathon

Felix Limo, Tsegaye Kebede and Tsuyoshi Ogata Headline 2008 Fukuoka International Marathon - updated

by Brett Larner

The Fukuoka International Marathon announced on Nov. 18 the elite field for this year's race, scheduled for Dec. 7. The first of the four domestic selection races for the 2009 Berlin World Championships men's marathon team, the domestic field features 2005 World Championships bronze medalist and 2008 Beijing Olympics marathoner Tsuyoshi Ogata (Team Chugoku Denryoku), 2004 Athens Olympics marathon 5th place finisher Shigeru Aburaya (Team Chugoku Denryoku), and 2008 Tokyo Marathon runner up and Beijing Olympic team alternate Arata Fujiwara (Team JR Higashi Nihon), along with a variety of other sub-2:10 countrymen.

The competitive foreign field stars Beijing Olympics bronze medalist Tsegaye Kebede (Ethiopia), London, Chicago and Rotterdam winner Felix Limo (Kenya), and two-time Olympic 4th-place finisher Jon Brown (Canada). Kebede and Limo's appearances continue Fukuoka's re-emergence as a world-class race, the 2006, 2007 and 2008 races having featured the top four finishers from the Beijing Olympics, gold medalist Samuel Wanjiru (1st, 2007), silver medalist Jaouad Gharib (3rd, 2006), bronze medalist Kebede (to run 2008), and 4th place finisher Deriba Merga (2nd, 2007), along with two-time world record holder Haile Gebrselassie (1st, 2006) and previous world record holder Paul Tergat (withdrew at last moment, 2007).

As a World Championships selection race, the domestic Japanese component of Fukuoka promises to be extremely competitive. Of particular interest will be the performances of Ogata and Fujiwara. Ogata, an aging veteran nearing the end of his career, ran a thoroughly mediocre race in Beijing, afterwards promising that his next marathon would be fast from the start, a suicidal crash and burn speed race. It has been years since Ogata ran his best times and it is unlikely he could really follow through on his post-Olympic words, but the prospect of seeing such an established figure run a risky, dangerous race is exciting. Fujiwara had a stunning breakthrough in Tokyo this past February, running a memorable 2:08:40 performance but missing the Olympic team. He ran Chicago in October in an attempt to make a big international debut but shuffled in to a 2:26 finish. It's a surprise to see him turn around quickly and attempt Fukuoka, but the sting to his pride is no doubt still fresh and he will be one of the most aggressive runners in the field.

The Fukuoka International Marathon takes place Sunday, Dec. 7 at 12:10 p.m. The race will be broadcast nationwide on TV Asahi beginning at 12:00 noon. A complete listing of this year's field is available here.

2008 Fukuoka International Marathon
Elite Field
Felix Limo (Kenya) - 2:06:14 (2004)
Tsegaye Kebede (Ethiopia) - 2:06:40 (2008)
Shigeru Aburaya (Team Chugoku Denryoku) - 2:07:52 (2001)
Jose Manuel Martinez (Spain) - 2:08:09 (2003)
Tsuyoshi Ogata (Team Chugoku Denryoku) - 2:08:37 (2003)
Arata Fujiwara (Team JR Higashi Nihon) - 2:08:40 (2008)
David Makori (Kenya) - 2:08:49 (2002)
Aleksey Sokolov (Russia) - 2:09:07 (2007)
Yuko Matsumiya (Team Konica Minolta) - 2:09:18 (2005)
Jon Brown (Canada) - 2:09:31 (2005)
Satoshi Irifune (Team Kanebo) - 2:09:40 (2008)
Tomoyuki Sato (Team Asahi Kasei) - 2:09:43 (2004)
Yuriy Hychun (Ukraine) - 2:10:59 (2008)
Seiji Kobayashi (Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki) - 2:11:02 (2008)
Dan Robinson (U.K.) - 2:13:10 (2008)
Daniel Mwangi (Kenya) - 2:14:28 (2008)
Martin Dent (Australia) - 2:15:12 (2004)
Mark Tucker (Australia) - 2:17:45 (2008)

(c) 2008 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Waseda Leads Top 7 Teams Under Izumo Ekiden CR, Ivy League Best-Ever 3rd (updated)

3rd last year, Waseda University scored its first Izumo Ekiden win since 2010, taking almost 2 minutes off the CR and leading the top 7 teams under the old record of 2:07:51 for the complete 6-stage, 45.1 km course. Waseda was 16 seconds back in 7th after the First Stage, but its 2nd runner Ojiro Honda made that up easily and put them 6 seconds out front. A massive 22:56 CR for the 8.5 km Third Stage by Shadrack Kipkemei (Nihon Univ.) dropped Waseda back to 2nd even though its runner Ryuki Suzuki broke the old CR too, but back-to-back CR on the next 2 stages by 1st-year Haruki Niizuma and Shunpei Yamaguchi put anchor Shinsaku Kudo out of reach of the rest of the field. Kudo duly won the 10.2 km anchor stage in 29:00, bypassing a 2:06 time entirely for a new 2:05:56 CR, just under 2:48/km average pace for the complete course. Defending champ Koku Gakuin University struggled a bit in the first half of the race but came on strong in the longer second half with 4th and 5th runners...

Kipyegon Repeats, Toyo Wins Hakone Ekiden Qualifier in First Appearance in 21 Years

Back for the first time in 21 years after a disastrous 14th-place finish at the 102nd Hakone Ekiden this past January, Toyo University hit one out of western Tokyo's Showa Kinen Park with a solid win at the Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai, the half marathon that serves as the official qualifying race for the 103rd Hakone Ekiden. The top 10 teams in the Hakone auto-qualify for the following year, with the rest having to run the Yosenkai in October with a squad of 10 to 16 runners out of which the top 10 score on aggregate time, with the 10 fastest schools joining the Hakone field and top individuals from non-qualifying teams names to the Kanto Region Student Alliance select team to make up the complete Hakone field of 21. Driven in large part by an aggressive run from 3rd-year Yu Miyazaki , one of only 2 Japanese athletes to go with the big African contingent up front, Toyo won in 10:31:30, 1:03:09 or 2:59.6/km per athlete. As the first team to have broken the 3:00/km average pace barrie...

Ngetich and Mutiso Take Down Tokyo Legacy Half CR

In its 5th edition the Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon scored 2 new course records via Kenyans from the Ikaika agency, with 10 km WR holder Agnes Ngetich blasting 3 minutes off the old record to win by over 4 in 1:04:23, and Alexander Mutiso skimming just 1 second under the CR for the win by 5 seconds in 59:51. The 2 races played out completely differently, even if the paydays were the same for the winners. Surrounded by an envelope of male runners all the way to the final 100 m, Ngetich was out hard on the downhill in the first 5 km, hitting it on sub-64 pace in 15:08 before leveling out on the flat middle 10 km. Her next 2 splits projected to 1:04:09 and 1:04:17, and even with the uphill back to the stadium in the last 5 km she didn't fall far off from that, winning in 1:04:23. Runner-up Tabitha Njeri Kamau was nearly a mile back in 1:08:28, with Kamau's Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo teammate Kazuna Kanetomo dropping a 1:10:17 PB for 3rd. Now an independent, track Olympian Kaede Ha...

japan running news

Search This Blog