Tomoaki Kunichika won today’s 58th annual Fukuoka International Marathon in 2:07:52, a personal best by over two minutes.

Behind him two other Japanese runners recorded sub 2:08 performances. It was the first time three Japanese have recorded 2:07 in the same race. The Japanese also swept the top three spots in the Fukuoka Marathon for the first time since 1991.

Toshinari Suwa finished second three seconds behind, while the Asian record holder Toshinari Takaoka finished third for the third time in his three marathon starts with 2:07:59.  Six Japanese were in the top 10 and all except for Takaoka set personal bests. 

As the first Japanese winner since Atsushi Fujita (won in 2000) in the most prestigious Japanese marathon, Kunichika made a giant step toward making the Athens' Olympic marathon team. Kunichika is almost assured of the selection, but he must wait until March after the final two selection races – the Tokyo and Lake Biwa Marathons have taken place. 

The official pace setters - Pablo Olmedo (MEX), Eluid Lagat (KEN) and Armand Quintanilla (MEX) - and their designated pace - 15:05 for each 5Km - were announced before the race.  However, the Japanese runners wanted an even faster pace, and as events unfolded they were granted their wish. 

In strong wind conditions, the race started at the designated pace, passing 5Km in 15:06, but then it got faster - 10Km in 30:02, 15Km in 44:57, and 20Km in 59:51.  Despite the fast pace and the strong headwind (5-6m/s) during the early part of the race, a large lead pack stayed together. 

The pace started to dwindle a bit after 20Km (15:11 and 15:32 between 20Km to 30Km), and after the pacemakers left the race at 30Km, it slowed down even more (3:10 and 3:13 for the next 2Km).

Then Hailu Negusse of Ethiopia surged into the front to break the race apart.  By 35Km only seven runners - Negusse, Suwa, Takaoka, Tadayuki Ojima, Tsuyoshi Ogata, Antonio Pena and Kunichika - were left in the lead pack.

The surging tactics continued.  At 37Km Suwa was the next to try to run away from the field and 700m later Takaoka made his bid for the victory.

Takaoka covered the two kilometres leading up to 39Km in 2:57 and 2:58.  Ojima, Negusse, Ogata and then Pena lost contact with the three leaders in succession. Thus by 38.5Km only Takaoka, Suwa and Kunichika were left in the front. 

At 39.7Km, Kunichika hit the front and 600m later, surprisingly it was Asian record holder Takaoka who fell behind next.

 “I did not realise immediately when Takaoka fell behind,” said Kunichika after the race. “When I wondered where he was and looked back to find that he was not with me anymore, I thought this is the time to give all I have.”

Kunichika covered 40Km to 41Km in 2:56, and Takaoka fell some 10m behind with 1Km to go.  At 41.3Km, on the uphill leading up to the Heiwadai stadium Kunichika left his last challenger - Suwa – behind, and eventually won in 2:07:52, thus improving his four year old personal best (2:10:10) by over two minutes.

“I was not thinking about the record today,” said the winner.  In the past I was always left behind when the real racing started, so today all I was thinking was to stay with the leaders no matter what. Previously my good training results did not translate into good racing.  However, today I ran with the belief that good training will show in racing.”

Kunichika’s coach Toshihiko Seko was also happy. “For the 15 years, my life as a coach was quite a hard one. So I am happy that Kunichika has finally done it.”

“I did my best. I hope to be selected for the Olympic marthon team,” concluded Kunichika, a runner who has struggled to fulfill his promise. At age of 30, his day may finally be here. 

## On the same day (7 Dec) in Okayama, the World Marathon silver medallist Mizuki Noguchi won the half marathon in 1:10:03, one minute ahead of Luminita Talpos of Romania.

Ken Nakamura for the IAAF
with assistance from Akihiro Onishi

NB. a short biography of Kunichika follows after the results

Weather at the race start time: Mostly sunny 8.3C, 45% humidity, 6.4m/s NNW wind

Results  (JPN unless otherwise noted):
1)  Tomoaki Kunichika 2:07:52
2)  Toshinari Suwa 2:07:55
3)  Toshinari Takaoka 2:07:59
4)  Antonio Pena (ESP) 2:08:10
5)  Hailu Negusee (ETH) 2:08:21
6)  Tsuyoshi Ogata 2:08:37
7)  Tadayuki Ojima 2:08:48
8)  Vincent Kipsos (KEN) 2:09:42
9)  Michitane Noda 2:09:58
10)Oscar Fernandez (ESP) 2:09:59

 Splits for the leader
5Km 15:06 Pablo Olmedo
10Km 30:02 (14:56) Pablo Olmedo
15Km 44:57   (14:55) Pablo Olmedo
20Km 59:51   (14:54) Pablo Olmedo
Half 1:03:13
25Km 1:15:02 (15:11) Eliud Lagat
30Km 1:30:34 (15:32) Eliud Lagat
35Km 1:45:59 (15:25) Toshinari Suwa
40Km 2:01:16 (15:17) Tomoaki Kunichika
42.195K 2:07:52 (6:36) Tomoaki Kunichika

Kunichika biography

Kunichika who use to run for NTT West in Hiroshima, left the team in 2000 in search for the better environment in which to train.  Kunichika joined S&B Foods, where he could train full time (unlike NTT West where he also had to work in the office).

He has been coached by legendary Toshihiko Seko during the last four years. At the time he joined S&B Foods, Kunichika was already one of the most promising marathon runners in the nation, having recorded 2:11:28 in his debut marathon and then followed it up with the 2:10:10 effort in the 1999 Fukuoka Marathon.

However, his days in S&B Foods team was far from the smooth sailing.  From time to time he was plagued with injury problems, and even when his training had gone well, it did not show in the racing results.

However, it all started to change this year. In the Lake Biwa marathon in March, he ran near his personal best of 2:10:42. On the track he was second at the 10,000m in the national championships, and in September he improved his 10,000m personal best for the first time since 1997.