by Brett Larner 2008 Kumanichi 30 km winner Masaki Shimoju (Team Konica Minolta) continues to edge upward in distance, taking a win at the 48th Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon on Feb. 14. Traditionally a development race for younger runners, this year Nobeoka stayed in character as first-timers took 7 of the top 10 places with relatively inexperienced men clocking PBs for the top 3 spots. Shimoju ran the first 30 km tight in the first pack. When pacemaker Tomoyuki Sato (Team Asahi Kasei) dropped out at 30 km after maintaining a steady pace of 3:07/km there were still six men in the lead pack. Shimoju immediately went into the lead, but it wasn't that he picked up the pace so much as that everyone else fell away. First-timer Norihiro Nomiya (Team Toyota) initially went with him but by 40 km was a minute behind. Shimoju finished hard to win easily in a new PB of 2:12:18 with a 1:34 margin of victory. Nomiya fell to 4th, the top debutant in 2:14:36. Nomiya was overtaken by Fumiyuki Wat...
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