Atsushi Sato in Fukuoka (© Kazutaka Eguchi/Agence SHOT)
The 63rd Lake Biwa marathon, the oldest continuous marathon in Japan, is scheduled to be held on Sunday 2 March over the course which starts and finish in the Ojiyama stadium in Otsu.
The race which is an IAAF Silver Label Road Race is also the final opportunity for the Japanese men to make the Olympic marathon team.
Shami leads foreign charge
Three 2:07 runners are invited to the race. They are Dmytro Baranovsky, who recorded 2:07:15 in the 2006 Fukuoka Marathon, Mubarak Hassan Shami, who recorded 2:07:19 in the 2007 Paris Marathon, and Jose Rios, who recorded 2:07:42 in the 2004 Lake Biwa Marathon.
Among them, Shami may be the favourite for he won five straight marathons before finishing second in the 2007 World Championships in Osaka. He also won the 2006 Asian Games marathon in Doha, and finished second in the 2005 World Half Marathon Championships. His half marathon best, recorded in the 2004 Lisboa Half Marathon is 1:00:31, the second fastest among invited runners.
Baranovsky twice recorded sub 2:10 marathon, both in Japan. He won the 2005 Fukuoka Marathon with 2:08:29 and finished second in 2:07:15 a year later. Rios has the most experience on the Lake Biwa course, for he finished first, second and first in 2004, 2005 and 2006 editions of Lake Biwa Marathon, respectively. However, Rios has not been running well lately. He failed to finish the 2006 European Championships and the 2007 Lake Biwa Marathon; he was only 17th in the 2007 World Championships.
Other invited runners from abroad are Lee Troop, who was seventh in the 2003 Lake Biwa marathon with 2:09:49, Pablo Olmedo, who won the 2007 Mexican national championships with 2:11:34, and Yared Asmeron, who was sixteenth in the 2007 Hamburg Marathon with 2:15:14. More recently, Troop was sixth in the 2007 Berlin marathon with 2:10:31. Among them, Asmeron may have the highest potential in the marathon, for he was fourth at the marathon in the 2007 World Championships, and has the fastest half marathon best in the field, 1:00:28, which was recorded in 2007.
It’s important to win!
The Japanese will be battling out for the Olympic marathon team spot. It is generally believed that Atsushi Sato who ran 2:07:13 in the 2007 Fukuoka Marathon is almost assured of the spot on the Olympic marathon team.
At this point, Arata Fujiwara, who was second in the 2008 Tokyo Marathon with 2:08:40, and Tsuyoshi Ogata, who was fifth in the 2007 World Championships, are potential Olympic team members. Thus, in order to make the Olympic team, it is generally believed that one must ran faster than 2:08:40 in the Sunday’s race.
On the other hand one of the JAAF officials said that winning the race, and not to settle for the first Japanese in the race, is very important. That may be a tall order, for three 2:07 runners are in the field. Furthermore, Shami only lost one marathon race in his career, while only Haile Gebreselassie finished ahead of Baranovsky in Japan.
Osaki running after Beijing ticket
The runner with the best chance of making the Olympic team is Satoshi Osaki, for he was sixth in the 2007 World Championships in Osaka. His marathon personal best, 2:08:46, the fastest among Japanese was recorded when Osaki was second in the 2004 Tokyo marathon. He excels in the championships, for in addition to his sixth place finish in Osaka, Osaki won a bronze medal in the 2006 Asian Games in Doha.
Some advised him not to run any Olympic qualifying race, for he was the second Japanese in the 2007 World Championships and thus if nobody performs well in the Olympic qualifying races (Fukuoka, Tokyo and Lake Biwa) Osaki has a good chance to make the Olympic team. However, Osaki decided not to wait for others to fail, but grab the Olympic team spot outright by running well in the Lake Biwa Marathon.
Tomoyuki Sato, who was fifth in the 2004 Tokyo Marathon with 2:09:43, is the second fastest Japanese in the field. He also ran in the 2007 World Championships, finishing 13th in Osaka. Sato runs for Asahi Kasei track team, and it should be noted that his team mates are running the marathons well recently. Tomoya Adachi won the Beppu-Oita marathon on February 3, while Masaya Shimizu won the Nobeoka Marathon on February 24.
Other potential candidates to make the Olympic team are Kensuke Takahashi, who was sixth in the 2007 Fukuoka marathon, Tomohiro Seto, who was ninth in the 2007 Berlin Marathon with 2:12:21, Takehisa Okino who was third in the 2006 Beijing marathon with 2:12:24, Yusuke Kataoka, who was sixth in the 2007 Beijing Marathon with 2:12:28, Mitsuru Kubota, who was sixth in the 2007 Lake Biwa Marathon with 2:12:50 and Yuki Abe, who was seventh in the 2007 Lake Biwa Marathon with 2:13:47. Kubota, who also ran in the 2007 World Championships, is a strength runner, while Seto, who has the 5000m best of 13:26.84 and 10000m best of 28:00.29, excels in speed.
Invited Runners
Name Personal Best Venue
From abroad
Dmytro Baranovsky (UKR) 2:07:15 2006 Fukuoka
Mubarak Hassan Shami (QAT) 2:07:19 2007 Paris
Jose Rios (ESP) 2:07:42 2004 Lake Biwa
Lee Troop (AUS) 2:09:49 2003 Lake Biwa
Pablo Olmedo (MEX) 2:11:34 2007 Mexican National Champ
Yared Asmeron (ERI) 2:15:14 2007 Hamburgh
Japanese:
Satoshi Osaki 2:08:46 2004 Tokyo
Tomoyuki Sato 2:09:43 2004 Tokyo
Kensuke Takahashi 2:11:52 2007 Fukuoka
Tomohiro Seto 2:12:21 2007 Berlin
Takehisa Okino 2:12:24 2006 Beijing
Yusuke Kataoka 2:12:28 2007 Beijing
Mitsuru Kubota 2:12:50 2007 Lake Biwa
Yuki Abe 2:13:47 2007 Lake Biwa
Pace Makers:
Joseph Rifi
Isaac Macharia
Solomon Bushendich
Takashi Matsuyama
Koji Inagaki
Julius Maina
Ken Nakamura for the IAAF
