Nishiyama Runs World-Leading 2:07:47 CR to Win Debut at Beppu-Oita Marathon

A few years back the Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon reworked its course to try to minimize the headwinds for which it's famous. In its 70th running today that paid off more than ever before, with 25~30 kph winds from the northwest keeping things controlled in the first 10 km and then giving enough of a boost to the pace from there to 35 km to help put the top two under the course record of 2:08:01.

Straight into the wind over the first 10 km the race went out reasonably, 2:08:16 pace through 5 km and 2:08:37 pace through 10 km. But after rounding the 10 km turnaround and picking up the tailwind things got faster, a sub-15 split over the next 5 km taking the projected finish time to mid-2:07 and going down as far as 2:07:12 before the last pacers stepped off at 30 km.

At that point there were still over a dozen people left in the lead group, most of them debuting or doing a first serious marathon and only a few experienced athletes like #1-ranked Shuho Dairokuno (Asahi Kasei) and Hiroto Fujimagari (Toyota Kyushu) still in it. But instead of slowing down they took advantage of the last 5 km of tailwind left before the 35 km turnaround. A series of people, Dairokuno, Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Asahi Kasei), Riki Nakanishi (Toenec), and Fujimagari, threw in surges before the turnaround that kept things on sub-2:08 pace and killed off the competition one or two at a time.

At 35 km the debuting Kiyoshi Koga (Yasukawa Denki), the fastest half-marathoner in the field at 1:00:49, put in the race-making move into the wind, opening a gap that initially widened to about 10 seconds. Yoroizaka, a track specialist making his real marathon debut after two training run-effort races overseas, and first-timer Yusuke Nishiyama (Toyota), the next-fastest half marathoner at 1:00:55, worked together to close it, and just before 40 km they did.

All three hit 40 km in 2:01:06, on track for 2:07:45. They could have backed off and left it for a sprint on the track at the end, but within a few hundred meters Nishiyama attacked, dropping Koga in a second and edging away from Yoroizaka. Nishiyama ran alone the rest of the way to break the tape in a world-leading 2:07:47, 14 seconds below the old course record, 6 seconds under the JAAF's 2:07:53 standard for its Oregon World Championships squad, and just 5 seconds away from the debut marathon national record. Yoroizaka also made it under the old CR in 2:07:55, a PB by almost 17 minutes but missing the Oregon standard by 2 seconds. Koga faded after getting dropped and was caught by Fujimagari, who took 10 seconds off his best for 3rd in 2:08:20, Koga next in a quality 2:08:30 debut.

All four met the criteria for qualifying for the 2024 Olympic marathon trials, and joining then inside the ring were 5th and 6th-placers Naoki Aiba (Chudenko) and Riki Nakanishi (Toenec), Aiba in a nearly 30-minute PB of 2:08:44 and Nakanishi in a debut 2:08:51. Sub-62 half marathoner Akira Akasaki (Kyudenko) was the unlucky fastest man not to qualify for the trials, but for a debut marathon there was no shame in his 2:09:17 for 7th. Likewise for 8th-placer Takeru Yamaguchi (Nishitetsu), who debuted in 2:09:56. Experienced marathoners Shogo Kanezane (Chugoku Denryoku) and Dairokuno took 9th and 10th, Kanezane just missing sub-2:10 with a 2:10:02 PB and Dairokuno 3 minutes off his best in 2:10:11 but still bettering his time from December's Fukuoka International Marathon by over 3 minutes.

All told, as expected this was really a race about the new blood, with first-timers taking 5 of the top 8 spots and only one experienced marathoner, Fujimagari, making it into the top 8. And everyone in the top 10 who wasn't debuting ran a PB except Dairokuno. And in the men's blind marathon, Shinya Wada (Nagase Sangyo) took 5:42 off the T11 class world record with a 2:26:17 for the win. It's safe to say that the race management's decision to rework the course to have the middle 25 km with probable tailwinds while still being well inside record-legal standards finally paid off.

