by Brett Larner In its 62nd running the Feb. 3 Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon was billed as one thing and one thing only, a showdown between Japan's most reliable marathoner, London Olympics 6th-place Kentaro Nakamoto (Team Yasukawa Denki), and its most idiosyncratic, the independent Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref.). What a gift to Beppu-Oita, an historic race consigned to second-tier status. It was as if Americans Meb Keflezighi and Dathan Ritzenhein lined up to go head-to-head at Grandma's Marathon. With exceptional performances given consideration in picking the Moscow World Championships team their pre-race goals were clear. Nakamoto : "My goal is to win a marathon for the first time. I'm aiming to break my PB [2:08:53] ." Kawauchi : "If I run faster than Hiroyuki Horibata did [2:08:24 in Fukuoka last December] then I might not do Lake Biwa in March." And did they deliver on those words. The rest of the field and ...
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