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Kipruto, Worku, Gitau and Kawauchi Headline Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon

http://www.jiji.com/jc/c?g=spo_30&k=2014021300784
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/news/20140213-OYT1T01083.htm
http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2014/02/13/kiji/K20140213007581080.html
http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/p-sp-tp0-20140214-1257340.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

On Feb. 13 the organizers of the Mar. 2 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon announced the sixteen invited elites for this year's 69th running.  Defending champion Vincent Kipruto (Kenya) returns, with his toughest overseas competition coming from 2:05:25 man Bazu Worku (Ethiopia) and 2012 Fukuoka International Marathon winner Joseph Gitau (Kenya/Team JFE Steel). 3rd at the most recent Fukuoka, Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) leads the Japanese field along with his 2011 Daegu World Championships marathon teammate Yoshinori Oda (Team Toyota).

Lake Biwa is a selection race for the Japanese national team for this fall's Asian Games marathon in South Korea.  Kawauchi's 2:09:05 for 3rd in Fukuoka already puts him in contention for the Asian Games team, but, said Federation Strengthening Committee director Katsumi Sakai, "We will evaluate him based on the first time, so this time will have no relation to his selection.  We expect him to target 2:06:30."  The only person who has ever broken that time at Lake Biwa was 2011 winner and future world record holder Wilson Kipsang (Kenya), but Sakai expressed his hope that Kawauchi and other young athletes would be motivated by the expectation, saying, "By telling them that expectations are high it will serve to give incentive to the Japanese men's marathoning world."

69th Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon Field Highlights
Otsu, Shiga, Mar. 2, 2014
click here for complete field listing

Vincent Kipruto (Kenya) - 2:05:13 (Rotterdam 2010)
Bazu Worku (Ethiopia) - 2:05:25 (Berlin 2010)
Joseph Gitau (Kenya/Team JFE Steel) - 2:06:58 (Fukuoka 2012)
Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) - 2:08:14 (Seoul 2013)
James Mwangi (Kenya) - 2:08:38 (Fukuoka 2011)
Yoshinori Oda (Team Toyota) - 2:09:03 (Tokyo 2011)
Hafid Chani (Morocco) - 2:09:11 (London 2013)
Essa Ismail Rashed (Qatar) - 2:09:22 (Amsterdam 2012)
Takeshi Kumamoto (Team Toyota) - 2:10:13 (Tokyo 2012)
Hiroaki Sano (Team Honda) - 2:10:29 (Chicago 2013)
Kazuki Ikenaga (Team Konica Minolta) - 2:10:44 (Lake Biwa 2008)
Satoshi Yoshii (Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki) - 2:10:45 (Lake Biwa 2011)
Yukihiro Kitaoka (Team NTN) - 2:10:51 (Lake Biwa 2010)
Keita Akiba (Team Komori Corp.) - 2:10:53 (Beppu-Oita 2009)
Ryosuke Fukuyama (Team Honda) - 2:10:59 (Lake Biwa 2013)
Takaaki Koda (Team Asahi Kasei) - 2:11:08 (Tokyo 2011)
Satoru Sasaki (Team Asahi Kasei) - 2:11:28 (Tokyo 2013)
Solonei Da Silva (Brazil) - 2:11:32 (Padova 2011)
Noritaka Fujiyama (Team Sumitomo Denko) - 2:11:34 (Lake Biwa 2013)
Naoki Okamoto (Team Chugoku Denryoku) - 2:12:31 (Lake Biwa 2012)
Kazuo Ietani (Team Sanyo Tokushu Seiko) - 2:12:37 (Tokyo Int'l 2001)
Tatsunari Hirayama (Team Yasukawa Denki) - 2:12:38 (Nobeoka 2013)
Wirimai Juwawo (Zimbabwe) - 2:12:38 (Danzhou 2010)
Yoshiki Otsuka (Team Aichi Seiko) - 2:12:51 (Beppu-Oita 2013)
Masanori Ishida (Team SGH Group Sagawa) - 2:13:07 (Beppu-Oita 2013)
Kohei Ogino (Team Fujitsu) - 2:13:12 (Hofu 2013)
Yoshihiro Yamamoto (Team Toyota Boshoku) - 2:13:22 (Lake Biwa 2013)
Raul Pacheco (Peru) - 2:13:37 (Chunchon 2010)
Takanori Ide (Team Kyudenko) - 2:13:41 (Lake Biwa 2012)
Shingo Igarashi (Team Subaru) - 2:13:46 (Nobeoka 2011)
Noriaki Takahashi (DeNA RC) - 2:14:13 (Gold Coast 2011)
Yusei Nakao (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 2:14:23 (Tokyo 2009)
Makoto Harada (Team JR Higashi Nihon) - 2:14:40 (Tokyo 2013)
Shigeki Tsuji (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) - 2:14:45 (Hokkaido 2013)
Shinji Suzuki (Team Aisan Kogyo) - 2:15:12 (Lake Biwa 2012)
Yasushi Yamamoto (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 2:15:15 (Lake Biwa 2013)
Atsushi Hasegawa (Team Subaru) - 2:15:25 (Paris 2013)
Osamu Ibata (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) - 2:15:41 (Tokyo 2011)

Trying to get it right
Tomohiro Tanigawa (Team Konica Minolta) - 2:16:57 (Boston 2013)
Muryo Takase (Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 2:20:49 (Lake Biwa 2012)
Hideto Takamine (Team Fujitsu) - 2:21:26 (Lake Biwa 2013)
Rui Yonezawa (Team Chugoku Denryoku) - 2:24:13 (Beppu-Oita 2013)

Debut
Tatsunori Hamasaki (Team Komori Corp.) - 1:01:45 (Marugame Half 2012)
Masamichi Shinozaki (Team Hitachi Butsuryu) - 1:01:58 (Marugame Half 2012)
Shuji Yoshikawa (Team Kyudenko) - 1:01:58 (Marugame Half 2012)
Kenta Inuma (Team SGH Group Sagawa) - 1:02:09 (Marugame Half 2012)
Yuki Oshikawa (Team Toyota Kyushu) - 1:02:30 (Marugame Half 2014)
Yuki Takamiya (Team Yakult) - 1:02:31 (Marugame Half 2013)
Taichi Takase (Team JFE Steel) - 1:02:32 (Marugame Half 2014)
Takuji Morimoto (Team Chugoku Denryoku) - 1:02:38 (Corporate Half 2012)
Naohiro Yamada (Team YKK) - 1:02:40 (Marugame Half 2013)
Harry Summers (Australia) - 1:03:34 (Brisbane 2012)
Agato Yashin Hassan (Ethiopia/Team Chuo Hatsujo) - 27:46.35 (Hachioji Distance 2013)
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