Previews07 Feb 2003


2003 Tokyo International Marathon Preview

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Gert Thys (RSA) (© Getty Images)

On Sunday February 9, 2003 Tokyo International Marathon, which doubles as the second qualifying race for the World Championships men's marathon team, will take place on the course that is essentially the same as the 1991 World Championships marathon course.  The first Japanese in the race will automatically selected for the World Championships Marathon team, provided he runs the course under 2:10.  This is an elite marathon for men only and as in the other elite marathon races in Japan - Fukuoka marathon and Lake Biwa marathon, the field is limited.  One must qualify for the race by satisfying one of the following criteria: completing marathon under 2:30, 30Km under 1:42, or half marathon under 1:10.  

Foreign invitees for this year's marathon are not as strong as in recent years.  Although two 2:06 runners - Ronaldo Da Costa of Brazil and Gert Thys of South Africa - are in the field, it is doubtful that they are in shape to run near their personal bests.  Da Costa's former world best time, 2:06:05, was recorded in 1998, while Thys' personal best, 2:06:33, was recorded in 1999 Tokyo marathon.  However, they have not broken the 2:10 barrier since then.   The same is true of Zebedayo Bayo of Tanzania.  His personal best 2:08:51 was recorded in the 1998 New York City marathon.  Although he went under 2:10 (2:09:18) in the 2000 Paris marathon, he too is having trouble matching his personal best in the last two years. 

The best of the foreign runners, ironically, is Laban Kagika who lives and trains in Japan.  In his first completed marathon, 2001 Fukuoka marathon, although he was told to wait until 30Km, Kagika surged at 25Km and left the pack behind.  Kagika was caught by Gezehegne Abera, Toshinari Takaoka and Koji Shimizu at 36Km, but he still finished fourth in the respectable time of 2:10:24.  Historically Kenyans in Japan run well at the marathon distance, as attested by Douglas Wakihuuri (1987 World Champion as well as 1988 Olympic Silver medallist), Eric Wainaina (1996 Olympic bronze medallist as well as 2000 Olympic silver medallist), and most recently by Daniel Njenga (2:06:18 in 2002 Chicago marathon).   In his last race before the marathon, the New Year Ekiden, Kagika ran 34:48 for the 12.3Km first stage.  He was 15 seconds behind the leader Samuel Kabiru, also of Kenya.   

Best runners in the field are two Japanese, Shigeru Aburaya and Yoshiteru Morishita who have 2:07 marathon personal bests. They also finished fifth and eighth respectively at the World Championships in Edmonton and are looking to return to the Worlds’ stage. 25 years old, Shigeru Aburaya made his mark early at the marathon, having finished seventh in his debut (2:10:48) at 2000 Lake Biwa marathon, third (2:07:52) in 2001 Lake Biwa Marathon and fifth (2:14:07) in the World Championships in Edmonton.

On the other hand Yoshiteru Morishita is a late bloomer.  Although Morishita has run three marathons in the mid-90's with the best of 2:14:44, his major breakthrough came in the 1999 Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon when he was 27 years old; he was second in 2:10:13.  He broke the 2:10 barrier (2:09:36) in his next marathon, the 1999 Fukuoka marathon.  The following year he was hoping to improve his marathon personal best further, however, he had to pull out of both Dong-A and Fukuoka marathons in the last minute due to fever.  His next breakthrough came in the 2001 Lake Biwa marathon where he set another personal best at 2:07:59, which qualified him for the Worlds in Edmonton. In Edmonton Morishita finished eighth. 

Of the two, Aburaya seems to be in better shape judging from his recent performances.  In his last two races, the New Year Ekiden and Chiba Ekiden, Aburaya run 1:03:30 for the 22.0 km second stage, and 35:18 for the 12.195 km anchor leg respectively.  He was only 11 seconds behind Toshinari Takaoka, the quadruple national record holder, in the New Year Ekiden and in Chiba Ekiden he was 26 seconds behind Sileshi Sihine, 27:16 10000m runner.

Although Aburaya was originally planning to run a big city marathon abroad, he is now concentrating on qualifying for the Worlds in Paris after Japan AAF announced that fastest Japanese in Paris will automatically qualify for the Olympic marathon team provided he wins a medal in the Worlds.   His teammate at Chugoku Electric track team Tsuyoshi Ogata has already qualified for the Worlds marathon team by finishing close second to Abera in 2002 Fukuoka marathon.  Aburaya is a clear favorite in the Tokyo marathon, which is also the conclusion from Ken Young's computer program. 

In the 2001 Lake Biwa marathon Morishita and Aburaya fought it out for the position of the first Japanese in the race, which guaranteed a ticket for the Edmonton marathon team.  On Sunday, they will have to fight it out again, this time for the automatic spot for the Paris marathon team.

The third invited Japanese is Noriaki Igarashi, a teammate of Aburaya. Starting from his debut Igarashi has run three consecutive 2:09 marathons before a disappointing performance at 2002 Boston Marathon (2:15:55).  He was originally planning to run the Fukuoka marathon, but had to postpone his marathon because of anemia, which was diagnosed just before the race. Because his running style is far from efficient, some observers wonder how he manages to run sub 2:10 marathons. 

Although not in the list of invited runners, Naoki Mishiro is attracting lot of attention because he was the best college runner of his era.  In the Hakone Ekiden, the prestigious college ekiden, Mishiro recorded the fastest stage, 1:06:46 for the 23Km leg.  On the track, Mishiro won the 5000m/10,000m double at the 1998 inter-collegiate championships, and followed this up with double medal winning performances, a silver at 10,000m and a bronze at 5000m, at 1999 World University Games.  In 2001 Mishiro ran the 10,000m in Edmonton, but was a disappointing 22nd, partially because of injury problems.  Although he is only 25 years old, Tokyo is not his debut.  Mishiro won his debut marathon, the 1998 collegiate championships marathon, in 2:19:59.  A year later he dropped out of his second marathon, the 1999 Beppu-Oita marathon as he had not fully recovered from a cold. 

Since graduation, Mishiro has been troubled by lower back problems.  Last spring, he finally decided to have an operation, which was successful. Since last summer he has been training without pain for the first time since graduation.  However, in his last race, the second stage of the New Year Ekiden, Mishiro was a minute behind Aburaya in the same stage.  This will be his first serious marathon attempt. 

List of Invited Runners

Ronaldo Da Costa (BRA)          2:06:05
Gert Thys (RSA)         2:06:33
Zebedayo Bayo (TAN)     2:08:51
Dmitri Kapitonov (RUS)  2:09:32
Ambessa Tolossa (ETH)   2:10:09
Andrey Gordeev  (BLR)   2:11:44
Laban Kagika (KEN)              2:10:24 

Japanese:
Shigeru Aburaya         2:07:52
Yoshiteru Morishita             2:07:59
Noriaki Igarashi                2:09:26
Toyokazu Yoshimura      2:17:10

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