Atsushi Sato in Action (© Rikujyou Kyogi Magazine)
The 58th annual Lake Biwa marathon which doubles as the final qualifying race for the World Championships marathon team will be held on Sunday, March 2. As in Fukuoka and Tokyo marathons, the first Japanese in the race is automatically selected provided he breaks 2:10. The Lake Biwa marathon is the oldest marathon in Japan, having started in 1946, and during its long history some of the best runners in the world including Olympic Champions Abebe Bikila (1961 and 1965) and Frank Shorter (1973) have won this race. Although the out and back course is relatively flat, it was once considered to be a slow course. The course record stood at 2:10:49 until 1996 when the 2:10 barrier was finally broken by Joaquim Pinheiro of Portugal. The following year the World Champion Martin Fiz ran 2:08:05, and the winning time has been sub 2:09 ever since.
Quite a strong field is expected in this year’s edition. According to Tadasu Kawano who coaches Toshihiro Iwasa: “Since the field is loaded, it is hard to pinpoint the favorite.” Similar comment was heard from Toshinari Takaoka, Asian marathon record holder. Four of the invited runners - Antonio Pena of Spain, Simon Biwott and Japhet Kosgei of Kenya and Tesfaye Tola of Ethiopia - have broken 2:08. However, Kosgei and Tola has not done so in the last two years.
Leading the foreign invited runners is Antonio Pena of Spain who won this race in 2001 with the current course record time of 2:07:34, which improved his PR from 2:07:47 (recorded at 2000 Berlin Marathon). His most recent marathon was 2:08:08 at the 2002 Amsterdam marathon, where he finished fourth. “Anything slower than 2:08:30 will be a disappointment,” says Pena who feels he is in better shape now. He would like to improve on the Spanish record, 2:07:23 by Fabian Roncero, in Otsu. Pena’s latest race was at the Medio Maraton Gava-Castelldefels-Gava where he set a course record of 1:03:15. Phil Minshull points out that two years ago when Pena set a course record in the Lake Biwa marathon, he also set a course record at the same race just a few weeks before the marathon.
The fastest runner in the field is Simon Biwott of Kenya, a silver medallist at the 2001 World Championships marathon. In his last marathon he recorded a personal best of 2:06:49 when he finished a close second to Raymond Kipkoech Chemwelo in 2002 Berlin Marathon. He also has two other sub 2:08 performances, 2:07:41 in 1999 Rotterdam Marathon and 2:07:42 in 2000 Berlin Marathon. Lake Biwa will be his second marathon in Japan for Biwott, having finished quite disappointing 9th in 2001 Fukuoka marathon, the race which was billed as the rematch of the World Championships with Gezahegne Abera of Ethiopia.
The 2002 Fukuoka marathon invited Olympic gold and silver medallists, Abera and Wainaina. Lake Biwa invited bronze medallist, Tesfaye Tola of Ethiopia, who has a personal best of 2:06:57 set in 1999 Amsterdam marathon. For Tola the Lake Biwa is his second marathon in Japan, having finished fifth with 2:12:05 in 2001 Tokyo marathon.
Unlike Biwott and Tola, Japhet Kosgei who won four consecutive marathons after his debut, had much better luck in Japan. He won 2000 Tokyo marathon in 2:07:15, which is his second fastest time behind his personal best of 2:07:09, set in 1999 Rotterdam marathon. More recently Kosgei finished second in 2001 New York Marathon in 2:09:19. However, he was only 19th with 2:18:55 in the 2002 edition of the race.
Turning the attention to the Japanese, several runners are on the verge of a major breakthrough, and thus the race for the first Japanese is wide open.
When asked of the prospect of men’s marathon in Japan, the legendary marathon runner Toshihiko Seko said that 24 years old Atsushi Sato is the most promising young marathon runner in Japan. Three years ago, Sato’s marathon debut in Lake Biwa was awaited with much anticipation, and he did not disappoint anyone. With 2:09:50 performance Sato broke a collegiate marathon record held by Atsushi Fujita (2:10:07), which was set in 1999 Lake Biwa Marathon. The record Fujita broke in 1999 was that of Toshihiko Seko. In his third marathon Fujita went on to set a national marathon record (2:06:51) in 2000 Fukuoka marathon.
Experts see much similarity between Fujita and Sato. They are the most dedicated marathon runners in Japan. They avoid anything that is detrimental to their running. For Sato who smiles during the run (see photo from Chiba Ekiden) when he is shape, this will be his third marathon. After a disappointing 11th (2:14:41) place finish at 2001 Fukuoka marathon, a failure is not an option for him this time.
