In a press release sent out this morning the Tokyo Marathon Foundation announced that they would be cancelled and deferring mass start entries for their March 1st event.

The press release stated “We have been preparing for the Tokyo Marathon 2020 while implementing preventive safety measures, however, now that case of COVID-19 [corona virus] has been confirmed within Tokyo, we cannot continue to launch the event within the scale we originally anticipated”

“We regret to inform you the following; the Tokyo Marathon 2020 will be held only for marathon elites, and wheelchair elites.”

The potential impact on the upcoming Olympics Games could be huge. Questions will be being asked of the organising committee as to whether they will allow the Games to continue or if they will also being cancelled as has happened to the recent World Indoor Games in China.

Somewhat ironically on of the main reasons the elite races are taking place as they are the trial events for the Olympic Marathons later this year.

No refunds, but option to sign up for 2021

For the semi-elite, general, charity, and 10km entries the Foundation advised their available options as deferring their entry until 2021, but they will still have to pay for a 2021 entry as “abiding to the Entry Regulation, the entry fee and the donations received for the Tokyo Marathon 2020 will not be refunded.”

One would expect the vast majority of costs incurred will already have been spent and the race will still need a lot of the road closures and infrastructure for the elite only race.

Don’t worry though as “runners who have purchased the Tokyo Marathon 2020 Signature T-shirt, the item will be shipped following the event.” Maybe we’ll see a few of them at ReRun clothing in the next few months.

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Ethiopian duo Kenenisa Bekele and Ruti Aga are among the athletes named in the elite field for the Toyko Marathon on March 3.

Bekele, who clocked his personal best of 2:03:03 at the Berlin Marathon in 2016, has had a somewhat up and down journey since that performance, with two DNFs in four marathon attempts.

However, the multiple time Olympic champion did also post a time of 2:05:57 to finish second at the London Marathon in 2017, followed by a 2:08:53 run last year.

Four other sub 2:05 runners join Bekele in the men’s field, including two-time Toyko champion Dickson Chumba, Bahrain’s El Hassan El Abbassi and Ethiopia pair Birhanu Legese and Seifu Tura.

From the Japanese perspective, Nike Oregon Project’s Suguru Osako will race after setting a new national record of 2:05:50 at the Chicago Marathon last October.

The women’s field is also stacked this year with fast runners. Rising Ethiopian star Aga recorded a personal best of 2:18:34 at the Berlin Marathon last September and is the quickest in the field.

Joining the 25 year-old on the start line are compatriots Feyse Boru Tadese (2:19:30) Yebrgual Melese (2:19:36) and Kenya’s Florence Kiplagat, who boasts a PB of 2:19:44.

Kenya’s Joan Chelimo, who is the fourth fastest woman ever over 13.1 miles (65:04), makes her marathon debut, while Honami Maeda is the fastest Japanese athlete in the field with a best of 2:23:48.

Elite men’s field

Kenenisa Bekele (ETH) 2:03:03
Birhanu Legese (ETH) 2:04:15
Dickson Chumba (KEN) 2:04:32
El Hassan El Abbassi (BRN) 2:04:43
Seifu Tura (ETH) 2:04:44
Nobert Kigen (KEN) 2:05:13
Suguru Osako (JPN) 2:05:50
Gideon Kipketer (KEN) 2:05:51
Marius Kipserem (KEN) 2:06:11
Deme Tadu Abate (ETH) 2:06:47
Bedan Karoki (KEN) 2:07:41
Ryo Kiname (JPN) 2:08:08
Shogo Nakamura (JPN) 2:08:16
Yuki Sato (JPN) 2:08:58
Kenta Murayama (JPN) 2:09:50
Jo Fukuda (JPN) 2:09:52
Shohei Otsuka (JPN) 2:10:12
Daichi Kamino (JPN) 2:10:18

Elite women’s field

Ruti Aga (ETH) 2:18:34
Feyse Boru Tadese (ETH) 2:19:30
Yebrgual Melese (ETH) 2:19:36
Florence Kiplagat (KEN) 2:19:44
Shure Demise (ETH) 2:20:59
Bedatu Hirpa (ETH) 2:21:32
Mimi Belete (BRN) 2:22:29
Helen Tola (ETH) 2:22:48
Rose Chelimo (BRN) 2:22:51
Ruth Chebitok (KEN) 2:23:29
Honami Maeda (JPN) 2:23:48
Yuka Takashima (JPN) 2:26:13
Keiko Nogami (JPN) 2:26:33
Ababel Yeshaneh (ETH) 2:33:10
Joan Chelimo (KEN) debut
Mao Ichiyama (JPN) debut

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The post Kenenisa Bekele among five sub 2:05 runners set for Toyko Marathon appeared first on Fast Running.

At the 2018 Tokyo Marathon, there were 21 runners under 2:11, a solid result in most people’s books. The faster end of a marathon race is usually full of even or negative splits for the Kenyan and Ethiopian athletes, but this was not the case in Japan.

The fact that a huge amount of runners were on world record pace after the first kilometre gives an insight into how the race played out for most. And if you take a quick glance at the splits from the top 21 men a picture certainly emerges.

Did anyone run a negative split?

Dickson Chumba, the race winner, did run wonderfully even splits of 62:44 and 62:46. The top six were all together at halfway, all registering around 62:44-45 mark, but then it changed a little. Yuta Shitara, now Japan’s marathon record holder, was even a second ahead.

Every single runner in that top 21 ran a positive split, even if Chumba’s was minimal. All the other runners took, on average, 143.35 seconds longer in the second half.

