Skip to main content

Ndirangu Wins, Robertson Sets NR, Nakamura Makes Olympic Trials in Lake Biwa Debuts



First-timers brought most of the day's best action to the 73rd running of the Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon. Unseasonably hot temperatures meant times were never really in the cards, and a slow opening 10 km left a pack of over 40 together until well into the race. Early casualties included 2:09:31 man Takuya Fukatsu (Asahi Kasei), Keita Shitara (Hitachi Butsuryu) and Tadesse Abraham (Switzerland), but it wasn't until the second half that things started to get complicated.

With the pace staying true to a high-2:07 finish time people fell off the pack in twos and threes after rounding the turnaround point just past halfway, but what made this race unusual was that they kept coming back. 2:07:39 man Masato Imai (Toyota Kyushu), 2017 Gold Coast Marathon winner Takuya Noguchi (Konica Minolta) and last year's Ehime Marathon runner-up Yohei Suzuki (Aisan Kogyo) fell off together, then came back together, then fell off again. European champion Daniele Meucci (Italy) was there, then gone, then back, then gone again, and then coming back in the final kilometers. 2016 Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon winner Melaku Abera (Ethiopia/Kurosaki Harima) went through the same cycle. The debuting Shogo Nakamura (Fujitsu) was one of the last three Japanese men left among the lead pack, then dropped away and was overtaken by the Imai trio, then surged ahead again.

It was way more turnover in position than you'd usually see in a marathon of this caliber, but through it all New Zealand's Jake Robertson, like Nakamura running the marathon for the first time, appeared to be calmly biding his time, waiting until after 31 km to go to the front for the first time in response to a move from Japan's Shinobu Kubota (Toyota). Robertson looked like he had the gears and reserve to run away with it, but like his twin brother Zane in his half marathon debut in Marugame Robertson found himself unexpectedly challenged by a relatively unknown debuting Japan-based Kenyan.

With a 1:00:30 half marathon best to his name, 23-year-old Macharia Ndirangu (Aichi Seiko) attacked hard with 5 km to go. Only Albert Korir (Kenya) was able to follow, Robertson losing ground second by second over the next three kilometers. At 40 km Ndirangu attacked again, dropping Korir and sailing in to take the title in 2:07:53, recording the fastest closing split in the field. Korir was next in a PB of 2:08:17, holding off Robertson whose 2:08:26 debut time took over 30 seconds off the ancient New Zealand national record. Following Yuta Shitara's national record at last weekend's Tokyo Marathon it was the second week in a row that a twin set a national record at one of Japan's major marathons.

In the wake of Robertson's move and Ndirangu's response Kubota slipped off their pace, slowing dramatically as first Meucci, then Nakamura, then Imai, then Noguchi came up from behind. All of them were conscious of where they stood relative to the qualifying standards for the MGC Race, Japan's new 2020 Olympic trials. Sub-2:08:30, or in the top three Japanese and sub-2:11:00, or in the top six Japanese and sub-2:10:00 was what it was going to take. As Nakamura shook Imai off and began to run down stragglers ahead it was clear he was cutting it close, so close that it wasn't obvious until the last 400 m on the track whether he was going to make the 2:11:00 standard. But in the back straight defending champ Ezekiel Chebii (Kenya) provided just the stimulus Nakamura needed, Nakamura kicking past him and almost catching Meucci to finish his first marathon in 2:10:51 and make the MGC Race.

Imai was the next Japanese man across the line in 2:11:38, so disappointed and spent that he couldn't talk after the race. Noguchi followed in 2:11:48, both missing MGC Race qualification by less than a minute. No other Japanese men cleared 2:14, a disappointing turn after a reasonable first half with nineteen Japanese men on sub-2:10 pace and especially so when backlit by last Sunday's record-breaking Tokyo Marathon.

Perhaps the biggest loser among the Japanese was two-time defending New Year Ekiden national champion team Asahi Kasei, the most old-school and conservative organization on the circuit. Asahi Kasei had four men on the entry list, 2:08 runner Satoru Sasaki, 2:09 men Fukatsu and Fumihiro Maruyama, and 1:00:50 half marathoner Kenta Murayama. Sasaki was a DNS shortly before the race, Fukatsu a DNF after losing touch with the lead group in the first 10 km, and Murayama and Maruyama both ran PW times over 2:15. The contrast between the success of Yuta Shitara's innovative approach in his national record last weekend and the total failure of the old-fashioned Asahi Kasei approach couldn't have been starker. While last week cast a glow that still shines across the Japanese distance world, with the exception of Nakamura's modest breakthrough this week showed that there is still a long way to go.