In 2002 Lake Biwa marathon two runners - Toshinari Suwa and Takeshi Hamano - made dramatic seven minutes improvement in their personal best, while in 2001 Lake Biwa marathon Hideyuki Obinata made eight minutes improvement of his personal best to 2:08:52. They must run another sub 2:10 marathon to show that their performance was not a fluke. For Suwa who finished second in a 10 miler on Feb 9 with 46:55, this will be his first marathon of the year, while Hamano dropped out of the December’s Fukuoka marathon, and trying again to qualify for Paris.
Running Lake Biwa again this year are Toshihiro Iwasa who recorded 2:10:17 last year in his third marathon, and Satoshi Irifune – a 27:53 10,000m runner who recorded 2:11:26 in his marathon debut last year. Iwasa was originally scheduled to run the Tokyo marathon, but had to change a plan after coming down with flu in early January. “I want to win the race and go to Paris,” said Iwasa. “It all depends on how much he wants it in the last 5Km,” says his coach Tadasu Kawano who also said, “He is in better shape than last year.”
“Except for the cold he contracted in January Irifune’s marathon training has gone well. Lately his 40 Km long runs are faster than mine. Since everything went well for him, the coach (2:07 marathon runner Kunimitsu Ito) is looking forward to the race on Sunday. I am also looking forward to it,” says his teammate Toshinari Takaoka. Kunimitsu Ito has repeatedly said, “Irifune is ready to make a major breakthrough soon.”
Other contenders are Tomoaki Kunichika who is coached by Toshihiko Seko and a debutante Ryoji Matsushita, a collegiate 30Km record holder (1:30:04). Kunichika who tried to qualify for Paris in Fukuoka marathon but failed (8th in 2:15:59) recently won a 10 miler in 46:47.
The sentimental favorite in the race may be Koji Shimizu. Shimizu, who came from nowhere to win 1997 Tokyo marathon, has run in the 1997 and 1999 World Championships. In Sevilla he finished seventh. In 2001 Fukuoka Marathon he finished second to Olympic and World Champion Gezahegne Abera and thus was selected to run in the 2002 Asian Games. Soon after that, however, NTT West Japan withdrew from sponsoring Shimizu’s track team. With the special arrangements made only for Shimizu, he still trains on company time but he was left to train mostly alone without proper coaching. However he gets lots of support including one from a 2:27 marathon runner Midori (Fumoto), now his wife.
On his own time, one time track team manager of NTT, Hironobu Saito also helps Shimizu in his training. Under difficult conditions Shimizu won a silver medal in Busan behind Lee Bong-ju, an Olympic silver medallist from 1996. Had he won in Busan, Shimizu would have been automatically selected to run in Paris, but he must try again.
Invited Runners
Name Personal Best
Antonio Pena (ESP) 2:07:34 2001 Lake Biwa
Simon Biwott (KEN) 2:06:49 2002 Berlin
Tesfaye Tola (ETH) 2:06:57 1999 Amsterdam
Japhet Kosgei (KEN) 2:07:09 1999 Rotterdam
Steve Moneghetti (AUS) 2:08:16 1990 Berlin
Grzegorz Gajdus (POL) 2:09:45 1998 Wien
Silvio Guerra (ECU) 2:09:49 1997 Chicago
Lee Troop (AUS) 2:10:04 2001 Rotterdam
Josiah Bembe (RSA) 2:11:49 2001 Dong-A (Seoul)
Japanese
Hideyuki Obinata 2:08:52 2001 Lake Biwa
Koji Shimizu 2:09:00 1999 Tokyo
Toshinari Suwa 2:09:10 2002 Lake Biwa
Tadayuki Ojima 2:09:10 1998 Fukuoka
Takeshi Hamano 2:09:18 2002 Lake Biwa
Atsushi Sato 2:09:50 2000 Lake Biwa
Tomoaki Kunichika 2:10:10 1999 Fukuoka
Toshihiro Iwasa 2:10:17 2002 Lake Biwa
Kazuhiro Matsuda 2:10:24 2000 Lake Biwa
Takayuki Shimazaki 2:11:01 2001 Beijing
Seiji Kushibe 2:11:22 2002 Hofu
Satoshi Irifune 2:11:26 2002 Lake Biwa
Ryoji Matsushita Debut 30Km 1:30:04
Other notable runners
Muneyuki Ojima 2:08:43 1998 Lake Biwa
Brad Hauser (USA) 2:14:15 2002 Twin City
Yuki Yamamoto 2:15:17 2002 Hokkaido
Shigekatsu Kondo 2:11:14 2001 Beppu-Oita
Nobuhiko Chiba 2:12:14 1999 Fukuoka
