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Dec-5-2010
Gharib Overwhelms Field at Warm Fukuoka Marathon
by David Monti
(c) Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved
Already one of the most decorated athletes in marathon running with two world titles and an Olympic silver medal, Morocco's Jaouad Gharib added a Fukuoka Marathon title to his resume today, overwhelming an international field by nearly two minutes. Today's was the 64th edition of Japan's most prestigious marathon for men.
Although the 38 year-old's winning mark of 2:08:24 was the slowest at Fukuoka since 2005, his time was good considering the warm and sunny conditions combined with ineffective pacemaking. He ran much faster on the same course in 2006 (2:07:19) when he finished third behind Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia and Dmitro Baranovskyy of Ukraine.
Gharib made only one move in today's race, and that was all he needed to secure his victory. Just past the 15-K mark a pacemaker, Eliud Kiptanui of Kenya, surged into the lead, perhaps concerned that the 15-K time of 45:27 was too slow. The main pack, which included Gharib, another pacemaker Nicholas Kiprono of Kenya, Baranovskyy, Dmitry Safronov of Russia, Tekeste Kebede of Ethiopia, and others didn't react. But climbing and descending an overpass in the 16th kilometer, Gharib upped his tempo and eventually dropped all of his rivals.
Remarkably, Kiptanui would continue to run alone in the lead for another 14 kilometers. Gharib, also running alone, was slowly catching him, and by the 30-K mark, the gap was only six seconds, 1:29:58 to 1:30:04. Kiptanui would drop out before the race's famous "turning point" before the 32-K mark, and by that time Gharib had an insurmountable lead.
Behind the Moroccan, there was some exciting action in pursuit of the next two steps of the podium. A small pack had formed in the 17th kilometer with Kebede, Baranovskyy and Japan's Masato Imai working together. Kebede managed to break away from the other two, and was clearly in second place at the turning point with a 16-second lead over Imai.
But just as he did at the European Championships in Barcelona --another warm weather race where he finished third-- the Russian Safronov was gaining ground. He swept past Imai just past the turning point, then quickly caught Kebede to sail home in second place in 2:10:12, a personal best.
Kebede, whose manager Mark Wetmore later said had Achilles trouble, was soon passed by Imai, and the Japanese broadcasters filled the screen with close-ups of the 62:37 half-marathoner, smiling in his white-framed sunglasses.
Indeed, a Japanese man would make the podium, but it would not be Imai. Takayuki Matsumiya came to life in the second half of the race, blowing by Kebede at 1:57:50, then Imai just 39 seconds later. Safronov was too far ahead, though, and Matsumiya had to settle for third in 2:10:54. Tomoya Shimizu would also pass Imai, and the two Japanes finished fourth and fifth, respectively. Kebede ended up seventh.
This was the first JAAF selection race for the Japanese team for the IAAF World Championships marathon in Daegu, Korea, next summer. The first Japanese to finish in under 2:09:30 was guaranteed team selection, but none were able to meet that standard.
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