Skip to main content

Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon Elite Field (updated)


With just over 2 weeks to go the Feb. 2 Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon has finally announced its elite field. It looks pretty good at the front end at first glance, but #1-ranked Vincent Kipchumba hasn't finished a marathon since his 2:04:28 best in London 4 years ago and has only run one race, a 29:05 10 km in 2023. #2-ranked Kiyoto Hirabayashi of Koku Gakuin University, winner in Osaka last year in a collegiate and debut record 2:06:18, is very unlikely to actually start, and #3-ranked Yohanes Ghebregergis likewise hasn't run a marathon since his 2:06:28 best in 2021 and only a single half marathon, 1:02:15 last spring, since then.

So, that leaves a pretty tasty matchup between 2021 Tokyo Olympics alternate Shohei Otsuka, 2:06:57, last year's winner Derese Workneh, 2:07:58 in his Beppu-Oita victory, and Tesfahun Akalnew, 2:07:59. Another 5 people are at the 2:08 level, and then there are a truckload of 1:01 half marathoners taking a shot at the marathon distance. Runners from this year's Hakone Ekiden champion Aoyama Gakuin University have had a big impact at Beppu-Oita over the last few years, and on the entry list are 3 members of this year's lineup, Fifth Stage CR breaker Hiroki Wakabayashi, Eighth Stage winner Shota Shiode, and Seventh Stage runner Kosei Shiraishi.

Koku Gakuin's Fifth Stage runner Goki Takayama is also in the field. Also making a debut is former 10000 m NR holder Kota Murayama, who has said he will retire after the race no matter how well he runs. His twin brother Kenta Murayama, also a sub-61 half marathoner, will be running it with him.

Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon

Elite Field Highlights
Oita, 2 Feb. 2025
times listed are athletes' best in last 3 years except where noted

Vincent Kipchumba (Kenya) - 2:04:28 (London 2021)
Kiyoto Hirabayashi (Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 2:06:18 (Osaka 2024)
Yohanes Ghebregergis (Eritrea) - 2:06:28 (Siena 2021) - scratch
Shohei Otsuka (Kyudenko) - 2:06:57 (Osaka 2023)
Derese Workneh (Ethiopia/Hiramatsu Byoin) - 2:07:58 (Beppu-Oita 2024)
Tesfahun Akalnew (Ethiopia) - 2:07:59 (Sevilla 2023)
Dominic Nyairo (Kenya) - 2:08:13 (Tokyo 2023)
Ryo Osaki (Komori Corp.) - 2:08:30 (Osaka 2023)
Daiji Kawai (Toenec) - 2:08:31 (Tokyo 2022)
Atsumi Ashiwa (Honda) - 2:08:37 (Hofu 2023)
Hironori Kishimoto (GMO) - 2:08:38 (Beppu-Oita 2024) - scratch
Madoka Tanihara (Osaka Police) - 2:09:39 (Osaka 2024)
Chihiro Ono (GMO) - 2:10:15 (Osaka 2023)
Yuki Muta (Logisteed) - 2:10:28 (Beppu-Oita 2024)
Masaki Tsuda (Nishitetsu) - 2:10:40 (Beppu-Oita 2023)
Takashi Soma (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 2:10:46 (Nobeoka 2024)
Ryu Takaku (Yakult) - 2:10:52 (Osaka 2024)
Keijiro Mogi (Asahi Kasei) - 2:11:25 (Osaka 2024)
Kenta Murayama (Asahi Kasei) - 2:11:26 (Nobeoka 2023)
Ryota Ejima (Mitsubishi Juko) - 2:11:27 (Nobeoka 2023)
Yoshihiro Maeda (Kurosaki Harima) - 2:12:05 (Osaka 2024)
Ryan Gregson (Australia) - 2:13:31 (Melbourne 2024)

