Mekonnen takes Tokyo Marathon

Ken Marantz / Daily Yomiuri Sportswriter

Haile couldn't make it, but Hailu picked up the slack for Ethiopia.

Hailu Mekonnen, who made a late career move to the marathon, captured his first title in four tries, winning Sunday's Tokyo Marathon in a personal-best 2 hours 7 minutes 35 seconds.

Mekonnen broke open a two-man race around 33 kilometers to finish well ahead of Kenya's Paul Biwott, who clocked 2:08:17 in placing second for the third time in 15 career marathons.

"The Tokyo Marathon is a really big marathon and to win such a big race, I'm really happy," said the 30-year-old Mekonnen, who competed in Japan in 2008-09 for Honda.

Unheralded Yuki Kawauchi finished third in 2:08:37, which knocked nearly four minutes off his career best and more importantly earned him a spot on Japan's team to this summer's world championships in Daegu, South Korea.

The Tokyo Marathon is the second of three domestic races serving as a men's qualifier for Daegu, with the top Japanese finishing under 2:09:30 automatically securing a ticket.

Yoshinori Oda, making his marathon debut, all but assured he would also be on the plane to Daegu by finishing a strong fourth in 2:09:03, while Japan-based Kenyan Cyrus Njui placed fifth in 2:09:10 and compatriot Felix Limo sixth in 2:01:50.

On Thursday, world record-holder Haile Gebrselassie dealt the race a serious blow when he pulled out due to a knee injury. Defending champion Masakazu Fujiwara was also a late withdrawal.

"Haile Gebrselassie is one of the great athletes of the world who holds a candle to no one," said Mekonnen, a former cross-country and 5,000-meter specialist who finished ninth in his debut marathon in Barcelona on March 7, 2010.

"The race became weaker when he pulled out. It was sad he couldn't run. I wanted to do anything I could to make the race as good as it could be."

The fifth edition of Asia's largest marathon, which drew over 330,000 applications for 32,000 spots, was finally blessed with good weather, with clear skies and a 7 C temperature at the start that rose to a bearable 12 C later on.

With time of the essence for Japan's world championship hopefuls, the pacemakers showed no mercy, taking the lead group through the halfway point in 1:03:14, a half-minute under the pace to break the course record of 2:07:23 set by Switzerland's Viktor Rothlin in 2008.

Mekonnen and Biwott made it a two-man race after the 30-kilometer mark, while Oda made the first move in the all-important battle to become the top Japanese in the trail group.

Mekonnen did not need a big spurt to pull away from the fading Biwott, which was fortunate in that the Ethiopian himself appeared in no shape for a late showdown, forging on fast enough to secure the 8 million yen first prize but missing out on the 3 million yen bonus for a course record.

Kawauchi made a charge at Oda, passing the Toyota runner just before 39 kilometers then pulling away before collapsing after the finish. Kawauchi's previous career best of 2:12:36 came in finishing fourth in Tokyo last year,

"It was cool in the beginning so the fast pace wasn't so difficult," said Kawauchi, a rarity in Japanese running in that he does not belong to any corporate club. He holds a full-time office job and trains on his own.

"Before I knew it, I noticed I was leading the group of top Japanese. When Oda went out, I held back, sticking with [Takaaki] Koda [who finished seventh] and conserving energy. I thought I would make a move in the last five kilometers, but I was catching up [to Oda] anyway. After 40 kilometers, I was worried he might catch me."

Two-time runnerup Arata Fujiwara, a winner in Ottawa last May, had a disastrous race, hitting the wall after 30 kilometers and plodding home in 52nd place in 2:29:21--which would have put him fifth in the women's race.

Fujiwara revealed that he had suffered a serious left knee injury that kept him from training for three weeks in January.

"Usually I feel it in my legs, but today I had trouble breathing," Fujiwara said. "That's from a lack of training."

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Russian takes women's title

Meanwhile, Russia's Tatiana Aryasova, putting on a strong surge after trailing by over two minutes at the halfway point, stormed to victory in the women's race in 2:27:29.

"The early pace was too fast, I prefer to go out slower," said Aryasova, who finished 19th at last year's Nagoya Women's Marathon. "But 42 kilometers is long enough to catch up."

Japan's Noriko Higuchi marked her marathon debut by placing second 1:20 behind, with Russian Tatiana Petrova third in 2:28:56.

Former national record-holder Yoko Shibui, who held the lead from 22 kilometers until Aryasova passed her just before the 40-kilometer mark, was passed by Higuchi and Petrova just before the finish and had to settle for fourth in 2:29:03.

A mellower Shibui was all smiles after the race, saying, "Up to now, I only thought about winning. This time I was listening to the fans along the course cheering me on and I ran relaxed. I really enjoyed it."

Asked about what appeared to be a change in running form, she coyly replied, "I wanted to look cuter."