RESOURCES FOR RACE DIRECTORS

Yemane Adhane Tsegay wins Lake Biwa Marathon 

By K Ken Nakamura

Breaking away from the lead pack after 22Km, Yemane Adhane Tsegay of Ethiopia, a 2:06:30 marathon runner who was fourth in the last year’s World Championships, won the 65th Lake Biwa Marathon, the IAAF Gold Label race, on Sunday March 7. Although he was only 21 seconds behind the course record pace at 30Km, because the weather was less than ideal, Tsegay slowed down in the final part of the race and won with 2:09:34. The time was not very fast, but it was fourth straight sub-2:10 marathon for Tsegay. “The course was good but weather was bad. I want to run the course record, so I increased the pace after the half way, but the weather was not good for me, and I had some problems” said Yemane Tsegay after the race. Tomoyuki Sato, who was dismal 31st in Fukuoka Marathon, came back with a vengeance and finished strong second with 2:10:07, fourth fastest time of his career. “I am happy to be the first Japanese, which was my goal for the day. I am not happy with my time, but I was able to breakaway from the chase pack despite some bad patches during the race, so it was a good race for me although I won’t give myself an ‘A’ grade,” said Sato. Abraham Tadesse and Yukihiro Kitaoka ran together in the last part of the race. At the end, Tadesse broke away from Kitaoka to finish third in 2:10:46, while Kitaoka, a marathon debutante was fourth in 2:10:51. “I am happy to attain my goal of running 2:10 marathon. I went for a broke from the start. Although it started to get tough after 30Km, I am happy to run the race as if it was an extension of a half marathon,” said Kitaoka after the race. Kitaoka was followed by another marathon debutante, Naoto Yoneda, who said, “It was tough but I am happy to run well.” Shimizu twin did not fare well. Tomoya finished 8th, while Masaya failed to finish. Incidentally, Shimizu brothers were high school teammates of Masakazu Fujiwara, who won the last week’s Tokyo marathon. 

The sense of crisis was rampant after last December’s Fukuoka Marathon when Japanese failed to crack top eight, but after Tokyo marathon where Japanese occupied top five slots and Lake Biwa where Sato finished second and two debutantes finished fourth and fifth, the future of Japanese marathon scene is little brighter. 

How the race unfolded:

The course was modified slightly this year. The six pace makers (two Japanese and four Africans including one Kenyan living in Japan) were told to cover each 5Km in 15:10, and they did the good job for the first half as required. One of the pace maker was Hidekazu Sato, national high school record holder at 5000m. One hundred ninety four runners started the race under light rain. First notable event was that the pace makers almost forgot to exit the Ojiyama stadium after 1 and ¾ laps around the track. Until last year, the runners used to circle the track for more than two laps. The first Km was covered in just under 3:04, the second Km in 3:00 and third Km in 3:00. At 3Km, lead pack consists of 46 runners. The lead pack of 39 runners passed 5Km in 15:10. The pace remains steady. Except for the first Km and 10th Km, each Km time fell between (including both ends) 3:00 and 3:02. After pack of 37 runners passed the 10Km in 30:21, the first contender to lose contact with the lead pack, after 13Km, was Takeshi Hamano, who has the marathon best of 2:09:18. The 15Km split for the lead pack of 33 runners was 45:35, and it was turning into the race of attrition. Yoshimura, one of the domestic pace setter, left the race after 15Km. Perhaps because the course changed direction after 15Km, the wind now became the head wind, the 15 to 16Km took 3:16. Soon after 20Km (60:41), Masaya Shimizu, fourth last year, started to drift behind the lead pack of 25 runners. The temperature at turn around point was 8C. Sato, pace maker, dropped out of the race. The half way split was 64:07. Soon after the turn around point, Yemane Tsegay moved near the front. Then after 22Km, with urging from Yemane Tsegay, three pace makers started to increase the pace (2:54 for 22 to 23Km after 3:07 from 21 to 22Km) and the lead pack started to break apart. Yemane Tsegay led the race along with three pace makers, and Hendrick Ramaala was several meters behind. The chase pack consists of mostly Japanese except Abraham Tadesse was formed. The pace (2:57 for 23 to 24KM) continued to be hot, and by 24Km Ramaala was absorbed by the chase pack, which was led by Tomoyuki Sato. The pace maker Stephen Mokoka dropped out at 25Km (1:15:41) leaving Yemane and two pace makers (Samuel Ndungu and Wilson Chebet) in front. (24 to 25Km was covered in 2:55). They lead the chase pack by ten seconds at 25Km. Although Chebet fall behind the leaders by 26Km, he caught up to Tsegay and Ndungu again, only to drift back again. After 27.5Km, as the course changed direction, the wind turned to head wind again. 