Debut
Kota Murayama (GMO) - 1:00:59 (National Corporate Half 2022)
Hiroki Wakabayashi (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:01:25 (Marugame Half 2023)
Evans Kipkemei (Kenya/JFE Steel) - 1:01:33 (Berlin Half 2022)
Goki Takayama (Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 1:01:42 (Marugame Half 2023)
Kyosuke Mafune (Subaru) - 1:01:53 (National Corporate Half 2024)
Shota Shiode (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:01:54 (Marugame Half 2024) - scratch
Kaede Shinohara (Fujisan no Meisui) - 1:02:17 (Marugame Half 2024)
Kazumoto Iwasa (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 1:02:30 (National Corporate Half 2024)
Takato Suzuki (GMO) - 1:02:58 (National Corporate Half 2024)
Kosei Shiraishi (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:03:05 (National University Half 2024)

© 2025 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Tokyo Olympics Marathon Trials Winner Nakamura Enters Waseda Grad School

An Olympian in the marathon at the Tokyo Olympics, Shogo Nakamura (Fujitsu) announced on his social media that he has entered Waseda University 's Graduate School of Sport Science with the start of the new academic year this week. A graduate of Mie's Ueno Kogyo H.S. , Nakamura went to Komazawa University before joining Fujitsu in 2015. His senior year of high school he was 3rd overall and 2nd Japanese in the 5000 m at the National High School Track and Field Championships, and in the fall the same year he ran what was at the time the 7th-fastest high school mark ever, 13:50.38. At Komazawa he scored four individual stage wins across the three big university ekidens. In 2019 he won the MGC Race, Japan's marathon trials for the Tokyo Olympics, where he was 62nd in 2:22:23. Nakamura indicated that he would be studying "top sports management" under professor Takeo Hirata . "I'll be balancing competition and academics," Nakamura wrote. "I'm r...

Weekend Road and Track Roundup

A roundup of the main road and track action on the last weekend of Japan's 2024-25 academic and fiscal year: Doubling off a 2:07:06 PB at the Tokyo Marathon 4 weeks ago, Tatsuya Maruyama took bronze at the Asian Marathon Championships in Jiaxing, China in 2:11:56. Gold went to North Korea's Il Ryong Han in a breakaway 2:11:18, with silver medalist Tianyu Chen of China just ahead of Maruyama in 2:11:50. Japan's Shungo Yokota was a distant 4th in 2:14:00, with Japan-based Mongolian NR holder Ser-Od Bat-Ochir 6th in 2:15:14. Japanese women Kaede Kawamura and Natsumi Matsushita were 5th and 6th in 2:31:26 and 2:34:40, with medals going to China's Bing Wu , gold in 2:26:01, North Korea's Kwang-Ok Ri , silver right behind her in 2:26:07, and defending gold medalist Khishigsaikhan Galbadrakh landing in bronze this time in 2:28:56, her third sub-2:29 performance so far in 2025. Back home, four men broke 2:20 at the Fukui Sakura Marathon . Ko Kobayashi from the Shi...

Japan Names Marathon Teams for Tokyo World Championships

On Mar. 26 the JAAF named its women's and men's marathon teams for September's Tokyo World Championships. On the women's side the team has veterans Sayaka Sato and Yuka Ando off the strength of a runner-up finish for Sato in Nagoya this year and a win in Nagoya last year by Ando, and newcomer Kana Kobayashi , 23, who has risen quickly from being a fun runner at Waseda University last year to a 2nd-place finish in Osaka Women's this year. Paris Olympics 6th-placer Yuka Suzuki was named alternate after finishing 3rd behind Kobayashi in Osaka Women's. On the men's side the team is led by last year's Fukuoka International Marathon CR breaker Yuya Yoshida and this year's Osaka runner-up Ryota Kondo . The 3rd spot on the team is reserved for JMC Series winner Naoki Koyama , who hasn't cleared the 2:06:30 World Championships qualifying standard and has to wait for the May 4 qualifying deadline for confirmation that the 1184 points he has in the Roa...