Skip to main content

Olympian Kentaro Nakamoto Going for First Marathon Win at Beppu-Oita

by Brett Larner

Updated 1/29/13: Masashi Hayashi (Team Yakult) and Takehiro Arakawa (Team Asahi Kasei) have withdrawn.

The Feb. 3 Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon announced on Jan. 16 that London Olympics marathon 6th-placer and 2:08:53 man Kentaro Nakamoto (Team Yasukawa Denki) will head the elite field for its 62nd running.  Japan's most stable and successful current male marathoner, Nakamoto said in pre-race comments that he hopes to score his first marathon win on home Kyushu ground in Beppu-Oita, and with the race's results counting toward 2013 World Championships team selection the win would strengthen the position his strong Olympic showing has already given him.  Nakamoto's toughest domestic competition will come from the ever-popular Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref.) in his second marathon of the year, and from Masashi Hayashi (Team Yakult) who broke 2:10 for the first time at last spring's Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon just over a minute behind Nakamoto.  Last year's Nobeoka Nishi Nihon Marathon winner Kazuya Ishida (Team Nishitetsu) could be a surprise factor despite a best just under 2:12.

Adam Draczynski (Poland) has the fastest time in the overseas field with a 2:10:49, but the #1 contender among them is last year's runner-up and two-time Hofu Yomiuri Marathon winner Serod Batochir (Mongolia).  In an echo of last year's Fukuoka, Kawauchi made it clear that he entered Beppu-Oita in order to have another go at Batochir.  Regardless of what else happens, look for the two of them to be knocking each other down.  Abdelkrim Boubker (Morocco) and Michael Shelley (Australia) are not far behind Batochir and Draczynski on time and should be players in the lead pack.

Also noteworthy in the field are a talented crop of first-timers, including 1:01 half marathoners Tewelde Estifanos (Eritrea), Daisuke Matsufuji (Team Kanebo) and Mamoru Hirano (Team Yasukawa Denki).  2012 National University Half Marathon Championships runner-up Yudai Yamakawa (Teikyo Univ.) will also be making an early marathon debut.  In the tiny women's field, two-time defending champion Chiyuki Mochizuki (Canon AC Kyushu) will return to go for the threepeat.

The Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon will be broadcast live on the 3rd.  Check back closer to race date for details on following the race via streaming and JRN's Twitter coverage.

2013 Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon Elite Field
Oita, 2/3/13
click here for complete field listing

Men
11. Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref.) - 2:08:37 (Tokyo '11)
12. Kentaro Nakamoto (Team Yasukawa Denki) - 2:08:53 (Lake Biwa '12)
13. Tomoyuki Sato (Team Asahi Kasei) - 2:09:43 (Tokyo Int'l '04)
14. Masashi Hayashi (Team Yakult) - 2:09:55 (Lake Biwa '12) - withdrawn
1. Adam Draczynski (Poland) - 2:10:49 (Vienna '10)
2. Serod Batochir (Mongolia) - 2:11:05 (Beppu-Oita '12)
3. Abdelkrim Boubker (Morocco) - 2:11:18 (Ottawa '12)
4. Michael Shelley (Australia) - 2:11:23 (Amsterdam '11)
15. Kazuya Ishida (Team Nishitetsu) - 2:11:57 (Nobeoka '12)
16. Masaki Shimoju (Team Konica Minolta) - 2:12:18 (Nobeoka '10)
17. Takehiro Arakawa (Team Asahi Kasei) - 2:13:39 (Beppu-Oita '12) - withdrawn
119. Takanori Ide (Team Kyudenko) - 2:13:41
101. Shingo Igarashi (Team Subaru) - 2:13:46 (Nobeoka '11)
102. Naoya Hashimoto (Team Chudenko) - 2:13:50 (2010)
18. Masahiro Ishida (Team Sagawa Express) - 2:13:54 (Nobeoka '11)
120. Mao Fukuyama (Team Kyudenko) - 2:14:10
103. Yoshiki Otsuka (Team Aichi Seiko) - 2:14:12 (Lake Biwa '12)
113. Ben Moreau (Great Britain) - 2:16:46 (London '10)
5. Tewelde Estifanos (Eritrea) - debut - 1:01:40 (World Half '10)
125. Daisuke Matsufuji (Team Kanebo) - debut - 1:01:46 (Marugame Half '12)
121. Mamoru Hirano (Team Yasukawa Denki) - debut - 1:01:49 (Marugame Half '12)
173. Yudai Yamakawa (Teikyo Univ.) - debut - 1:02:26 (National University Half '12)
127. Yoshiyuki Oseki (Team Subaru) - debut - 1:02:35 half
128. Yohei Nishiyama (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) - debut - 1:02:38 half
129. Rui Yonezawa (Team Chugoku Denryoku) - debut - 1:02:41 half
122. Hisanori Kitajima (Team Yasukawa Denki) - debut - 1:02:50 half

