Japan's most obscure elite-level marathon, the Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon has announced its elite field for its 57th running on Feb. 10. Generally a developmental-level race with winning times in the 2:11 to 2:13 range, Nobeoka serves as a springboard for early career marathoners to move on to bigger things. Which hasn't stopped local Ryoichi Matsuo (Asahi kasei) from making it an annual event on his calendar, with wins in 2016 and 2017 and 2nd-place in an exciting sprint finish last year. Matsuo is back again this year to try to become only the second man in the race's history to win it three times.
His main competition is Josai University ekiden team assistant coach Shingo Igarashi, 2nd in Osaka last fall and racing Nobeoka after training run efforts at the Xiamen and Dubai marathons in January. With a 2:15:02 best in Tokyo two years ago Takuma Shibata (Komori Corp.) should also factor in. The most interesting first-timer is Masamichi Yasuda (Aichi Seiko), a solid half marathoner with a 1:02:39 at last year's Osaka Half, while despite only running 2:24:32 in his debut in Beppu-Oita last year Wataru Tochigi (Hitachi Butsuryu) has the highest potential for the kind of breakthrough that makes Nobeoka what it is.
57th Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon Elite Field
Nobeoka, Miyazaki, 2/10/19complete field listing
times listed are best in last 3 years except where noted
Ryoichi Matsuo (Asahi Kasei) - 2:12:19 (Noboeka 2018)
Shingo Igarashi (Josai Univ. Staff) - 2:14:19 (Osaka 2018)
Takuma Shibata (Komori Corp.) - 2:15:02 (Tokyo 2017)
Yuichi Yasui (Toyota) - 2:18:09 (Tokyo 2016)
Rei Omori (Fujitsu) - 2:18:11 (Tokyo 2018)
Kazuki Nakashima (Asahi Kasei) - 2:18:41 (Nobeoka 2018)
Takahiro Gunji (Komori Corp.) - 2:19:03 (Paris 2017)
Hiroki Sugawa (Sunbelx) - 2:24:14 (Gold Coast 2014)
Wataru Tochigi (Hitachi Butsuryu) - 2:24:32 (Beppu-Oita 2018)
Debut
Masamichi Yasuda (Aichi Seiko) - 1:02:39 (Osaka Half 2018)
Nobuyuki Matsumoto (Aisan Kogyo) - 1:02:52 (National Corporate Half 2015)
Kokoro Watanabe (Chugoku Denryoku) - 1:03:07 (National University Half 2015)
Kazuki Noda (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 28:59.66 (track 10000 m)
© 2019 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
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