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 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.
No comments:
Post a Comment