Men's Pacers
51. Jason Mbote (Kenya)
52. Stephen Chelimo (Kenya)
53. Kenta Noguchi (Team Toyota)
54. Takuya Fukatsu (Team Asahi Kasei)
55. Akiyuki Iwanaga (Team Kyudenko)

Women
2001. Chiyuki Mochizuki (Canon AC Kyushu)
2002. Megumi Yamashita (Team Toto)
2003. Chie Yamada (Fukuoka T&F Assoc.)

(c) 2013 Brett Larner
all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Morii Surprises With Second-Ever Japanese Sub-2:10 at Boston

With three sub-2:09 Japanese men in the race and good weather conditions by Boston standards the chances were decent that somebody was going to follow 1981 winner Toshihiko Seko 's 2:09:26 and score a sub-2:10 at the Boston Marathon . But nobody thought it was going to be by a 2:14 amateur. Paris Olympic team member Suguru Osako had taken 3rd in Boston in 2:10:28 in his debut seven years ago, and both he and 2:08 runners Kento Otsu and Ryoma Takeuchi were aiming for spots in the top 10, Otsu after having run a 1:01:43 half marathon PB in February and Takeuchi of a 2:08:40 marathon PB at Hofu last December. A high-level amateur with a 2:14:15 PB who scored a trip to Boston after winning a local race in Japan, Yuma Morii told JRN minutes before the start of the race, "I'm not thinking about time at all. I'm going to make top 10, whatever time it takes." Running Boston for the first time Morii took off with a 4:32 on the downhill opening mile, but after that  Sis
Post a Comment
Read more

Saturday at Kanaguri and Nittai

Two big meets happened Saturday, one in Kumamoto and the other in Yokohama. At Kumamoto's Kanaguri Memorial Meet , Benard Koech (Kyudenko) turned in the performance of the day with a 13:13.52 meet record to win the men's 5000 m A-heat by just 0.11 seconds over Emmanuel Kipchirchir (SGH). The top four were all under 13:20, with 10000 m national record holder Kazuya Shiojiri (Fujitsu) bouncing back from a DNF at last month's The TEN to take the top Japanese spot at 7th overall in 13:24.57. The B-heat was also decently quick, Shadrack Rono (Subaru) winning in 13:21.55 and Shoya Yonei (JR Higashi Nihon) running a 10-second PB to get under 13:30 for the first time in 13:29.29 for 6th. Paris Olympics marathoner Akira Akasaki (Kyudenko) was 9th in 13:30.62. South Sudan's Abraham Guem (Ami AC) also set a meet record in the men's 1500 m A-heat in 3:38.94. 3000 mSC national record holder Ryuji Miura made his debut with the Subaru corporate team, running 3:39.78 for 2n
1 comment
Read more

93-Year-Old Masters Track and Field WR Holder Hiroo Tanaka: "Everyone has Unexplored Intrinsic Abilities"

  In the midst of a lot of talk about how to keep the aging population young, there are people with long lives who are showing extraordinary physical abilities. One of them is Hiroo Tanaka , 93, a multiple world champion in masters track and field. Tanaka began running when he was 60, before which he'd never competed in his adult life. "He's so fast he's world-class." "His running form is so beautiful. It's like he's flying." Tanaka trains at an indoor track in Aomori five days a week. Asked about him, that's the kind of thing the people there say. Tanaka holds multiple masters track and field world records, where age is divided into five-year groups. Last year at the World Masters Track and Field Championships in Poland he set a new world record of 38.79 for 200 m in the M90 class (men's 90-94 age group). People around the world were amazed at the time, which was almost unbelievable for a 92-year-old. After retiring from his job as an el
Post a Comment
Read more