Satoshi Irifune wins the 2005 Beppu-Oita Marathon (© Kazutaka Eguchi)
Satoshi Irifune, the fastest 10,000m runner in the field, with a time of 2:09:58 won the 54th Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon in Japan which was held today.
It was long awaited marathon glory for Irifune - “It was my fifth marathon and I was finally being able to guts it out to the end of the marathon,” said Irifune after the race.
The race started under a cloudy sky, with a strong wind. The lead pack consisted of eight runners was led by two designated pace makers – Gert Thys and Armando Quintanilla, while the bigger second pack was led by another set of pace makers - Abdullah Bay and Osamu Nara. 2:07 marathon runner Yoshiteru Morishita stayed back in the second pack early on as he had planned, while the Kenyan favourites were out of the picture early - Fred Kiprop dropped out early at 5Km, while Boaz Kimaiyo only lasted another 5Km, losing contact with the second pack just after they passed the 10Km aid station.
After passing 5Km in 15:11, at 6Km into the race, Akira Shimizu, who won this race seven years ago, lost the contact with the lead pack, and so very early on there only seven runners – Satoshi Irifune, Kenta Oshima, Tadayuki Ojima, Teruto Ozaki, Nobuhiko Chiba and two pace setters, Gert Thys and Armando Quintanilla – dictating the pace. This pack of leaders went through 10Km in 30:03, 15Km in 45:17, 20Km in 1:00:28 and the Half Marathon in 1:03:51. It was then that things started to happen. First at 23Km, Quintanilla, one of the pace setter, left the race. A kilometre later, Chiba was gone, and he was followed by Ozaki another kilometre later. By 25Km (1:15:42), all the pretenders, except Gert Thys the pace setter, were gone from the lead pack. Then at 26Km, Ojima, started to lose contact with the leader at 26Km.
At 30Km (1:30:49), Thys finished his duty as a pace setter, which left just two runners – Oshima and Irifune – in front to duel it out. “I was not sure if I could win, but I wanted to run with my own rhythm, so I took the lead,” said Irifune, who shook off marathon debutante Oshima just one kilometre later. “The Head wind was strong, so I tried my best to keep up my pace.”
As Irifune ran alone in front and Oshima dropped further and further back, three runners – Scott Westcott of Australia, Yoshiteru Morishita and Tomonori Onitsuka - moved out of the second pack to chase the leaders. Meanwhile Oshima was passed by Ojima at 36.6Km, and by Morishita and Westcott 400m later. Oshima, had ‘hit the wall’ and soon dropped out, while Westcott and Morishita continued to press the pace and passed Ojima at 38.1Km to move into second and third places respectively.
“I knew I was slowing down at the end,” recalled Irifune. Indeed he was slowing down, taking 3:14 for 38Km to 39Km and 3:22 for 40Km to 41Km. However, Irifune still took a convincing win of the 2005 Beppu-Oita Marathon in 2:09:58.
It was a personal best by more than a minute. “I was finally able to run a decent marathon,” said Irifune, who must wait until mid-March after the upcoming Tokyo and Lake Biwa marathons to see if he has booked a trip to the World Championships in Helsinki.
Ken Nakamura for the IAAF
with assistance from Akihiro Onishi
Results: JPN unless otherwise noted
Weather: Cloudy, temperature 8.1C, humidity 43%, wind 3.8m/s
1) Satoshi Irifune 2:09:58
(15:12, 30:03, 45:17, 1:0028, 1:15:43, 1:30:49, 1:46:28, 2:02:39)
2) Scott Westcott (AUS) 2:11:36
(15:32, 30:29, 45:53, 1:01:13, 1:16:45, 1:32:24, 1:48:33, 2:04:27)
3) Yoshiteru Morishita 2:11:48
4) Tomonori Onitsuka 2:12:48
5) Sisay Bezabeh (AUS) 2:13:14
6) Masaki Iwahara 2:13:16
7) Tadayuki Ojima 2:13:26
8) Kazutaka Enoki 2:13:34
9) Lahoussine Mrikik (MAR) 2:14:18
10) Adam Dobrzunski (POL) 2:14:45
