Jose Rios of Spain wins the 59th annual Lake Biwa Marathon (© AFP/Getty Images - JIJI Press)
The 60th annual Lake Biwa Marathon, which doubles as the final qualifying race for the national men’s marathon team for the 10th World Championships in Helsinki, will be held on an out and back course which starts and finishes at the Ojiyama stadium in Otsu on Sunday 6 March.
It is an elite only race in which one must qualify by running either sub 2:30 marathon, sub 1:10 half marathon, sub 1:40 30Km, sub 1:05 20Km or sub 31 minutes 10,000m. Twenty-four runners are invited and three pace setters are recruited by the organizer. In addition, several more runners with a sub 2:10 marathon best, although not invited, are running. In short, one of the best marathon fields of this winter has been assembled for Sunday’s race.
International line-up
The defending champion, Jose Rios of Spain, is back. Last year Rios, in his first completed marathon, won the Lake Biwa Marathon with 2:07:42. Before turning to the marathon Rios was one of the best track runners in Spain, for he was a bronze medalist at 10,000m in the 2002 European Championships. He was also sixth at 10,000m in the 2001 World Championships and recorded the 10,000m best of 27:22.20 in 2000. Rios, however, was only 27th in Athens at the marathon.
Another 2:07 runner is Francisco Javier Cortes of Spain, who was second in the 2001 Hamburg marathon with 2:07:48. Cortez has run two other sub 2:09 marathons, 2:08:30 in the 2000 Rotterdam where he was second and 2:08:57 in the 2000 Amsterdam Marathon where he was first. Cortes was tenth in the 2003 London Marathon in 2:10:39.
Two of the fastest runners in the field are Joseph Riri of Kenya, who was second in the 2004 Berlin marathon with 2:06:49, and Vincent Kipsos of Kenya, who was third in the 2002 Berlin Marathon with 2:06:52. Although Riri has not run any other sub 2:10 marathon, Kipsos has run two, 2:09:42 in the 2003 Fukuoka Marathon where he finished eighth and 2:09:30 in the 2002 Rome Marathon where he won. However, on his last two marathons, Kipsos was unable to break 2:13. He was seventh in the Prague Marathon in 2:13:44, and fifth in the Eindhoven marathon in 2:13:52, both in 2004.
De Lima in the limelight again
Vanderlei de Lima of Brazil, the Olympic bronze medallist, is attracting most attention. His arrival in Japan, for example, was reported in several major newspapers. Lima, who recorded a personal best of 2:08:31 in the 1998 Tokyo Marathon, has run three other 2:08 marathons, in 1996 Tokyo Marathon (2:08:38), 1999 Fukuoka Marathon (2:08:40) and 2000 Rotterdam Marathon (2:08:34). More recently Lima won the 2004 Hamburg Marathon in 2:09:39, before winning a bronze medal in Athens.
“I have run some great races in Japan. Of my four 2:08 marathons, three were recorded in Japan,” explains Lima why he decided to run the Lake Biwa marathon. Lima continued: “I am working hard to run sub 2:08 marathon. I know I have 2:07 marathon in my leg.” To make sure that nobody will disturb Lima’s run in Otsu the organizer has decided to increase the security of the race. Lima, perhaps, is the sentimental favorite.
Marilson dos Santos of Brazil, who was sixth in the 2004 Chicago Marathon with 2:08:48, and Samson Ramahdani of Tanzania, a surprise winner at 2003 Beppu-Oita Marathon with 2:09:24, who has a personal best of 2:08:01 from the 2003 London Marathon, may surprise us.
The Japanese challenge
Turning attention to the Japanese, the fastest of them all is a former national record holder Atsushi Fujita. Fujita, who recorded a national record of 2:06:51 in the 2000 Fukuoka Marathon has not run this distance since March of 2002 when he won the Seoul Marathon in 2:11:22. He has suffered from injuries since though last July Fujita recorded 1:02:12 in the Sapporo Half Marathon.
Kazutoshi Takatsuka and Yuko Matsumiya who finished fifth and sixth respectively last year with personal bests are back. Also back this year again is Muneyuki Ojima, who won the 1998 edition of the Lake Biwa Marathon in 2:08:43. More importantly Ojima was eighth last year in 2:10:07. Incidentally, Matsumiya’s twin brother Takayuki recently improved his 30Km World record.
Tomohiro Seto, a teammate of Toshinari Takaoka and Satoshi Irifune, who won Tokyo Marathon and Beppu-Oita Marathons respectively earlier in the year, is one of the promising marathon debutante. Last year, Seto won the All Japan Corporate half marathon championships in 1:01:49. He also won the Kumanichi 30Km road race in 1:29:50, steps similar to those taken by Toshinari Takaoka before his Marathon debut.
