Joseph Riri (KEN) wins Lake Biwa in 2:09:00 (© Takefumi Tsutsui - AgenceSHOT)
The 61st Lake Biwa marathon will be held on this coming Sunday, March 5 on the out and back course which starts and finishes in the Ojiyama stadium in Otsu. Eighteen invited runners and three pace makers along with over 150 runners who have qualified for the marathon by running a sub-2:30 marathon or 1:10 half marathon during the last two years, are expected to line up in the Ojiyama stadium at 12:30 PM on Sunday.
The Lake Biwa Marathon course used to be considered slow, for it wasn’t until 1996 when Joaquim Pinheiro won the race with 2:09:32, that the course record dipped under 2:10. However, it is now considered to be one of the faster courses in Japan, for last year’s winning time, 2:09:00, was the slowest since 1996.
Can Riri defend?
Of the eighteen invited runners four of them stand out. They are Joseph Riri of Kenya, Jose Rios of Spain, and Takayuki Matsumiya and Atsushi Sato of Japan. Riri is the defending champion, while Rios was the runner-up last year. Matsumiya is the world 30Km record holder, while Sato is considered to be the most dedicated marathon runner in Japan.
Riri, who won the last year’s edition in 2:09:00, is back to defend his title in Otsu. He has the marathon personal best of 2:06:49 from the 2004 Berlin Marathon. Riri is a cousin of Samuel Wanjiru, former world half marathon record holder and the world junior record holder at 10,000m. His last marathon was at the World Championships in Helsinki where he was 29th in 2:19:51.
Jose Rios, second last year a mere three seconds behind Riri, is also back. Rios’ marathon personal best, 2:07:42, was set in 2004 when he won at Lake Biwa. Rios was 27th in the Athens Olympic and dropped out of the World Championships in Helsinki last year.
Driss El Himer of France and Lee Bong-Ju of Korea also have very fast personal bests to their credit, however, they have not done anything significant lately. El Himer with a marathon personal best of 2:06:48, which was recorded in the 2003 Paris Marathon, is the fastest runner in the field. However, in his latest marathons, El Himer was 13th in the 2004 Tokyo Marathon in 2:11:55 and 68th in the 2004 Athens’ Olympic Marathon in 2:29:07.
Lee Bong-Ju of Korea, the 1996 Olympic Marathon silver medallist, recorded his marathon personal best of 2:07:20 in the 2000 Tokyo Marathon. In his latest marathon, Lee was 11th in the 2005 Berlin Marathon with 2:12:19. The 2004 Olympic bronze medalist, Vanderlei de Lima was originally invited, but withdrew a few days ago due to an injury.
Other sub-2:10 marathon runners in the field are Leonid Shvetsov of Russia, who has a marathon best of 2:09:16, recorded in the 1997 Praha marathon, and Gashaw Melese of Ethiopia, who recorded 2:09:24 in the 2005 Paris Marathon. In his latest marathon, Shvetsov was fifth in the 2005 Frankfurt Marathon in 2:10:05.
Turning attention to Japanese, two years ago four runners - Atsushi Sato, Kazutoshi Takatsuka, Kazushi Hara, and Masatoshi Oike - set their marathon personal bests in the Lake Biwa Marathon. Sato broke the 2:10 barrier at Lake Biwa three times, having recorded 2:09:50 in 2000, 2:08:50 in 2003 and 2:08:36 in 2004. Well known for his dedication to the marathon running, Sato was tenth at the marathon in the 2003 World Championships in Paris. He has been training in Kunming, China for the Lake Biwa marathon, and it is reported that his training has gone very well. Takatsuka was fifth at the 2004 edition of Lake Biwa in 2:08:56, while Hara and Oike were 11th and 12th respectively with 2:12:11 and 2:12:15. However, last year’s Takatsuka finished disappointing 13th with 2:13:32.
Three other Japanese have sub 2:09 marathon bests. They are Satoshi Osaki, Muneyuki Ojima and Nobuyuki Sato, with 2:08:46, 2:08:43 and 2:08:48 bests respectively. Osaki run 2:08:46 in the 2004 Tokyo Marathon, while Ojima recorded his marathon personal best, 2:08:43, at Lake Biwa in 1998. Ojima was one of the premier marathon runners in the late 1990’s but since the turn of the century, has only showed occasional brilliance; for example he was eighth in this race in 2004, producing a 2:10:07 effort. Sato, who also coaches the corporate track team now, was the bronze medallist at the 1999 World Championships in Seville and recorded his personal best in the 1998 Fukuoka Marathon.
Can Takayuki Matsumiya, the 30Km world record holder, extend his 30Km success to the marathon? Matsumiya twice recorded a 30Km world record, having run 1:28:00 in the 2005 Kumanichi 30Km and 1:28:36 in the 2003 Kumanichi 30Km road races. More recently, Matsumiya won the 2006 Marugame Half marathon on February 5 with 1:02:13. In his debut marathon, the 2001 Nobeoka Marathon, Matsumiya clocked 2:18:48. Since his twin brother Yuko has the marathon best of 2:09:18, Takayuki should be able to run the marathon in comparable time.
The race doubles as a selection race for the Asian Games in Doha, which is scheduled to be held in December. The men’s Asian Game’s marathon team will be selected from the top finishers of Fukuoka Marathon, Tokyo Marathon and Lake Biwa Marathon.
Invited Runners:
Name, Personal Best, Venue
Joseph Riri (KEN) , 2:06:49, 2004 Berlin
Driss El Himer (FRA), 2:06:48 , 2003 Paris
Lee Bong Ju (KOR), 2:07:20, 2000 Tokyo
Jose Rios (ESP), 2:07:42, 2004 Lake Biwa
Leonid Shvetsov (RUS), 2:09:16, 1997 Praha
Gashaw Melese (ETH), 2:09:24, 2005 Paris
Waldemar Glinka (POL), 2:11:40, 2000 Hofu
Pablo Olmedo (MEX), 2:12:45, 2005 Chicago
Japanese
Atsushi Sato, 2:08:36, 2004 Lake Biwa
Kazutoshi Takatsuka, 2:08:56, 2004 Lake Biwa
Muneyuki Ojima, 2:08:43, 1998 Lake Biwa
Satoshi Osaki, 2:08:46, 2004 Tokyo
Kazushi Hara, 2:12:11, 2004 Lake Biwa
Masatoshi Oike, 2:12:15, 2004 Lake Biwa
Tomonori Onitsuka, 2:12:48, 2005 Beppu-Oita
Nobuyuki Sato, 2:08:48, 1998 Fukuoka
Takayuki Matsumiya, 2:18:48, 2001 Nobeoka
Kensuke Takahashi, 2:14:16, 2002 Lake Biwa
Pace Makers
Marilson Dos Santos (BRA)
Isaac Macharia (KEN)
Eliud Lagat (KEN)
Other notable (not invited) runners:
Masaya Shimizu
Masayuki Kobayashi
James Wainaina (KEN)
Stephen Mayaka (KEN)
Michitane Noda
Ken Nakamura for the IAAF
