KAWAUCHI AGAIN FALLS TO THE TACTICS OF AFRICAN RIVALS

Report by Dave Martin at the MetroGroup Marathon Dusseldorf

Japanese amateur runner Yuki Kawauchi again fell to to the tactics of his more experienced  African rivals when finishing eighth at the MetroGroup Marathon Dusseldorf on Sunday.

Kawauchi fell out of contention after being dropped just after the halfway point in a race  won by Ethiopia's Seboka Diriba Tola in a course record time of two hours eight minutes 27 seconds.

The contest went almost to the wire, Tola beating  off the challenges with a final kilometre split of 2min 48sec to win by six seconds from Duncan Koech while his former Kenyan countryman Abraham Kiprotich now representing France third in 2:08:35. 

Kenya's Agnes Jeruto on her marathon debut enjoyed a much easier competition before claiming the women's title also with a course record performance of 2:25:49.

Belarusia's Nastassia Staravoitava reduced her personal best by over seven seconds to claim second place in  2:27:24 with Melkam Gisaw of Ethiopia lowering hers to 2:27:50.  

For Kawauchi it was another frustrating day.Once again he fell to the the uncompromising racing ability of east African athletes which he first encountered when although not a professional athlete, he represented his country at last year's World Championships in Daegu.

"The pace was up and down from the start and then they made a strategic break with lots of pace at the halfway point," said the 25-year-old full time civil servant who will return to work on Tuesday immediately after landing at Tokyo airport.

 

Kawauchi whose appearance saw several hundred Japanese living in Dusseldorf watching the event, added: "I came here to race against them and try and understand and learn more about their tactics.

 

"It didn't work out for me. But again it was a great experience and the spectators on the course offered great encouragement."    

 

There was disappointment for the host nation's Jan Fitschen and Anna Hahner who were chasing Germany's Olympic Games qualifying standards of 2:12 and 2:30.

 

Fitschen off the pace even before 10 kilometres dropped out at 245km. Hahner 22, on her marathon debut produced a great performance placing sixth but missing the qualifier by just 14sec.

KAWAUCHI STILL HAS GLOBAL AMBITIONS DESPITE MISSING OLYMPIC SELECTION

From David Martin on behalf of organisers of the  Metro Group Marathon Duesseldorf

Yuki Kawauchi nicknamed the "Citizen Runner" because in Japan he is a highly successful  amateur athlete although his main rivals are professionals admits being disappointed after failing to gain Olympic Games selection.

However Kawauchi having  pushed  that dream appearance in London to the back of his mind is already focusing  his attention of gaining a place in the Japanese side for a second successive time at next year's IAAF World Championships in Moscow.

That ambition will begin at the 10th staging of the Metro Group Marathon Duesseldorf on Sunday which has attracted 14,000 runners  and he will become the first ever Japanese elite athlete to compete in the IAAF Bronze Medal event.

Kawauchi relished the opportunity to compete at the World Championships in Daegu last year where with in particular Kenyan athletes controlling the pace he fell away and eventually finished 18th.

Now the 25-year-old following his Olympic demise is gearing himself to get himself into shape to again make the World Championships team and he believes his first ever trip to Europe will be a valuable stepping stone in increasing his knowledge of tactical awareness.

"I decided to run in Dusseldorf as a warm up for London before I failed to make the Olympic team which was very disappointing for me," he  said through interpreters on Friday.


"I wanted to prepare myself on a route which is very similar to that in London, with many up and down sections and would give me a good test," added Kawauchi whose fastest time of two hours eight minutes 37 seconds earned him third place at the 2011 Tokyo Marathon.

"Although not picked for the Olympics this will still be a very good competition for me particularly  as there are many African runners also taking part.

"In Daegu I learned from them when they constantly shifted the pace and put in surges before making a big move where I just did not have the experience to stay with them.

"Now I want to learn more of their tactics before I prepare myself for my next marathon in Fukuoka.

It is there in November that I intend achieving the World Championships qualifying standard."

Kawauchi on Sunday will not be clashing with any rivals matching the quality of the big hitters who this month have claimed victories at the recent World Marathon Major (WMM) meets in Boston and London and the Dutch venue of Rotterdam.

But he could make inroads into his personal best against Ethiopia's Seboka Diriba Tola who ran 2:06:17 making him the fastest man in the field in January, while defending champion Nahashon Kimaiyo from| Kenya will be eager to score another win.