Just before 29Km, Ramaala and Tomoya Shimizu started to fall behind the chase pack. Up front, Tsegay kept on clocking sub 3 minutes for each Km except for 27 to 28 Km. When Ndungu, the pace maker, dropped out at 30Km (1:30:31), Yemane Tsegay was now alone and his pace from 30 to 31Km dropped to 3:04 and then 31 to 32Km to 3:06. Tsegay led the chase pack of seven runners (Wilson Chebet, Yukihiro Kitaoka, Tomoyuki Sato, Ken-ichiro Setoguchi, Abraham Tadesse, Naoto Yoneda and Ken Yoshii) by 48 seconds. At 30Km, Chebet the pace maker dropped out leaving six runners in the chase pack. Kitaoka, a debutante, ran aggressively in the chase pack. He led the chase pack after 30Km after the pace maker dropped out. Yemane Tsegay continued to lead the race, but he was slowing down. He took 15:40 from 30 to 35Km, at which point Tsegay led the chase pack by 70 seconds. After 35Km Tadesse took the lead momentarily in the chase pack, but then at 35.3Km, Kitaoka retook the lead. At 36.2Km Yoshii started to fall back. At 36.6Km Sato took the lead within the chase pack. With Sato pushing the race, the chase pack started to gain on Tsegay. The differentia at 38Kml was about a minute. At the same time, the pack was falling apart. Ken-ichiro Setoguchi and then Naoto Yoneda started to fall behind by 37.5Km. Sato leads Tadesse and Kitaoka by 10m. Tsegay is slowing down even more (3:11 from 35 to 36Km, 3:18 for 36 to 37Km but then held on with 3:13 and 3:08 for the next two Km) and by 38Km Sato started to break away from the chase pack and started to chase Tsegay. Tsegay took 16:16 for the 5Km leading up to 40Km (he took 3:22 from 39 to 40Km, 3:14 for 40 to 41Km), and Sato was 50 seconds (he run faster than Tsegay for this 5Km segment), followed by Kitaoka and Tadesse 74 seconds behind. Tsegay held on for the win while the real estate ran out on Sato as he finished second behind Tsegay by 33 seconds. 

Weather at Noon: Rain; temperature: 9.3C; humidity: 87%; wind: 1.5m/s SSW

1) Yamene Tsegay (ETH) 2:09:34 (15:11,30:22,45:35,60:42,64:07,75:42,90:32,1:46:11,2:02:27) 
2) Tomoyuki Sato 2:10:07 (15:11,30:23,45:36,60:43,64:09,75:53,91:21,1:47:21,2:03:17)
3) Abraham Tadesse (ERI) 2:10:46 
4) Yukihiro Kitaoka 2:10:51 Debut
5) Naoto Yoneda 2:11:00 Debut 
6) Ken-ichiro Setoguchi 2:11:44 
7) Satoshi Yoshii 2:12:24 Debut
8) Tomoya Shimizu 2:13:25
9) Munehiro Sugaya 2:15:07 
10) Takeshi Ueno 2:15:26 
11) Hendrick Ramaala (RSA) 2:15:29 
12) Yoshiyuki Suetsugu 2:16:47 
13) Tatsunori Sento 2:18:11 
14) Akihiro Sato 2:18:14
15) Teruhiko Nakano 2:18:20 
16) Steven Osaduik (CAN) 2:18:29
17) Koji Watanabe 2:18:44
18) Chang Chia-Che (TPE) 2:18:54
19) Yuji Iwakuma 2:19:05
20) Yuji Murai 2:19:24
21) Takahiro Oi 2:19:26
22) Yoshiharu Tateishi 2:19:44
23) Yoichi Masuda 2:19:53
24) Takahiko Inoue 2:20:01
25) Keizo Maruyama 2:20:44 
26) Ken-ichi Kameda 2:20:50 
27) Makoto Iwase 2:20:54 
…
38) Kazushi Hara 2:23:16 
39) Takeshi Hamano 2:23:46 
DNF Masaya Shimizu 

Splits: 
5Km 15:10 Samuel Ndungu (KEN) (pace maker)
10Km 30:21 (15:11) Hidekazu Sato (pace maker)
15Km 45:35 (15:14) Stephen Mokoka (RSA) (pace maker)
20Km 60:41 (15:06) Hidekazu Sato 
Half 1:04:07 
25Km 1:15:41 (15:00) Samuel Ndungu (KEN) pace
1:15:42 Wilson Chebet pace
1:15:42 Stephen Mokoka pace
1:15:42 Yemane Tsegay
1:15:52 Ken-ichiro Setoguchi 
1:15:52 Satoshi Yoshii 
1:15:52 Naoto Yoneda
1:15:53 Tomoyuki Sato 
1:15:53 Yukihiro Kitaoka 
1:15:53 Hendrick Ramaala
30Km 1:30:31 (14:50) Samuel Ndungu 
1:30:32 Yemane Tsegay 
1:31:20 Wilson Chebet 
1:31:21 Yukihiro Kitaoka 
1:31:21 Tomoyuki Sato 
1:31:21 Ken-ichiro Setoguchi 
1:31:21 Abraham Tadesse 
1:31:22 Naoto Yoneda 
1:31:22 Satoshi Yoshii 
1:31:31 Hendrick Ramaala
35Km 1:46:11 (15:40) Yemane Tsegay (ETH) 
1:47:21 Yukihiro Kitaoka 
1:47:21 Abraham Tadesse 
1:47:21 Ken-ichiro Setoguchi 
1:47:21 Tomoyuki Sato 
1:47:21 Naoto Yoneda 
1:47:21 Satoshi Yoshii 
1:48:18 Tomoya Shimizu 
1:48:19 Hendrick Ramaala 
1:49:38 Munehiro Sugaya 
40Km 2:02:27 (16:16) Yemane Tsegay 
2:03:17 Tomoyuki Sato 
2:03:41 Yukihiro Kitaoka 
2:03:41 Abraham Tadesse 
2:03:49 Naoto Yoneda 
2:03:58 Ken-ichiro Setoguchi 
2:04:39 Satoshi Yoshii 
2:05:45 Tomoya Shimizu 
2:07:13 Hendrick Ramaala 
2:07:16 Munehiro Sugaya 
Finish 2:09:34 (7:07) Yemane Tsegay