Boaz Kimaiyo en route in Frankfurt (© Victah Sailer)
Oita Mainichi Marathon in Japan, the 54th edition of the race, will be held on a course from Oita to Beppu and back on Sunday 6 February.
The course used to start in Beppu and run to Oita and back but since the prevailing wind hampers the runners in the last half, the course was reversed in 1984. The logic was: it is better to hit the head wind in the first half of the course than in the second.
Thys to set the pace
The fastest marathon runner in the field with a 2:06:33 personal best is Gert Thys of South Africa, but he is just the designated pace setter, so it is Kenyan Fred Kiprop, who has a marathon best of 2:06:46 from the 1999 Amsterdam marathon who holds that destinction of those runners due to finish the entire race.
More recently Kiprop was 13th in the 2004 Berlin Marathon with 2:12:42, third in the 2004 Hamburg event (2:11:45), and was fourth in the 2003 Rotterdam race (2:09:14). Beppu is not his first marathon in Japan. He was third in the 2002 Lake Biwa Marathon with 2:09:08. Although he has recorded 2:08:23 marathon in 2000, he has not broken 2:09 since.
Kimaiyo's Frankfurt success bodes well
The second Kenyan in the field is Boaz Kimaiyo, who recorded a personal best of 2:08:45 in the 2002 Amsterdam Marathon. More recently, Kimaiyo ran 2:09:10 and 2:09:28 in the 2004 and 2003 Frankfurt marathon respectively, and thus in the recent years he may be more consistent than Kiprop.
Although his marathon best is only 2:11:08 from the 2003 Chicago Marathon, Sisay Bezabeh of Australia has the potential to run a lot faster since his 10,000m best stands at 27:49.09.
Six designated pace makers are entered in the race. The concept of pace makers is of course not new in Japanese marathons but what is revolutionary is that three of them - Toshiyuki Hayata, Osamu Nara, and Yoichi Watanabe - are Japanese. Hayata was once a world class runner with a marathon best of 2:08:07, which was recorded in the 1997 Fukuoka Marathon.
Ojima is the home favourite
The hottest Japanese runner in the field is Tadayuki Ojima, who has recorded two consecutive personal bests in his last two marathons, 2:08:18 in the 2004 Lake Biwa Marathon after recording 2:08:48 in the 2003 Fukuoka marathon. Despite running very fast times in the last two marathons, Ojima was not selected for the Olympic Marathon team.
“He won’t let it (missing Olympic team) distract him. He keeps on training hard,” said the Asahi Kasei track team manager Mitsuyo Kusu. “I am trying to make the World Championships marathon team. My goal is to win the Beppu marathon in 2:08. It will be nice to set a personal best, but that will depend on the wind along the seaside part of the course,” said Ojima through his manager Kusu.
Unlike last December’s Fukuoka marathon, and the upcoming Tokyo and Lake Biwa marathons, there is no definite criterion for the Beppu-Oita race in terms of making the Helsinki marathon team. However, winning here with a personal best would surely impress the selectors.
Ojima’s teammate at Asahi Kasei, Yoshiteru Morishita is the fastest Japanese in the field, having run 2:07:59 in the 2001 Lake Biwa marathon. However, he has not run a good marathon lately. He was 22nd with 2:13:39 in the 2004 Lake Biwa Marathon and eighth with 2:12:54 in the 2003 Tokyo Marathon. “His training load is about 70-80% of his peak. Instead of running with the leaders, he probably will run with his own pace hoping to pick off the faltering runners in the late stage. He can run 2:10, if everything goes well,” said Kusu.
Another Japanese hope is Satoshi Irifune (10,000m best of 27:53.92 and 5000m best of 13:22.12), who made a respectable marathon debut in the 2002 Lake Biwa Marathon when he ran 2:11:26. Although he has not been able to improve his marathon best since, he came close when he recorded 2:11:37 in the 2004 Tokyo Marathon a year ago.
The most promising marathon debutante in the field is Kenta Oshima, who has the half marathon best of 1:01:48, which was recorded in 2003. Oshima ran recorded a 10,000m best of 27:54.88 in 2003 which he improved to 27:53.95 in 2004 (also recorded 5000m best of 13:37.49). Last year Oshima married Megumi (formerly Tanaka), who has run in the last two Olympics as well as the 1999 World Championships. Their goal is to go to Helsinki together.
Ken Nakamura for the IAAF
Invited Runners:
Fred Kiprop (KEN) 2:06:46 1999 Amsterdam
Boaz Kimaiyo (KEN) 2:08:45 2002 Amsterdam
Sisay Bezabeh (AUS) 2:11:08 2003 Chicago
Adam Dobrzunski (POL) 2:12:29 2003 Chicago
Lahoussine Mrikik (MAR) 2:13:31 2001 New York
Japanese:
Yoshiteru Morishita 2:07:59 2001 Lake Biwa
Tadayuki Ojima 2:08:18 2004 Lake Biwa
Hidemori Noguchi 2:11:20 2002 Lake Biwa
Satoshi Irifune 2:11:26 2002 Lake Biwa
Kenta Oshima debut (1:01:48 2003 All JPN Corporate half marathon)
Pace makers:
Gert Thys (RSA) 2:06:33 1999 Tokyo
Armando Quintanilla (MEX) 2:15:40 2004 Torreon
Abdullah Bay (MAR)
Yoichi Watanabe
Osamu Nara
Toshiyuki Hataya 2:08:07 1997 Fukuoka