Whatever happens the result will not change his lifestyle. Kawauchi on Monday will fly back to Tokyo and arriving early the next morning, travel straight to his office to recommence a five days, 60 hours working week.

The host nation's interest will focus on Jan Fitschen, a former European 10,000m champion, who is planning to gain the German Olympic qualifying standard of 2:12:00.
In the women's event Ethiopia's Kebebush Haile last year's Shanghai champion with a personal best time of 2:24:09, is being tipped to smash the eight year-old women's course record of 2:26:44 belonging to Germany’s Luminita Zaituc.

Anna Hahner of Germany on her marathon debut will have pacemakers hoping to assist the 22-year-old achieve the Olympic qualifier of 2:30:00.

ENNIS TO FACE OLYMPIC HURDLES CHAMPION DAWN HARPER IN MANCHESTER

Another great athletics story from Dave Martin.

Toni Minichiello coach of Olympic heptathlon gold medal candidate Jessica Ennis is delighted next month she will face world class opposition in her first major outdoor competition of the year at the Powerade CityGames, Manchester.

Ennis competing in one of her strongest events the 100 metres hurdles will face reigning Olympic champion Dawn Harper of the United States at the unique street athletics meeting on Sunday 20 May.

Minichiello determined to ensure Ennis has the best possible competitive build up before the summer's London Olympics gets underway, sees her appearance in Manchester as a first positive step in her schedule.

"It's very rare that she gets the chance to compete against the world's best individual performers in an individual event rather than just fellow heptathletes, so this is a great opportunity," said Minichiello.

"It will be a daunting task taking on an Olympic gold medallist and other top hurdlers and I'm sure such a high profile head-to-head will in her first big race of the summer, fetch out the very best in her.

"The competition couldn't come at a better time just a week before she returns to defend her Gotzis title in Austria where almost every world class heptathlete is scheduled to be in the line up.

"Jess's training is going well and last Saturday at a meeting in Cosford she produced her best ever start to any previous season in the javelin when throwing 45.66 metres.

"Jess is now determined to perform well in Manchester. It will be tough a race but she needs to take on the very best opposition in the world in her Olympic build up, so this is a great opportunity for her.

Minichiello added: "She's faced World silver medallist Danielle Carruthers and the likes of Tiffany Porter before. But this will be her first ever clash with Harper. It's a tough call at this level but that's the nature of the beast."

Ennis's fellow British international Gemma Bennett is also taking part in the BBC televised race with another overseas athlete yet to be added to the field.

"EMPEROR" GEBRSELASSIE RETURNING TO CHASE FIFTH BUPA GREAT MANCHESTER RUN TITLE

Report by Dave Martin

Running legend Haile Gebrselassie still in great shape although no longer intending to represent  Ethiopia in this summer's  Olympic Marathon will bid for a fifth win in next month's Bupa Great Manchester Run.

Gebrselassie who acknowledges Manchester's  10 kilometres course is one of the fastest in the world scored his first victory with a then UK All-Comers' record on his first appearance in 2005 and has since emerged the winner on the last three occasions.

The World's greatest-ever distance runner after defeating Paula Radcliffe in the OMV Champions Race in Vienna on Sunday where he gave the British star a 7 minutes 52 seconds start and then caught her in their novel half marathon chase race clash, is determined to score another win on 20 May.

"That was a good victory for me and considering I was running on my own for virtually the whole race my time was good," said Gebrselassie who passed Radcliffe after 15.3 kilometres and finished in a time of 60 minutes 52 seconds.

The "Emperor" as he is universally known, added: "Although I will not be taking part in the Olympic marathon I am still enjoying my athletics career and looking forward to coming to Manchester again and to a course which I love.

"It's flat and really suits my running style while I must say the support I get from spectators which I have enjoyed on every visit, really motivates me to do well.

"I remember in particular my first victory when I achieved a very fast time in what were perfect conditions but since then the wind has always been a factor against me.

"Hopefully this year there will be none and that will make for a much better race."

Gebrselassie a close friend of Brendan Foster whose company Nova International organise the event, added: "When he invited me to run again I told him wasn't it time he gave someone else a chance to win one of the world's best 10 kilometres.

But really, I was joking and always wanted to return. Manchester is a favourite venue for me."

The Bupa Great Manchester Run which will be celebrating its 10th Anniversary after being first staged in 2003 as a legacy to the City's magnificent hosting of the previous year's Commonwealth Games, has accepted a record 40,000 entries for this year's race.
Mara Yamauchi who has already been named to represent Team GB in the London Olympic Marathon will be joined by several other top Britons in the women's race including 20-year-old Charlotte Purdue who returning from injury narrowly failed to defend her title in last Sunday's SPAR Great Ireland Run.

