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Masresha Over Yoshida and Kuroda at Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon


The Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon was a strictly amateur race on the women's side, Chika Yokota running a 2:43:45 PB for the win. But with 6 spots at the L.A. Olympics marathon trials on the line all the Japanese men were obsessed over getting their places reserved early. 2 first-half falls knocked Ethiopian Abe Gashahun and 2024 Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon winner Yota Ifuku out of the race, but the rest of the field rolled on steadily just under 3:00/km.

The pace crew took them to 30 km in 1:29:45, 2:06:15 pace, and at that point there were still 20 in it including the home soil favorites Yuya Yoshida and Asahi Kuroda. Inside the last 10 km Ethiopian Getachew Masresha went to the front, followed initially by the debuting Takato Suzuki but let go by the rest of the pack. Once Masresha was about 10 seconds ahead Kuroda, the collegiate record holder and CR breaker on the Hakone Ekiden's legendary uphill Fifth Stage a month ago, picked it up in pursuit. After Kuroda ran down Suzuki the chase group shook down to just 5, Kuroda and Yoshida with support from Sota Fukutani, Kiyoshi Koga and the debuting Itta Tameike from Chuo University.

The group worked together to try to cut down Masresha's lead as the kilometers went by, but as they dropped off one by one the gap stayed the same, hovering between 10 and 15 km. Over the last 5 km it was down to just Kuroda and Yoshida, who pulled a bastard move at the 40 km and attacked hard while the less-experienced Kuroda had his head back taking a drink. Kuroda tried to close it up again, but when he got close Yoshida dropped him for good.

Masresha was out of range, though, and took the win with his first sub-2:07 in 2:06:49. Unable to close the gap, Yoshida just squeezed under in 2:06:59 for 2nd, Kuroda narrowly missing in 2:07:03 for 3rd. Fukutani and Koga both ran 2:07 PBs for the first time, but in between them veteran Hiroto Inoue came up for 5th. Tameike was in obvious pain on the last lap of the track but gutted out a 2:07:59 to take the last Olympic trials qualifying spot, a very solid debut that backed up his 1:00:23 half marathon equivalent on Hakone's Second Stage.

Kento Kikutani was the unlucky 7th Japanese finisher, missing out on a Trials spot in 2:08:17 for 9th overall. Tameike's teammate Hinata Shirakawa, 1:01:34 for the half, was 10th in 2:08:48 in his debut, with the next 5 men including Suzuki going sub-2:10, 4 of them for the first time. With his Tokyo Olympics marathon teammate Shogo Nakamura having just announced his retirement, Yuma Hattori struggled to recatch the magic, finishing 31st in 2:14:38.

74th Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon

Oita, 1 Feb. 2026

Men
1. Getachew Masresha (Ethiopia) - 2:06:49 - PB
2. Yuya Yoshida (GMO) - 2:06:59
3. Asahi Kuroda (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 2:07:03
4. Sota Fukutani (Kurosaki Harima) - 2:07:11 - PB
5. Hiroto Inoue (Mitsubishi Juko) - 2:07:36
6. Kiyoshi Koga (Yasukawa Denki) - 2:07:46 - PB
7. Itta Tameike (Chuo Univ.) - 2:07:59 - debut
8. Mohamed Reda El Aaraby (Morocco) - 2:08:01
9. Kento Kikutani (Toyota Boshoku) - 2:08:17
10. Hinata Shirakawa (Chuo Univ.) - 2:08:48 - debut
11. Hiroshi Ichida (Logisteed) - 2:09:10 - PB
12. Mizuki Higashi (Aisan Kogyo) - 2:09:29
13. Daiki Hattori (Toyota Boshoku) - 2:09:31 - debut
14. Takanori Ogata (Toyota Boshoku) - 2:09:49 - PB
15. Takato Suzuki (GMO) - 2:09:57 - debut
16. Shota Nishimura (Aichi Seiko) - 2:10:12 - debut
17. Kazuma Ohata (Yasukawa Denki) - 2:11:08 - PB
18. Yudai Fukuda (Runners Connect) - 2:11:16 - PB
19. Kyosuke Hiramatsu (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 2:11:31 - debut
20. Ryoto Yoshioka (Mitsubishi Juko) - 2:11:36 - debut
21. Seon Nakazawa (Nihon Univ.) - 2:11:50 - debut
22. Asuka Tanaka (Runlife) - 2:12:13
23. Keijiro Mogi (Asahi Kasei) - 2:12:17
24. Chihiro Ono (GMO) - 2:12:18
25. Takeshi Yamaguchi (Suzuki) - 2:12:41 - debut
-----
31. Yuma Hattori (Toyota) - 2:14:38
-----
DNF - Abe Gashahun (Ethiopia)
DNF - Yota Ifuku (Sumitomo Denko)

Women
1. Chika Yokota - 2:43:45 - PB
2. Mai Arizuka - 2:46:39
3. Aoi Makara - 2:47:34
4. Asami Furuse - 2:47:51
5. Mizuho Uekado - 2:48:54 - PB

© 2026 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

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Comments

Anonymous said…
Goood article
February 1, 2026 at 9:28 PM
Anonymous said…
I had really high expectations until the day before the race when I read Kuroda saying he felt in very poor conditions after peaking for Hakone and not training properly in January. (The way it was phrased from the translation it sounded like if he could decline running he would but he went throught to secure the qualifying spot) Then I understood it woudln't be a super fast Beppu debut for him.

I couldn't watch the race so thanks for your article that summed it up really well. I think it was good seeing a few runners run their PBs and a good level despite the windy conditions, I think Itta Tameike had a very good marathon debut.

Hope these college guys get some rest in and see them in a few months.
February 2, 2026 at 1:18 AM
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