This ranged from Yuta Shitara having a 45 second slower second half, to Tsegaye Mekonnen blowing up around 30km to post a positive split of nearly five minutes (298 seconds).

Mekonnen was in the lead group up to 30km and then really slipped away. Whereas Shitara led and then held on for a national record.

Given that Tokyo does have a slightly downhill start one might expect different splits, but Chumba’s even effort does show it is possible.

Now the discussion, what is best for an optimum race?

Here we have 20 runners who have all run sub 2:11 with positive splits of 58 seconds or more. Is banking miles the best way to run a marathon? Would a wider look at the results or a larger statistical analysis show a different picture?

It could be that the current boom in Japanese distance running, especially over half marathon distance, is just seeing more fast runners attempt the marathon?

If you have a huge number of fast half marathoners setting out to run 63:45 to halfway then larger numbers might hang on to the finish. Like throwing 50 darts at the bullseye and hoping some land.

Who ran the best race?

Dickson Chumba came away with the win, that’s the simple answer. He also ran the most level race out of the top 21. If this were simply a war of attrition as to who can hold on longest, then surely Dickson would have flagged some more?

Yuta Shitara ran a big PB and a Japanese record, with a 45-second positive split, still the second best out of the field.

Baring a few exceptions from the lead pack falling off in the second half (a Moroccan, Kenyan and Ethiopian), the size of the positive split grew as you went down the rankings.

One could argue that the Moroccan, Kenyan and Ethiopian runners were there to race, so when the podium chance went, the effort level followed.

They might already have been thinking about their next race.

Chicken or the egg?

Now does that mean those aiming for equal splits ran better or just that those who finished higher up the rankings merely suffered better? A man with more time might start to compare the half marathon PBs of those in question, past marathon attempts and the pacing strategies from those too.

Maybe Will Beaumont, who carried out the statistical analysis of English regional cross country finishing times, should be contacted as his grasp of numbers is better than most.

Yet still from this small data set one might be able to create some hypotheses. The question that one would like to answer is that “is a positive split the optimum way to run a marathon”.

Chumba may have won on the day with the closest to an even split, but was that the best Chumba could have done on the day? If a PB is an aim, such as the huge amount of Japanese runners behind the Kenyan, then do you need to start fast.

What does that mean for the rest of us?

Winning a world marathon major isn’t a realistic goal for many, but a PB certainly is. Should we be setting out to run evenly and finish fast like most Kenyan marathon winners do?

The cultural difference mentioned above is to do with suffering and the image presented to the world. There is a great video of a Kenyan and Japanese runner in a marathon. The pair battle for first and second, but in very different ways. It was a discussion with Adharanand Finn that prompted this thought.

Culturally it is frowned upon to show suffering in Kenya. Young males within tribes can be subject to coming of age ceremonies were not showing pain is the aim of the youth. You might say this is the way a Kenyan runs a marathon too, almost making it look easy throughout.

What about Eliud Kipchoge’s smile?

Now in Japan, it is important to show how hard you are working. You want people to know you are suffering and doing your utmost. Finn’s “Way of the Runner” looks at the Japanese ekiden races and how the finish line can be like an amateur dramatics society meet.

Runners collapse across the line, having given every last ounce for the team.

With this in mind could a faster start suit a Japanese runner? They want to show they are suffering at the end, so the more real that is, the better.

They have a lifetime of digging deep to finish their races.

How does this translate for other nations?

Could the British and the Irish have a cultural impact on their pacing?

As a British runner, I often love being one thing on race day. The underdog. It suits my nature to see myself as the little guy against the bigger, more established talents. I’ve worked harder than those who were born gifted. It’s a mindset I feel many can relate to.

With that in mind, I feel I perform best when running an even or negative split. Coming from behind, like a football team down at halftime. The rallying cry from the coach (an inner monologue in a running race) gets the team (the limbs) working together. Then you give every last ounce of effort.

On the rare occasions out front, it is a different beast to motivate the best out of oneself. Yes, for shorter efforts it helps, but for a marathon, I would rather hunt for an hour or two, than be hunted. Please feel free to step in and comment if you’re a psychologist reading this.

For now, have a look at those results. That’s impressive running regardless. Would you tell any of those runners that they should have run the race differently? What happened on your PB day?

The post Positive, negative or even splits: what’s best for a marathon PB? appeared first on Fast Running.

Kenyan Chumba won the men’s title in 2:05:29, while defending champion Wilson Kipsang dropped out, however, it was Yuta Shitara in second place that was the performance of the race.

Shitara, who ran his previous best of  2:09:03 in Berlin last year, clocked an incredible 2:06:10 to break the Japanese record and picked up the staggering prize pot of 100 million yen, approximately £670,130.

The 26-year-old also broke the national half marathon record last year, clocking 60:17 in Ústí nad Labem, Czech Republic, only nine days before competing in the Berlin Marathon.

The Japanese marathon history doesn’t stop with Shitara and a fantastic six men ran sub 2:09 on the streets of Toyko.

That is incredible strength and depth and putting it into perspective only five British men have broken the 2:09 barrier in total, never mind a single race.

For American marathoners, it is a similar story with only eight men ever dipping under the mark.

In recent years Japenese distance runners have made strides on the half marathon and now that strength is transferring to the 26.2 miles.

Ethiopian Dibaba won the women’s crown in personal-best 2:19:50, with compatriot Ruti Aga taking second in 2:21:19, while USA’s Amy Cragg ran a big personal best 2:21:42 for third.

Wolrd Championships bronze medalist Cragg becomes only the fifth American to run sub 2:22.

Full results can be found here.

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