Abera wins 55th Fukuoka Marathon in sprint finish, as Takaoka finishes third in debut

Abera wins 55th Fukuoka Marathon in sprint finish, as Takaoka finishes third in debut
K. Ken Nakamura for the IAAF
2 December 2001 - The reigning Olympic and World Champion Gezehegne Abera won the 55th annual Fukuoka Marathon in 2:09:25.   Although the anticipated showdown between Abera and the Edmonton silver medallist Simon Biwott never materialized, it was still an exciting and close race to the finish. 

As in Edmonton and also in Fukuoka two years ago, Abera disposed of his final challenger on the track, in the final 200m of the race.  Koji Shimizu, who finished seventh in the 1999 World Championships marathon in Sevilla was the final challenger in Fukuoka.  After the race, Shimizu, who finished three seconds back, told Tatsuo Terada, “I knew I was going to lose the sprint to the tape against Abera or Takaoka, so I tried to get away from them, but my legs did not respond.”  The debutante Toshinari Takaoka, national 3000m/5000m/10000m record holder finished third in 2:09:41. 

The temperature at the start was 15.9C, however, unfortunately, it kept on climbing during the race.  It was warm for spectators, it must have been too warm for the runners.  Undaunted by the warmer than ideal temperature, the pace setters started fast as promised, which guaranteed that it would be a race of attrition.  Unconfirmed report was that the pacesetters would try to run approximately 3 minutes per Km, and they did that for the first half of the race.  The large pack of approximately 30 runners lead by Luis Jesus of Portugal and Armando Quintanilla of Mexico passed 5Km in 15:07.  Thanks to their excellent pacemaking, the race progressed in even pace of around 15 minutes for each 5Km (30:12, 45:18 and 1:00:14 for 10Km, 15Km, and 20Km respectively).  

A fast time was still possible as the half marathon point was passed in 1:03:35, however, at that point the pace started to slow.  Even with the sluggish pace, Kazuo Ietani, who was sixth with 2:12:37 in the 2000 Tokyo marathon in his debut, lost contact with the leaders before the 24Km point.  After passing 25Km in 1:15:31 (15:17), the first major break was made by Laban Kagika, a Kenyan who has been living in Japan and running for the corporate track team (NKK) for the last four years; Fukuoka was his debut at the marathon distance.  His credentials include victory at the 2000 Sapporo Half marathon in 1:02:16 as well as a fourth place finish in the 2000 Japanese national championships 10000m in 27:57.81.

Kagika opened up a gap on the chase pack of ten runners immediately.  Abera, who said, “I did not know about Kagika, so I waited,” went into the lead, but only momentarily.  It was Koji Shimizu who later said, “Nobody was really chasing Kagika.  Since I thought I cannot let Kagika get away any further, I decided to give him a chase,” who did most of the leading to keep Kagika in sight.

Shimizu ought to know about Kagika, for his team, NTT West Japan track team is based in Hiroshima and competes often against Kagika’s team of NKK.  Two weeks ago, Shimizu ran a 10Km ekiden stage in 29:53.  “Considering that this 10Km course includes 60m elevation gain, Shimizu should be one of the runners to watch in Fukuoka,” reported Tatsuya Yamada.  Kagika continued to lead at 30Km (1:30:51 (15:20)), while the chase pack of ten runners was 14 seconds behind.  

The course turns around at 31:6375Km, at which point Tomonori Watanabe (a 2:09 marathon runner), Muneyuki Ojima (has ran four sub 2:10 marathons) and, surprisingly, Atsushi Sato all fell behind.  Sato who looked so good in the recent ekiden (1:20 ahead of the second runner on a 17.9Km hilly course) told Terada “I felt really good in the first half, however, I still lacked endurance.  I must work on it.”  It was revealed that Sato had problems completing a 30Km training run three weeks ago.  Apparently, Sato was in supreme short distance shape, as attested by his fantastic ekiden run two weeks ago, but was not in marathon shape.

The sluggish pace continued. 35Km were passed in 1:46:26 (15:35 for the last 5Km) with Kagika still in the lead; three runners - Koji Shimizu, Toshinari Takaoka and Gezehegne Abera - were nine seconds behind while Ojima brothers filled the next two spots.  Said Takaoka after the race,  “I might have slowed down even more if the pack had stayed on the 3 minutes per Km pace, but I wish they had.  Unfortunately, I was locked into a slow 15:30 5Km pace.” 

Finally, by 36Km, the chase pack of three runners caught Kagika.  Four runners ran together for the next 2Km, at which point Shimizu and Abera made an attempt to break away.  Kagika was holding on for a while but Takaoka who said, “The last 3-4Km was really tough, but I thought this must be what the marathon is all about,” was falling behind.  Shimizu passed 40Km in 2:02:23 with Abera in tow, while Kagika was three seconds behind and Takaoka was another three seconds back.  All other runners were out of contention. 

As if to test his opposition, Abera attacked at 40.7Km.  However, Shimizu rejoined him at the 41Km aid station.  Abera said after the race, “I thought I might be able to get away at that point, but I could not, so I waited until the final 200m on the track.”  They entered the Heiwadai stadium together for the final 500m.  As in Edmonton, Abera attacked around the final bend on the track.  Shimizu could not respond, and Abera won by three seconds in 2:09:25. 

“Although I could not win the sprint finish, I was the first Japanese, so I satisfied my minimal goal,” said Shimizu after the race. 

Debutante Takaoka worked his way back and finished third in 2:09:41, off the Japanese debut record of 2:08:53 by an Olympic marathon silver medallist Koichi Morishita.  “If I work on my speed in the spring and run the marathon with renewed confidence next winter, then I can improve my record dramatically,” concluded Takaoka. 

That will remain to be seen as he may find his second marathon harder than the first.  John Treacy, who won a silver medal in his first marathon, never repeated such success in his subsequent marathons. 

Weather:  15.9C, 45% humidity, East North East wind of 1.4m/s

JPN unless otherwise designated
1) Gezehegne Abera (ETH)  2:09:25
2) Komi Shimizu  2:09:28
3) Toshinari Takaoka  2:09:41
4) Laban Kagika (KEN)  2:10:24 
5) Dmitri Kapitonov  (RUS)  2:11:20
6) Tadayuki Ojima  2:11:45
7) Toshio Mano  2:11:52
8) Muneyuki Ojima 2:12:15
9) Simon Biwott  (KEN)  2:12:47
10) Daisuke Isomatsu  2:12:48 
11) Atsushi Sato  2:14:41
12) Yasuaki Yamamoto 2:15:35
 

Splits for leader 
5Km     15:07           Luis Jesus              Abera (15:08)
10Km    30:12  (15:05)          Luis Jesus              Abera (30:14)
15Km    45:18  (15:06)          Luis Jesus      Abera (45:19)
20Km    1:00:14 (14:56) Luis Jesus              Abera (1:00:15)
½ Marathon    1:03:35 Luis Jesus      Abera (1:03:36)
25Km    1:15:31  (15:17)        Luis Jesus      Abera (1:15:33)
30Km    1:30:51  (15:20)        Laban Kagika    Abera (1:31:05)
35Km    1:46:26  (15:35)        Laban Kagika    Abera (1:46:35)
40Km    2:02:23  (15:57)        Koji Shimizu    Abera (2:02:24) 
42.195Km  2:09:25 (7:02)        Gezehegne Abera

Other weekend Marathons:

Inaugural Milan Marathon results:

Lisbon Marathon Results