BEKELE STILL TO MAKE UP MIND ABOUT ANOTHER OLYMPIC DOUBLE COMPETES IN SPAR GREAT IRELAND RUN ON SUNDAY

Kenenisa Bekele who on  his last visit to Dublin a decade ago   claimed both the IAAF World Cross Country long and short course titles can look  towards a stiffer test when facing four of Europe’s top runners in the SPAR Great Ireland Run.

Bekele would normally be considered the favourite but in his first race since a disappointing 11th position at the Bupa Edinburgh Cross Country in January , there is global interest that was just an offday hiccup and whether he can now regain the ascendancy which has seen him christened the world’s greatest ever cross country and track distance runner.

It will be no pushover for the reigning Olympic 5000 metres and 10,000m champion who faces the highly experienced Spanish trio of Jesus Espana, Chema Martinez and particularly Ayad Lamdassem in the 10 kilometres race at Phoenix Park on Sunday.

With Italy's 2010 European 10,000m bronze medallist Daniele Meuci also in the line up,  the strong European contingent  will all be chasing his scalp in what promises to be an intriguing race.

Bekele – last month he set another milestone in his outstanding career when surpassing  the feat of  Finland’s Paavo Nurmi for holding the world 5000m and 10,000m records when having kept the titles in his possesssion for 2850 days   – says has trained extremely hard since his Edinburgh setback.

The 29-year-old  has shed the two or three kilos of excess weight he was carrying during his demise in Holyrood Park and is very  positive about retaining both his Olympic titles - although cautiously on his arrival in Dublin on Friday refusing to fully commit himself to a repeat performance of his victories in Beijing four years ago. 

Bekele with an abundance of talented Ethiopian athletes also determined to fulfil their Olympic dreams, said of another double: "I'm preparing really well to do it but I don't know yet, I still have to decide. 

"I have to run in the qualifying races and make a decision later. We'll see what happens as the season gets going."

Gaining strength rather than speed training has been his major task in the last three months and the athlete’s agent Jos  Hermens believes a tough road race before he embarks on his track season in Doha in mid-May will give a strong indication of his shape

"My training has been going well and I have lost the extra weight that I was carrying," said Bekele. "So it is very good that I can come here and have a hard race. We'll see how it goes but I'm feeling good."   

   

Certainly he will have no time to relax against Espana who is defending his SPAR Great Ireland Run crown and preceded Mo Farah as European 5000m gold medallist plus Martinez who is a past Euro 10,000m title holder and Meuci.

However Lamdassem of the three Spaniards is currently the man in form and after a great winter season where he won the European Cross Country silver medal then three weeks later beat the gold medallist on that occasion Atelaw Bekele in Edinburgh,  sees his Dublin outing as very important.

“Ayad is a very determined athlete  and his major early season target is to gain the  Olympic 10,000m qualifying  time in Bilbao in a few weeks time,” said his agent Miguel Mostaza.

“At the same time he and the other two guys are looking forward to running against Bekele and I am certain a great race will be on the cards."

Mark Kenneally who holds the Olympic marathon qualifying time and will run a leg of the Games  Torch Relay when it comes to Dublin will carry Irish hopes while the top Briton in the race will be Nick McCormick recently returned from a training camp in Australia.

Charlotte Purdue  a superb winner of last year’s SPAR Great Ireland Run is returning to defend her title along with fellow Briton Gemma Steel  whose career has come on leaps and bounds since finishing runner up on that occasion.

Purdue despite her small frame has one of the biggest hearts in UK  athletics and not surprisingly is reckoned to have the massive potential to eventually follow in the footsteps of the legendary Paula Radcliffe.

The  20-year-old will know Steel is the the opponent to beat but will also be wary of fellow British international Helen Clitheroe winner of the 2011 Bupa Great Manchester Run over 10km.

France’s Christelle Daunay, the very experienced three time Olympian Aniko Kalovics from Hungary and Marta Estepan of Spain should also be in the mix at the meeting which has been elevated to IAAF Silver Label status.

Linda Byrne, and Maria McCambridge who  both hold the Olympic marathon qualifying standard will be determined to produce good displays on home soil but Ava Hutcheson another Irish woman with the Games standard at that distance,  has after suffering all week pulled out with 'flu.