Skip to main content

Akaba and Kawauchi Aiming for Course Records at Gold Coast Airport Marathon


by Brett Larner

In its 35th edition the Gold Coast Airport Marathon makes its debut as an IAAF bronze label event, the first Australian race to earn an IAAF label.  Both the women's and men's races feature fields worthy of an even higher level, and on both sides course records look likely.

The clear favorite in the women's race is this year's London Marathon 3rd-placer Yukiko Akaba (Team Hokuren).  Having been left off the Japanese World Championships team in favor of two empty seats, Akaba told JRN that she came to Gold Coast to go for the 20 year-old 2:29:29 course record in a moderate mid-summer effort ahead of an ambitious fall. Speaking later at the press conference she commented, "The field is a lot better than I expected and so getting the win will be a challenge, but I'll be going for the course record either way and hopefully that will put me up front."  Asked whether the $20,000 bonus for clearing Naoko Takahashi's 2:23:14 Australian all-comers' record is on her radar Akaba laughed and said, "That would be pretty tough."

Her biggest challenge may come from 2:26:08 athlete Eri Okubo, making her debut with sponsorship from Miki House, the same children's clothing company that sponsors London Olympian Arata Fujiwara, after having abruptly quit the Second Wind AC club team this spring.  The question will be whether Okubo has made a smooth transition in coaching and training environments in time to run 100% on Sunday.  Despite not having arrived as of Friday evening, Goitetom Tesema (Ethiopia) should be another strong contender with a 2:26:21 best at the 2011 Rome Marathon.  Helen Mugo (Kenya) rounds out the list of top-level favorites with a 2:27:16 best at the 2010 Carpi Marathon.  Whoever crosses the line first, the course record is sure to go.

The men will have a tougher time of clearing the record, but the current 2:10:01 mark is in range of at least the top six.  With a 2:07:43 best from last year's Seoul International Marathon Jairus Chanchima (Kenya) is the favorite, with the as-of-this-writing-still-in-transit Girmay Birhanu Gebru (Ethiopia) close behind with a 2:08:11 mark at March's Rome Marathon.

The other big contender is #3-seed, Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't), 4th at last year's Gold Coast Airport Marathon and running this year as part of a quest to get the course records at Australia's three largest marathons despite being on the Japanese team for the World Championships next month.  "I won't be setting a PB, but I am here to break the course record," he commented.  "I am complete focused on running sub-2:10 here."  The main question for Kawauchi will be to what extent he will feel the lingering effects of heat-related problems he faced in winning the Okinoshima 50 km ultra three weeks ago.

Kenyans Samson Barmao and Jacob Wanjuki round out the top bracket, Barmao with a 2:08:52 best last year in Rome and Wanjuki, based in Japan where he runs for the Aichi Seiko corporate team, making his marathon debut off a 1:00:32 half marathon best.  With such a quality group lined up, pacers in the men's race due to go out at 2:09:00 pace and favorable weather forecast, Rob De Castella's Australian all-comers' record of 2:09:18 may well fall to the tune of a $20,000 bonus.

Speaking of half marathons, Gold Coast will also incude elite-level half marathon and 10 km events featuring a large number of top Australia's top distance runners, many of who will be in Moscow next month for the World Championships.  London Olympian Martin Dent looks like the favorite in the men's race with a 1:02:16 best on the same course in 2009, while 2010 Marugame International Half Marathon winner Nikki Chapple is the class of the women's field with her 1:08:37 time from Marugame nearly four minutes better than her closest competition.  Both races also feature elite-level Japanese athletes.

The men's 10 km looks like a showdown between London Olympians Craig Mottram and Michael Shelley, while #1-ranked woman Lara Tamsett looks set to be going it alone in search of an improvement on her 32:27 road best.  Mottram caused a stir in the audience by saying that he plans to make a serious marathon "within the next twelve months."

The half marathon and full marathon will be webcast live on the Gold Coast Airport Marathon site, the half marathon going off at 6:00 a.m. local time and the full at 7:20 a.m.  Live results will also be available here.  Check back for original coverage from JRN as the weekend progresses.

2013 Gold Coast Airport Marathon Elite Field
Gold Coast, Australia, 7/7/13

Marathon - Men
1. Jairus Chanchima (Kenya) - 2:07:43 (Seoul, 2012)
2. Girmay Birhanu Gebru (Ethiopia)  2:08:11 (Rome, 2013)
3. Yuki Kawauchi (Japan/Saitama Pref. Gov't) - 2:08:14 (Seoul, 2013)
4. Samson Barmao (Kenya) - 2:08:52 (Rome, 2012)
5. Robert Mwangi (Kenya) - 2:10:04 (Prague, 2011)
6. Edwin Kiprop Korir (Kenya) - 2:10:26 (Zurich, 2013)
7. Taiga Ito (Japan/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 2:11:15 (Tokyo, 2013)
8. Kensuke Takahashi (Japan/Toyota) - 2:11:25 (Tokyo, 2009)
9. Jacob Wanjuki (Kenya/Team Aichi Seiko) - debut (1:00:32, Nagoya Half, 2010)

Marathon - Women
51. Yukiko Akaba (Japan/Team Hokuren) - 2:24:09 (London, 2011)
53. Eri Okubo (Japan/Miki House) - 2:26:08 (Tokyo, 2012)
55. Goitetom Tesema (Ethiopia) - 2:26:21 (Rome, 2011)
56. Alice Ngerechi (Kenya) - 2:26:36 (Milan, 2001)
57. Alevtina Ivanova (Russia) - 2:26:38 (Nagano, 2008)
58. Helen Mugo (Kenya) - 2:27:16 (Carpi, 2010)
59. Yui Ouchi (Japan/Team Noritz) - 2:39:06 (Ohtawara, 2011)

Half Marathon - Men
1. Liam Adams (Australia) - 1:03:28 (Gold Coast, 2012)
2. Lee Troop (Australia) - 1:01:00 (Tokyo, 1999)
3. Martin Dent (Australia) - 1:02:16 (Gold Coast, 2009)
6. Shinichi Yamashita (Japan) - 1:03:36
7. Ben Moreau (U.K.) - 1:04:27

Half Marathon - Women
51. Nikki Chapple (Australia) - 1:08:37 (Marugame, 2010)
52. Jessica Tengrova (Australia) - 1:12:28 (Gold Coast, 2011)
53. Danielle Ingram-Trevis (New Zealand) - 1:13:08 (Auckland, 2010)
54. Abi Bayley (Australia) - 1:13:40 (Gold Coast, 2011)
55. Miki Oka (Japan) - 1:14:00 (Miyazaki Women's, 2009)
58. Yuki Sakata (Japan) - 1:13:14
76. Eri Ueno (Japan) - debut

10 km - Men - June 6
1. Michael Shelley (Australia) - 28:44 (Launceston, 2012)
2. Craig Mottram (Australia) - 27:54 (Manchester, 2004)
3. Jackson Elliott (Australia) - 29:43 (Launceston, 2011)

10 km - Women - June 6
51. Lara Tamsett (Australia) - 32:27 (Sydney, 2011)
52. Sophie Barker (Australia) - 34:19 (Launceston, 2012)
87. Tara Palm (Australia) - 33:08

text and photos (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