Seto is not the only highly expected debutante. Other notable debutantes are Koji Ueoka, Yuki Mori and Masaya Shimizu. Ueoka, who has been troubled with injury problems much of his career (10,000m best, 28:29.67 and half marathon best, 1:02:07 in 2004). His claim to fame is that in the 2004 New Year Ekiden, Ueoka passed 20 runners. Mori, who won the 2001 All Japan Corporate Half Marathon Championships with 1:01:27, had been troubled with injuries in the last few years, but is now back to 100%. In the New Year Ekiden, Mori recorded 63:41, the seventh fastest time for the most competitive 22Km second stage. Shimizu, who runs for prestigious Asahi Kasei track team, was third in the 2003 Kumanichi 30Km with 1:30:00.
Other top Japanese in the race with sub 2:10 marathon personal best are Takeshi Hamano (fifth, 2002 Lake Biwa Marathon with 2:09:18 & sixth, 2003 edition with 2:09:29), Yukinobu Nakazaki (fourth, 2004 Tokyo Marathon, 2:09:28), Shin-ichi Watanabe (sixth, 2004 Berlin Marathon, 2:09:32), and Tomoyuki Sato (fifth, 2004 Tokyo Marathon, 2:09:43). Nakazaki, who is coached by 1992 Olympic Marathon silver medallist Koichi Morishita, has steadily improved his marathon personal best from 2:16:19 to 2:13:26 to 2:09:28 in his three marathon starts.
Both Takayuki Nishida and Hideyuki Obinata have run 2:08 marathons, but that was in 2001 when Nishida recorded 2:08:45 in the Beppu-Oita Marathon and Obinata recorded 2:08:52 in the Lake Biwa Marathon.
Ken Nakamura for the IAAF
Invited Runners
Jose Rios (ESP) 2:07:42 2004 Lake Biwa
Joseph Riri (KEN) 2:06:49 2004 Berlin
Vincent Kipsos (KEN) 2:06:52 2002 Berlin
Francisco Cortes (ESP) 2:07:48 2001 Hamburg
Samson Ramadhani (TAN) 2:08:01 2003 London
Vanderlei Lima (BRA) 2:08:31 1998 Tokyo
Marilson dos Santos (BRA) 2:08:48 2004 Chicago
Leonid Shevetsov (RUS) 2:09:16 1997 Praha
Ruggero Pertile (ITA) 2:10:12 2004 Roma
James Wainaina (KEN) 2:11:00 2004 Tokyo
Japanese
Kazutoshi Takatsuka 2:08:56 2004 Lake Biwa
Yuko Matsumiya 2:09:25 2004 Lake Biwa
Yukinobu Nakazaki 2:09:28 2004 Tokyo
Takeshi Hamano 2:09:18 2002 Lake Biwa
Shin-ichi Watanabe 2:09:32 2004 Berlin
Tomoyuki Sato 2:09:43 2004 Tokyo
Michitane Noda 2:09:58 2003 Fukuoka
Muneyuki Ojima 2:08:43 1998 Lake Biwa
Michitaka Hosokawa 2:10:38 2004 Tokyo
Yasuaki Yamamoto 2:10:44 2000 Lake Biwa
Toshiya Katayama 2:11:05 2004 Tokyo
Satoshi Watanabe 2:11:18 2003 Lake Biwa
Tomohiro Seto debut 1:01:49 half marathon
Atsushi Fujita 2:06:51 2000 Fukuoka
Pace Makers
Lee Troop (AUS) 2:09:49 2003 Lake Biwa
Eliud Lagat (KEN) 2:11:21 2002 Hamburg
Pablo Olmedo (MEX)
Other notable runners
Kazushi Hara 2:12:11
Laban Kagika (KEN) 2:10:24
Yoshimasa Kunitake 2:12:24
Yukiyasu Nagao 2:12:31
Hiroyuki Fujii 2:12:39
Makoto Ogura 2:12:48
Yuzo Onishi 2:12:53
Noriaki Igarashi 2:09:26
Toshiaki Tezuka 2:14:07
Tomonori Watanabe 2:09:40
Takayuki Nishida 2:08:45
Hideyuki Obinata 2:08:52
Ombeche Mokamba (KEN) Debut
Takashi Ohta Debut
Koji Ueoka Debut
Wataru Okutani 2:11:24
Masatoshi Ibata 2:13:26
Abdellah Bay (MAR) Debut
Naoki Mishiro 2:10:33
Masaya Shimizu Debut