Women were almost entirely eliminated from the field two weeks before the race when the organizers limited it to people with sub-2:30 times, IPC runners, and locals in order to cope with the omicron situation. That left Tokyo Paralympics blind marathon gold medalist Misato Michishita (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) in the top spot. Like in the men's marathon Michishita took advantage of having 25 km of nonstop tailwind to be more than a minute ahead of pace to break her own world record at the 35 km turnaround point. But while Nishiyama and the others were able to race each other through the headwind over the final 7 km, Michishita faded majorly, winning in 2:57:20 just over 3 minutes behind her WR. Local Noriko Uchida was the top open division woman in 3:02:26.

Despite tougher standards than for the 2020 Olympic trials, after just three qualifying races 11 Japanese men have already qualified for the 2024 trials by either running sub-2:08, making the top 3 and going sub-2:10, or making 4th-6th and going sub-2:09. With only qualifying race so far 6 women have made the grade, over half the total number who ran the 2020 trials. They say that if you set the bar higher the athletes will respond. So far so good. If Osaka, Tokyo and Nagoya happen expect those numbers to go way up.

70th Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon

Oita, 6 Feb. 2022

Men

1. Yusuke Nishiyama (Toyota) - 2:07:47 - WL, CR, debut

2. Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Asahi Kasei) - 2:07:55 - PB

3. Hiroto Fujimagari (Toyota Kyushu) - 2:08:20 - PB

4. Kiyoshi Koga (Yasukawa Denki) - 2:08:30 - debut

5. Naoki Aiba (Chudenko) - 2:08:44 - 2:08:44 - PB

6. Riki Nakanishi (Toenec) - 2:08:51 - debut

7. Akira Akasaki (Kyudenko) - 2:09:17 - debut

8. Takeru Yamaguchi (Nishitetsu) - 2:09:56 - debut

9. Shogo Kanezane (Chugoku Denryoku) - 2:10:02 - PB

10. Shuho Dairokuno (Asahi Kasei) - 2:10:11

11. Ryo Hashimoto (GMO) - 2:11:21

12. Shogo Ise (Konica Minolta) - 2:11:32 - debut

13. Hisanori Kitajima (Yasukawa Denki) - 2:12:01

14. Taiki Miyasaka (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 2:12:09 - debut

15. Yuta Koyama (Toenec) - 2:12:28

16. Shungo Yokota (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 2:12:41 - debut

17. Takuya Fujikawa (Chugoku Denryoku) - 2:14:26

18. Tadashi Suzuki (Suzuki) - 2:14:32

19. Ryota Ejima (Mitsubishi Juko) - 2:14:52 - debut

20. Noriaki Oyama (Konica Minolta) - 2:15:11 - debut

21. Hiroki Kai (Johhoku Caballo) - 2:15:17

22. Ryo Nishikubo (Aoyama Gakuin  Univ.) - 2:15:46 - debut

23. Taiki Yoshimura (Asahi Kasei) - 2:15:58

24. Ryuji Kawakita - 2:16:33

25. Kiyohiro Watanabe (ND Software) - 2:16:36

26. Haruaki Kojima (Toyota Boshoku) - 2:17:36 - PB

27. Reo Kuniyuki (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 2:18:03 - debut

28. Kei Harashima (Chuo Hatsujo) - 2:18:33 - debut

29. Tomohiro Ozawa (Tokyo City Hall) - 2:19:21 - PB

30. Kota Sugiho (Suzuki) - 2:19:39 - debut

31. Keisuke Arima (Mazda) - debut

32. Tomohiro Tanigawa (Konica Minolta) - 2:19:57

33. Takayuki Iida (Aoyama Gakun Univ.) - 2:20:13 - debut

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Shinya Wada (Nagase Sangyo) - 2:26:17 - T11 WR

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DNF - Workneh Derese (Ethiopia/Hiramatsu Byoin)

DNF - Tsubasa Ichiyama (Komori Corp.)

DNF - Yuichi Okutani (Otsuka Seiyaku)

DNF - Chihiro Ono (Asahi Kasei)

Women

1. Misato Michishita (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 2:57:20

2. Noriko Uchida (unattached) - 3:02:26

3. Nami Fujinami (unattached) - 3:03:49

© 2022 Brett Larner, all rights reserved