Toshinari Takaoka at the Chicago Marathon (© Getty Images)
This Sunday 7 December will see the 57th edition of the prestigious Fukuoka International Marathon, with a start list which includes an impressive elite field of two 2:06, two 2:07 and three 2:08 runners.
In the late 60’s to the 70’s, before the advent of the World Championships and big city marathons, Fukuoka was considered to be the unofficial world championships. Eight times in history, Track & Field News ranked the winner of the Fukuoka Marathon number one.
Takaoka is the favourite
The main focus of this Sunday’s race is on the Japanese, for the race is one of the qualifying races to determine the Olympic marathon team. The favourite, of course, is Toshinari Takaoka, who set the Asian record at 2:06:16 when finishing third at the 2002 Chicago Marathon.
“Because the race is for the Olympic marathon team, my goal is to win and make the team. Although I have prepared myself to run at 3 minutes/Km pace, I am not thinking about the time,” said Takaoka, who was the Asian record holder for the 5000m and 10,000m.
He has trained four months for the marathon and after two month so heavy mileage he ran the Sapporo Half Marathon, winning in 1:03:37. “After the half marathon, I have shifted my training emphasis from the distance to speed. I ran ekidens as part of speed work out. Because my preparation for the marathon went so well, I cannot wait to race.” Takaoka is confident!
The main challenger to Takaoka is Tsuyoshi Ogata who finished 12th in the World Championships. Ogata who was second to Ethiopian Olympic champion Gezehegne Abera last year, told his local paper, “if I finish ahead of Takaoka, I can go to Athens.”
Two runners Toshinari Suwa and Tomoaki Kunichika, maybe on the verge of a breakthrough at the marathon distance. At the 2002 Lake Biwa marathon Suwa surged away at 25Km and run alone for the next 11Km, finishing fourth in an encouraging 2:09:10. Kunichika has been running well this year. His teammate Katsuhiko Hanada (two-time Olympian at 10,000m) said, “Kunichika’s training has been consistent. He is capable of running with sub 15 minutes pace for each 5Km. He has set a PR at 10,000m (28:05.38) recently, and 2:10 marathon in the Lake Biwa Marathon indicates he is ready. He can run 2:08.”
With the goal of putting their team “Asahi Kasei” back on the running map in Japan, Nobuyuki Sato (1999 Worlds bronze medalist) and Tadayuki Ojima also have a lot of inspiration to run well. Once a dominating force in the marathon (both 1991 World Champion Hiromi Taniguchi and 1992 Olympic silver medallist Koichi Morishita ran for Asahi Kasei), the team failed to send a runner to the World championships in Paris.
The international assault on Fukuoka
Turning our attention to the leading foreign runners, Vincent Kipsos of Kenya has the fastest time - 2:06:52 (third in 2002 Berlin). Earlier he had won the 2002 Rome race with 2:09:30; however, more recently he dropped out of the Boston Marathon and finished third in Vienna.
Antonio Peña of Spain has run well in Japan, having record his PB (2:07:34) when winning the 2001 Biwa Marathon and setting his third fastest time (2:07:59) at this year’s edition where he finished second.
Hailu Negussie of Ethiopia and Vanderlei Lima of Brazil have also recorded personal bests in Japan. Negussie won the 2002 Hofu Marathon in 2:08:16, while Lima won 1998 Tokyo Marathon in 2:08:31. More recently, Negussie won the 2003 Xiamen Marathon (2:09:03), while Lima won at the Pan Am Games.
Kim Yi-Yong is fourth fastest in the field, however, his PB, 2:07:49, is over 4 years old. More recently, Kim finished fifth (2:13:05) in Seoul International Marathon but dropped out of both the London Marathon and the World Championships. Since the Sydney Olympics where he was fourth, Britain’s Jon Brown has run well only at 2001 New York Marathon, and Fukuoka may be his chance of redemption.
Finally of the leading names, Laban Kagika of Kenya, who lives in Japan is familiar with the course, for in the 2001 Fukuoka Marathon he broke away at 25Km and led for next 11Km. He finished fourth in 2:10:24. Earlier this year Kagika was fourth in 2:10:43 at Lake Biwa.
List of Invited runners:
Vincent Kipsos (KEN) 2:06:52, 2002 Berlin
Antonio Peña (ESP) 2:07:34, 2001 Lake Biwa Marathon
Kim Yi-Yong (KOR) 2:07:49, 1999 Rotterdam
Hailu Negussie (ETH) 2:08:16, 2002 Hofu
Vaderlei Lima (BRA) 2:08:31, 1998 Tokyo
Jon Brown (GBR) 2:09:44, 1999 London
Oscar Fernandez (ESP) 2:10:33, 2001 Rotterdam
Luc Krotwaar (NED) 2:10:59, 2002 Rotterdam
Luis Fonseca (VEN) 2:11:49, 2002 Boston
Laban Kagika (KEN) 2:10:24, 2001 Fukuoka
Japanese
Toshinari Takaoka 2:06:16 , 2002 Chicago
Toshinari Suwa 2:09:10, 2002 Lake Biwa
Tsuyoshi Ogata 2:09:15, 2002 Fukuoka
Tomoaki Kunichika 2:10:10, 1999 Fukuoka
Seiji Kushibe 2:11:22, 2002 Hofu
Tadayuki Ojima 2:09:10, 1998 Fukuoka
Toshio Mano 2:11:52, 2001 Fukuoka
Nobuyuki Sato 2:08:48, 1998 Fukuoka
