MGC Race Olympic Marathon Trials Qualifier

MGC Race Olympic Marathon Trials Qualifier - Yuta Shitara

Yuta Shitara

age: 27
sponsor: Honda
graduated from: Musashi Ogose H.S., Toyo University

best time inside MGC window:
2:06:11, 2nd, 2018 Tokyo Marathon (NR)

PB: 2:06:11, 2nd, 2018 Tokyo Marathon (NR)

other PBs:
5000 m: 13:34.68 (2015) 10000 m: 27:41.97 (2017) half marathon: 1:00:17 (NR, 2017)

marathons inside MGC window (Aug. 1 2017 – April 30 2019)
1st, 2019 Gold Coast Marathon, 2:07:50
4th, 2018 Fukuoka International Marathon, 2:10:25
2nd, 2018 Tokyo Marathon, 2:06:11 (NR)
6th, 2017 Berlin Marathon, 2:09:03

other major results:
10th, 2019 HDC Abashiri 10000 m, 28:17.38
8th, 2019 National Championships 5000 m, 13:47.31
1st, 2019 Golden Games in Nobeoka 10000 m, 27:53.67
5th, 2019 Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon, 1:01:36
5th, 2019 Kanakuri Memorial Meet 5000 m, 13:35.70
4th, 2018 Ageo City Half Marathon, 1:01:59
1st, 2018 East Japan Corporate Ekiden Seventh Stage (12.9 km), 37:42 – CR
1st, 2018 Karatsu 10-Miler, 46:12
2nd, 2018 Marugame Half Marathon, 1:01:13
1st, 2017 Kumamoto Kosa 10-Miler, 45:58
8th, 2017 Usti nad Labem Half Marathon, 1:00:17 – NR
11th, 2017 Tokyo Marathon, 2:09:27
7th, 2017 Marugame Half Marathon, 1:01:19
29th, 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olymipcs 10000 m, 28:55.23
3rd, 2016 National Championships 10000 m, 28:17.51
23rd, 2015 Beijing World Championships 10000 m, 30:08.35
2nd, 2015 National Championships 10000 m, 28:31.32
1st, 2014 Hakone Ekiden Third Stage (21.5 km), 1:02:13
1st, 2013 Hakone Ekiden Third Stage (21.5 km), 1:04:36
14th, 2012 NYC Half Marathon, 1:01:48
1st, 2012 Hakone Ekiden Seventh Stage (21.3 km), 1:02:32 – CR

If there’s one person who’s going to decide whether the MGC Race is the best marathon of 2019 or the most tedious it’s Shitara. That seems to be the general consensus, and Shitara himself, a former Hakone Ekiden star, former marathon national record holder, and current half marathon national record holder, has pretty much said as much.

After breaking one of Yuki Sato’s three Hakone stage records and outkicking Dathan Ritzenhein at the 2012 NYC Half as a relatively unknown second-year at Toyo University Shitara won the almost legendary 2013 Hakone Ekiden Third Stage over three of his main rivals at the MGC Race, Suguru Osako, Shogo Nakamura and Hiroto Inoue. Going on to the Honda corporate team he has dominated the New Year Ekiden’s marathoner-oriented long stage ever since.

Moving on to the marathon, following his own instincts about training he ran two ambitious marathons, in both of which he went out hard only to fade to a 2:09. In his third time around he got it right, breaking Toshinari Takaoka’s ancient national record with a 2:06:11 and earning over a million dollars U.S for it.

He discovered post-race that he’d been running on a stress fracture, and the recovery from that took longer than planned. In Fukuoka last year he wasn’t fully fit, running only 2:10:25, and he missed the New Year Ekiden and some other races right after that when he came down with the flu. The spring season went well at everything from 5000 m to half marathon, and when he ran July’s Gold Coast Marathon he busted out a fast-closing 2:07:50 to become the second Japanese man ever to win a marathon outside Japan sub-2:08 and the third after Takaoka and Osako to go sub-2:08 twice in his career.

Right after the race Shitara was talking big, saying about the MGC Race “I’m going to win. If we did it right now I’d still win.” A few days later he said, “I’ll be looking to run fast at the MGC Race no matter what the conditions. If you win it in 2:14 or 2:15 you’ll never be competitive at the Olympics. I want to crush it. If this were the Olympics then I realize you’d have to be a bit careful about tactics, but it’s just a race against a bunch of Japanese guys. Running conservatively would be pretty boring.”

So there you go. He couldn't say it any more clearly. If Shitara goes out in character then others, especially Osako, will follow him. If he doesn’t for whatever reason then it’s hard to see any of the other top-tier guys taking the reins. Can he really turn it back around after his Gold Coast run? He ran pretty well in a track 10000 m two weeks later, but that’s the million dollar question for sure.

Next profile: Suguru Osako (Nike Oregon Project).

© 2019 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

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