by Brett Larner
Australia's Gold Coast Airport Marathon has released the men's and women's elite fields for this year's race on July 3. Cementing its position as a significant IAAF gold label event, the race features nine men and five women with recent times under the gold label standards of 2:10 and 2:28. Peter Some of Kenya leads the men's field with a 2:07:05 at the 2014 Tokyo Marathon and should give the 2:08:42 Australian all-comers' record set last year by returning champion Kenneth Mungara a scare. Yuki Kawauchi is the top-ranked Japanese man with a 2:09:05 from the 2013 Fukuoka International Marathon, his domestic competition including corporate runner Chiharu Takada and Kawauchi's longtime rival and sometimes training partner Arata Fujiwara.
The women's all-comers' record is Naoko Takahashi's mighty 2:23:14 gold medal run from the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Ethiopians Gulume Chala and Meseret Biru both have recent times under 2:23:30, and with a bit of teamwork they may be able to give Takahashi's legendary mark a go. The woman who replaced Takahashi as the Japanese national record holder, Yoko Shibui, has long since passed the days when she was running those kinds of times and with just a 2:31:06 at last November's Saitama International Marathon will need a big comeback run to factor into the front end of the race. Misato Horie is the lone Japanese woman in the field with a current gold label time, a 2:27:57 from the 2014 Nagoya Women's Marathon. Horie is ranked 5th in the field on recent performances, but with a streak of solid runs on the Gold Coast from Japanese women in recent years she could place well higher.
JRN will be on-site at the Gold Coast Airport Marathon. Looked for detailed coverage closer to race date.
Gold Coast Airport Marathon
Gold Coast, Australia, 7/3/16
times listed are best in last three years except where noted
Men
Peter Some (Kenya) - 2:07:05 (Tokyo 2014)
Beraki Zerea (Eritrea) - 2:08:27 (Hengshui 2014)
Kenneth Mungara (Kenya) - 2:08:38 (Milano 2016)
Ser-Od Bat-Ochir (Mongolia) - 2:08:50 (Fukuoka 2014)
Milton Rotich (Kenya) - 2:08:55 (Casablanca 2013)
John Cheruiyot (Kenya) - 2:08:56 (Frankfurt 2015)
Yuki Kawauchi (Japan) - 2:09:05 (Fukuoka 2013)
Birhanu Achamie (Ethiopia) - 2:09:27 (Rome 2016)
Willy Kotile (Kenya) - 2:09:58 (Milano 2015)
Chiharu Takada (Japan) - 2:10:03 (Fukuoka 2014)
Abragaw Misganaw (Ethiopia) - 2:10:22 (Dubai 2014)
Arata Fujiwara (Japan) - 2:11:50 (Hofu 2015)
Tatsunori Hamasaki (Japan) - 2:12:12 (Tokyo 2015)
Abdelhadi El Hachimi (Belgium) - 2:12:45 (Berlin 2014)
Saeki Makino (Japan) - 2:15:22 (Seoul 2015)
Women
Gulume Chala (Ethiopia) - 2:23:12 (Frankfurt 2015)
Meseret Biru (Ethiopia) - 2:23:26 (Paris 2015)
Meseret Tolwak (Ethiopia) - 2:27:17 (Frankfurt 2015)
Leah Kiprono (Kenya) - 2:27:39 (Zhengzhou 2016)
Misato Horie (Japan) - 2:27:57 (Nagoya Women's 2014)
Rika Takenaka (Japan) - 2:29:27 (Osaka Women's 2015)
Agnes Mutune (Kenya) - 2:30:13 (Frankfurt 2015)
Yoko Shibui (Japan) - 2:31:06 (Saitama 2015)
Hitomi Nakamura (Japan) - 2:33:23 (Osaka Women's 2015)
Wei Wei Sun (China) - 2:36:29 (Seoul 2016)
© 2016 Brett Larner
all rights reserved
Australia's Gold Coast Airport Marathon has released the men's and women's elite fields for this year's race on July 3. Cementing its position as a significant IAAF gold label event, the race features nine men and five women with recent times under the gold label standards of 2:10 and 2:28. Peter Some of Kenya leads the men's field with a 2:07:05 at the 2014 Tokyo Marathon and should give the 2:08:42 Australian all-comers' record set last year by returning champion Kenneth Mungara a scare. Yuki Kawauchi is the top-ranked Japanese man with a 2:09:05 from the 2013 Fukuoka International Marathon, his domestic competition including corporate runner Chiharu Takada and Kawauchi's longtime rival and sometimes training partner Arata Fujiwara.
The women's all-comers' record is Naoko Takahashi's mighty 2:23:14 gold medal run from the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Ethiopians Gulume Chala and Meseret Biru both have recent times under 2:23:30, and with a bit of teamwork they may be able to give Takahashi's legendary mark a go. The woman who replaced Takahashi as the Japanese national record holder, Yoko Shibui, has long since passed the days when she was running those kinds of times and with just a 2:31:06 at last November's Saitama International Marathon will need a big comeback run to factor into the front end of the race. Misato Horie is the lone Japanese woman in the field with a current gold label time, a 2:27:57 from the 2014 Nagoya Women's Marathon. Horie is ranked 5th in the field on recent performances, but with a streak of solid runs on the Gold Coast from Japanese women in recent years she could place well higher.
JRN will be on-site at the Gold Coast Airport Marathon. Looked for detailed coverage closer to race date.
Gold Coast Airport Marathon
Gold Coast, Australia, 7/3/16
times listed are best in last three years except where noted
Men
Peter Some (Kenya) - 2:07:05 (Tokyo 2014)
Beraki Zerea (Eritrea) - 2:08:27 (Hengshui 2014)
Kenneth Mungara (Kenya) - 2:08:38 (Milano 2016)
Ser-Od Bat-Ochir (Mongolia) - 2:08:50 (Fukuoka 2014)
Milton Rotich (Kenya) - 2:08:55 (Casablanca 2013)
John Cheruiyot (Kenya) - 2:08:56 (Frankfurt 2015)
Yuki Kawauchi (Japan) - 2:09:05 (Fukuoka 2013)
Birhanu Achamie (Ethiopia) - 2:09:27 (Rome 2016)
Willy Kotile (Kenya) - 2:09:58 (Milano 2015)
Chiharu Takada (Japan) - 2:10:03 (Fukuoka 2014)
Abragaw Misganaw (Ethiopia) - 2:10:22 (Dubai 2014)
Arata Fujiwara (Japan) - 2:11:50 (Hofu 2015)
Tatsunori Hamasaki (Japan) - 2:12:12 (Tokyo 2015)
Abdelhadi El Hachimi (Belgium) - 2:12:45 (Berlin 2014)
Saeki Makino (Japan) - 2:15:22 (Seoul 2015)
Women
Gulume Chala (Ethiopia) - 2:23:12 (Frankfurt 2015)
Meseret Biru (Ethiopia) - 2:23:26 (Paris 2015)
Meseret Tolwak (Ethiopia) - 2:27:17 (Frankfurt 2015)
Leah Kiprono (Kenya) - 2:27:39 (Zhengzhou 2016)
Misato Horie (Japan) - 2:27:57 (Nagoya Women's 2014)
Rika Takenaka (Japan) - 2:29:27 (Osaka Women's 2015)
Agnes Mutune (Kenya) - 2:30:13 (Frankfurt 2015)
Yoko Shibui (Japan) - 2:31:06 (Saitama 2015)
Hitomi Nakamura (Japan) - 2:33:23 (Osaka Women's 2015)
Wei Wei Sun (China) - 2:36:29 (Seoul 2016)
© 2016 Brett Larner
all rights reserved
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