Workneh Over Shimoda at Beppu-Oita, Preisner Runs 2:08:58 for CAN #2
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Shimoda took over once the pacers were out, a 2:59 for the 31st km enough to get rid of Ogata and Yasui. Yoshioka was next, and just past 32 km Laquoahi dropped too to make it a four-way race up front. Between 34 and 35 km the pace slowed enough that in was clear Preisner would need to turn it around to still have a chance at the Olympic standard, the lead group’s 1:45:57 split at 35 km projecting to 2:07:44. Shimoda gestured for Workneh to take over, and even though he did the pace still slacked. Shimoda took over again at 37 km with a hard surge that gapped Kishimoto and Preisner, but Workneh answered and pulled away with what ended up being his winning move, taking almost 3 minutes off his best to win in 2:07:58.
Shimoda held on to 2nd in 2:08:24, with Kishimoto finding a 2:08:38 in himself in his debut for 3rd. Preisner could only watch as the Olympic standard slipped away, but his 2:08:58 PB for 4th was good enough to land him at 2nd in the Canadian record books. Yasui gutted out a 2:09:30 for 5th after dropping off earlier, but maybe the grittiest run came from Laqouahi, who was lying on the road with less than 5 km and staggering when he got back up but still managed a 2:11:42 for 10th. Happy with his victory after struggling with the marathon since his sub-2:11 debut in 2019, Workneh gave his winning interview in fluent Japanese. “I had good altitude training for this, and I’m not surprised that I won,” he said.
72nd Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon
Beppu, Oita, 4 Feb. 2024
Women
1. Aoi Makara (unattached) – 2:40:31 – PB
2. Rieko Koshi (unattached) – 2:43:40
3. Sonoka Nakayama (unattached) – 2:50:22 – PB
Men
1. Workneh Derese (Ethiopia/Hiramatsu Byoin) – 2:07:58 – PB
2. Yuta Shimoda (GMO) – 2:08:24
3. Hironori Kishimoto (GMO) – 2:08:38 – debut
4. Ben Preisner (Canada) – 2:08:58 – PB
5. Yuichi Yasui (Toyota) – 2:09:30
6. Tomoki Yoshioka (Kyudenko) – 2:10:03 – PB
7. Yuki Muta (Logisteed) – 2:10:28 – debut
8. Takanori Ogata (Toyota Kyushu) 2:10:47 – PB
9. Reo Kuniyuki (SGH) – 2:11:27
10. Hicham Laqouahi (Morocco) – 2:11:42
11. Fumihiro Maruyama (Asahi Kasei) – 2:12:28
12. Shota Saito (JFE Steel) – 2:12:39
13. Akito Terui (Subaru) – 2:13:57
14. Genta Kuramoto (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) – 2:14:01 – debut
15. Ryo Osaki (Komori Corp.) – 2:14:18
16. Daigo Tomimura (unattached) – 2:14:50 – PB
17. Yuta Koyama (Toenec) – 2:15:03
18. Kazuma Taira (Kao) – 2:15:10 – PB
19. Kosuke Yamada (Toyota Boshoku) – 2:15:25 – PB
20. Kensuke Yamaguchi (Toyota Kyushu) – 2:15:34 – PB
21. Shogo Kanezane (Chugoku Denryoku) – 2:16:23
22. Tatsunori Hamasaki (Nanji AC) – 2:16:54
23. Shinya Kotabe (Kurosaki Harima) – 2:16:56 – debut
24. Tomohiro Okuyama (unattached) – 2:18:31 – PB
25. Tatsuki Ishii (Track Tokyo) – 2:19:29 – PB
26. Shunpei Oda (Komanechi RC) – 2:19:41
—–
DNF – Aychew Bantie (Ethiopia)
DNF – Mohamed Reda El Aaraby (Morocco)
© 2024 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
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