by Brett Larner With favorite Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) operating at less than 100% due to injury and illness last month and his rival Tomoya Adachi (Team Asahi Kasei) a late scratch after coming down with a bad fever just before the race Sunday's Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon was wide open for its 53rd running. 18 men including Kawauchi went through halfway in 1:04:57, on track for a shot at the 2:11:05 course record, before the field began to thin. Born just three days apart and both making their marathon debuts at age 30, Hisanori Kitajima (Team Yasukawa Denki) and Norikazu Kato (Team Yakult) emerged to break away together, running side by side until nearly 35 km before Kitajima, braving 30 km/hr headwinds, broke free to take the win in 2:12:28. Kato faded more than a minute off Kitajima's pace to take 2nd in 2:13:34, just holding off 23-year old Hiroki Yamagishi (Team Hitachi Butsuryu) who was another 20 seconds back in 3rd. For the first time i...
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