73rd Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon

Otsu, Shiga, 3/4/18
click here for complete results and splits

1. Macharia Ndirangu (Kenya/Aichi Seiko) - 2:07:53 - debut
2. Albert Korir (Kenya) - 2:08:17 - PB
3. Jake Robertson (New Zealand) - 2:08:26 - NR, debut
4. Michael Githae (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 2:09:21 - PB
5. Abera Kuma (Ehtiopia) - 2:09:31
6. Daniele Meucci (Italy) - 2:10:45 - PB
7. Shogo Nakamura (Japan/Fujitsu) - 2:10:51 - debut
8. Ezekiel Chebii (Kenya) - 2:11:00
9. Masato Imai (Japan/Toyota Kyushu) - 2:11:38
10. Takuya Noguchi (Japan/Konica Minolta) - 2:11:48
11. Melaku Abera (Ethiopia/Kurosaki Harima) - 2:14:38
12. Keisuke Tanaka (Japan/Fujitsu) - 2:14:50
13. Kenya Sonota (Japan/JR Higashi Nihon) - 2:14:53 - debut
14. Yohei Suzuki (Japan/Aisan Kogyo) - 2:15:16
15. Taku Fujimoto (Japan/Toyota) - 2:15:30 - debut
16. Shuji Matsuo (Japan/Chudenko) - 2:15:41
17. Fumihiro Maruyama (Japan/Asahi Kasei) - 2:15:59
18. Ryohei Nishiyama (Japan/Toyota Boshoku) - 2:16:00
19. Samson Gebreyohannes (Eritrea) - 2:16:53
20. Bradley Croker (Australia) - 2:17:28 - PB
21. Kenta Murayama (Japan/Asahi Kasei) - 2:17:43
22. Takuma Kumagai (Japan/Sumitomo Denko) - 2:18:12 - debut
23. Jo Fukuda (Japan/Nishitetsu) - 2:18:16
24. Hidenori Nagai (Japan/DeNA) - 2:18:31
25. Sho Matsumoto (Japan/Nikkei Business) - 2:18:39
26. Keita Shitara (Japan/Hitachi Butsuryu) - 2:18:39 - PB
27. Shota Yamada (Japan/Press Kogyo) - 2:18:59
28. Shinobu Kubota (Japan/Toyota) - 2:19:18
29. Taiga Ito (Japan/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 2:19:47
30. Yoshiki Takenouchi (Japan/NTT Nishi Nihon) - 2:20:29
-----
43. Mohammed Zani (Morocco) - 2:23:16
44. Scott Bauhs (U.S.A.) - 2:23:35
51. Wataru Tochigi (Japan/Juntendo Univ.) - 2:24:32 - debut
53. Yuki Matsumura (Japan/Honda) - 2:25:01 - debut
73. Tomoyuki Morita (Japan/Kanebo) - 2:28:46
113. Tadashi Suzuki (Japan/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 2:35:58
-----
DNF - Tadesse Abraham (Switzerland)
DNF - Takuya Fukatsu (Japan/Asahi Kasei)
DNF - Yuta Oikawa (Japan/YKK)

© 2018 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Nagoya Women's Marathon Preview and Streaming (updated)

Japan's winter marathon season of 6 major races in 7-straight weekends wraps up Sunday with the world's largest women-only marathon, the Nagoya Women's Marathon . The weather is looking pretty good, 6˚ at the start rising to 10˚ by the finish and sunny skies, but a moderate 7 m/s NW wind means a headwind finish that might impact the potential for some fast times. Official streaming kicks off at 9:00 a.m. local time. Live results will be here . Sheila Chepkirui won last year in 2:20:40, breaking away from Sayaka Sato and Eunice Chebichii Chumba at 30 km and hanging on for the win. Sato negative split a 2:20:59 PB for 2nd, Chumba fading to 3rd in 2:21:36. All 3 are back this time, but they have pretty serious competition from Aynalem Desta , 2:17:37 in Amsterdam last fall, and Selly Chepyego Kaptich , 2:20:03 in Barcelona 2023. And of course, Japanese NR holder Honami Maeda . Maeda ran 2:18:59 at the Osaka International Women's Marathon in 2024 to make the Paris Oly...
Post a Comment
Read more

Chepkirui Over Sato Again to Win 2nd-Straight Nagoya Women's Marathon, Chen Breaks Malaysian NR (updated)

This year's Nagoya Women's Marathon felt like a changing of the guard, with some the bigger domestic names over the last few years fading early and a lot of newer faces stepping up with quality debuts or second marathons. The front group was set to be paced for 2:20 flat with the 2nd group at 2:23:30 to hit the auto-qualifying time for the 2027 MGC Race, Japan's L.A. Olympics marathon trials race in Nagoya. Up front things went out OK, but after a 33:10 split at 10 km Ayuko Suzuki , 2:21:22 here 2 years ago, lost touch, ultimately finishing 23rd in 2:33:28. Windy conditions started to play with pacers' ability to keep things steady and the pace slowed majorly over the next 10 km, but even with a 34:05 second 10 km there were big-name casualties. 2024 Nagoya winner Yuka Ando was next to drop, ending up 17th in 2:30:32. NR holder Honami Maeda was next, followed quickly by Bahraini Kenyan Eunice Chumba and debuting Wakana Kabasawa . Maeda faded to 21st in 2:31:21, whil...
2 comments
Read more

How it Happened

Ancient History I went to Wesleyan University, where the legend of four-time Boston Marathon champ and Wes alum Bill Rodgers hung heavy over the cross-country team. Inspired by Koichi Morishita and Young-Cho Hwang’s duel at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics I ran my first marathon in 1993, qualifying for Boston ’94 where Bill was kind enough to sign a star-struck 20-year-old me’s bib number at the expo. Three years later I moved to Japan for grad school, and through a long string of coincidences I came across a teenaged kid named Yuki Kawauchi down at my neighborhood track. I never imagined he’d become what he is, but right from the start there was just something different about him. After his 2:08:37 breakthrough at the 2011 Tokyo Marathon he called me up and asked me to help him get into races abroad. He’d finished 3rd on the brutal downhill Sixth Stage at the Hakone Ekiden, and given how he’d run the hills in the last 6 km at Tokyo ’11 I thought he’d do well at Boston or New York. “I...
53 comments
Read more