Can Kinyanjui three-peat? – Nagano Marathon PREVIEW

The 10th annual Nagano Olympic memorial Marathon will be held on Sunday 20 April in Nagano, the host city of 1998 Winter Olympic Games. The course used in the first five editions of the Nagano Marathon was excessive downhill, but the current course is relatively flat; the race starts at elevation of 349m and finishes at elevation of 354m. The highest point is 383m high while the lowest point is 339m high. 

The fastest runner in the field is Nephat Kinyanjui of Kenya, who has a personal best of 2:08:09, recorded at the 2007 Beijing Marathon. Kinyanjui is the two-time defending Nagano Marathon champion, having won the 2006 and 2007 editions of the race. In its nine-year history nobody won the Nagano Marathon three times. Kinyanjui could be the first. However, he is not the only two-time champion in the race on Sunday.

Eric Wainaina, two-time Olympic medallist, having won bronze in 1996 and silver in 2000, won the Nagano marathon twice, in 2000 and 2003. Wainaina is also the second fastest runner in the field, having won the 2002 Tokyo Marathon with 2:08:43.

The third fastest runner in the field is Alberto Chaica of Portugal who recorded the best of 2:09:25 at the 2003 World Championships in Paris. He has good championships record. Not only he was fourth in Paris, Chaica was also eighth in both the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens and 2006 European Championships in Goteborg.

The runner with an even better championship record is 2005 World Championships silver medallist Christopher Isegwe of Tanzania. However, he dropped out of both the 2006 Commonwealth Games and the London Marathon. He will be running his first marathon since 2006.

Other invited runners from abroad are Feyisa Tusse (ETH) who recorded a personal best of 2:11:39 in the 2007 Houston Marathon, Tekeste Kebede (ETH) who recorded 2:11:48 in the 2004 Rock ‘N Roll marathon in San Diego, and Arkadiusz Sowa (POL) who recorded the best of 2:12:00 in the 2007 Berlin Marathon. 

Among the Japanese, Kazutaka Enoki with a 2:10:44 personal best from the 2000 Beppu-Oita Marathon is the fastest, but Tomohiro Seto who has a 2:12:21 marathon best may have more potential at the marathon distance. Because his 10,000m personal best is 28:00.29, he should be able to run lot faster. 

Two marathon debutantes - Willy Kiptoo Kirui and Takashi Maeda - could be a surprise. Kirui, who runs for Aisan Industry in Japan, was third at 5000m at the 2002 Commonwealth Games with 13:18.02 and has the best of 1:02:50 at the half marathon (Ichinoseki half marathon in 2005).  Maeda has an even faster half marathon best, 1:02:38, recorded in the 2004 Kyoto half marathon. 

Loroupe takes on defending champion

Turning attention to invited women runners, Tegla Loroupe, a former marathon World record holder, is the fastest runner in the field. However, Loroupe’s world best, 2:20:43, was recorded back in 1999, and her season best in 2007 was only 2:41.37.

Thus the favourite may be the defending champion Alevtina Ivanova, who recorded the personal best of 2:27:49 in last year’s race. Ivanova also ran in the 2003 and 2004 editions of the race, and finished second and fourth, respectively.

Dorota Gruca with a personal best of 2:27:46, recorded in the 2005 World Championships, is the second fastest marathon runner in the field. More recently, Gruca was second in the 2007 Amsterdam marathon. Furthermore her track bests, 31:52.11 for 10,000m and 15:18.75 for 5000m, both recorded in 2004, are quite respectable.

Other invited runners from abroad are Kate Smyth, who has the best of 2:33:39 from the 2006 Chicago Marathon, and Asnakech Mengistu, who has the best of 2:36:19 from 2008 Arizona Marathon. Mengistu was fifth in the 2007 Nagano Marathon. 

Miyuki Ando, who recorded a personal best of 2:29:07 in the 2008 Osaka Ladies Marathon, may be the best Japanese. Although two other Japanese - Mai Tagami, with a best of 2:29:43 from the 2004 Hokkaido Marathon and Chihiro Tanaka, with a best of 2:29:30 from the 2002 Nagoya Women’s Marathon - have cracked the 2:30 barrier a few years ago whereas Ando cracked 2:30 barrier earlier this year.   

Ken Nakamura for the IAAF

Invited runners:
Men
Name    Personal Best 
Nephat Kinyanjui (KEN)   2:08:09  2007 Beijing
Alberto Chaica (POR)   2:09:25  2003 World Champ
Christopher Isegwe (TAN) 2:10:21  2005 World Champ
Feyisa Tusse (ETH)  2:11:39  2007 Houston
Kebede Tekeste (ETH)  2:11:48  2004 San Diego (Rock’N Roll)
Arkadiusz Sowa (POL)  2:12:00  2007 Berlin
Eric Wainaina (KEN)  2:08:43  2002 Tokyo
Willy Kiptoo Kirui (KEN)  Debut

Japanese
Tomohiro Seto   2:12:21  2007 Berlin
Kazutaka Enoki   2:10:44  2000 Beppu-Oita
Masaru Takamizawa  2:14:57  2008 Tokyo
Toshiharu Takase  2:16:00  2006 Lake Biwa
Takashi Maeda   Debut

Women
Tegla Loroupe (KEN)  2:20:43  1999 Berlin
Alevtina Ivanova (RUS)  2:27:48  2007 Nagano
Dorota Gruca (POL)  2:27:46  2005 World Championships
Kate Smyth (AUS)  2:33:39  2006 Chicago
Asnakech Mengistu (ETH) 2:36:19  2008 Rock’N Roll
Ruth Wanjiru (KEN)  2:43:16  2007 Shanghai

Japanese
Miyuki Ando    2:29:07  2008 Osaka
Mai Tagami    2:29:43  2004 Hokkaido
Chihiro Tanaka   2:29:30  2002 Nagano
Yoshimi Hoshino   2:35:58  2005 Otawara
Risa Mizutani   2:41:17  2006 Osaka