Paul Tergat won the 64th edition of the race in a relatively slow time. He surged away from his final challenger, two-time race winner Jose Rios, at 41km.
It was only Tergat's third career win following his world-record breaking victory in Berlin in 2003 and his win in the 2005 New York City Marathon.
A total of 162 runners started under a sunny sky, and 39 of them passed 5km in 15:10. By 15km (45:22) the lead pack was down to 25 runners. With an adverse wind the pace slowed, but picked up again after halfway (1:04:18). By 25km (1:16:02) there were still 11 runners left but by 30km, when three pacemakers pulled out, the leaders were down to Tergat, Rios, Yared Asmeron, Abiyote Guta and Masaya Shimizu. Shimizu led most of the time as the sky turned cloudy, the temperature dropped and they ran into a headwind. From 30-35km took 16:10, and prospects of a fast time were lost. At 39km Rios picked it up. Asmeron covered the move immediately with Tergat moving comfortably into third, while Shimizu and Guta fell behind. Tergat took the lead just before 40km and Asmeron fell back. Then with about 1300m left Tergat surged ahead to win.
Asmeron and Shimizu fought a hard battle for third place, won by Asmerom on the track of the stadium. As first Japanese, Shimizu is selected to the World Championships marathon team, joining Fukuoka Marathon winner Satoshi Irifune. Three places remain, with one to be decided after the Tokyo Marathon on 22 March with the other two to be named by JAAF selectors.
Tergat explained the slow winning time as due to jet-lag and the headwind, and complimented Shimizu on his bold front running.
It was only Tergat's third career win following his world-record breaking victory in Berlin in 2003 and his win in the 2005 New York City Marathon.
A total of 162 runners started under a sunny sky, and 39 of them passed 5km in 15:10. By 15km (45:22) the lead pack was down to 25 runners. With an adverse wind the pace slowed, but picked up again after halfway (1:04:18). By 25km (1:16:02) there were still 11 runners left but by 30km, when three pacemakers pulled out, the leaders were down to Tergat, Rios, Yared Asmeron, Abiyote Guta and Masaya Shimizu. Shimizu led most of the time as the sky turned cloudy, the temperature dropped and they ran into a headwind. From 30-35km took 16:10, and prospects of a fast time were lost. At 39km Rios picked it up. Asmeron covered the move immediately with Tergat moving comfortably into third, while Shimizu and Guta fell behind. Tergat took the lead just before 40km and Asmeron fell back. Then with about 1300m left Tergat surged ahead to win.
Asmeron and Shimizu fought a hard battle for third place, won by Asmerom on the track of the stadium. As first Japanese, Shimizu is selected to the World Championships marathon team, joining Fukuoka Marathon winner Satoshi Irifune. Three places remain, with one to be decided after the Tokyo Marathon on 22 March with the other two to be named by JAAF selectors.
Tergat explained the slow winning time as due to jet-lag and the headwind, and complimented Shimizu on his bold front running.
MEN:
1 Paul TERGAT KEN ------2:10:22
2 Jose RIOS ESP ----------2:10:36
3 Yared ASMERON ERI---2:10:49
4 Masaya SHIMIZU JPN--2:10:50
5 Abiyote GUTA ETH-----2:11:18
6 Tomoya SHIMIZU JPN-2:12:30
7 Satoru SASAKI JPN-----2:14:00
8 Takeshi MAKABE JPN--2:14:34
1 Paul TERGAT KEN ------2:10:22
2 Jose RIOS ESP ----------2:10:36
3 Yared ASMERON ERI---2:10:49
4 Masaya SHIMIZU JPN--2:10:50
5 Abiyote GUTA ETH-----2:11:18
6 Tomoya SHIMIZU JPN-2:12:30
7 Satoru SASAKI JPN-----2:14:00
8 Takeshi MAKABE JPN--2:14:34
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