2:06:13 course record for Kipsang at Lake Biwa

Otsu, Japan – Breaking away from Deriba Merga after the 38th kilometre, Kenyan Wilson Kipsang won the 66th annual Lake Biwa Marathon on Sunday (6), an IAAF Gold Label Road Race, clocking 2:06:13.

Although it was not the 2:05 performance he had hoped for, it shattered the previous course record of 2:07:34 and was also the fastest marathon in the month of March (previous record was 2:06:49).  It was also the third fastest time on Japanese soil behind 2:05:18 and 2:06:10 Tsegaye Kebede recorded in Fukuoka. Kipsang’s move was decisive, covering kilometre 38 to 39 in an incredible 2:48.

“I felt good in the last three kilometres, I felt strong, I believed in myself,” Kipsang said, adding, “I hope to run the world record in the future.”

After finishing third in Paris in 2010 in his debut clocking 2:07:13, Kipsang won in Frankfurt last fall with 2:04:57. After his 2:06:13 today his three race average of 2:06:08 is seventh best behind Haile Gebrselassie, Tsegaye Kebede, Patrick Makau, Sammy Wanjiru, Geffrey Mutai and Vincent Kipruto .

As expected the race did develop into the duel between Kipsang and Merga. After 24 kilometres, Merga pushed the pace several times in an attempt to leave Kipsang behind, and did open a small gap on him on a few occasions. However, each time Kipsang came back on Merga’s shoulder. After not finishing his previous two marathons, Merga did hang on to finish second in 2:09:13.

After 30 kilometres the race for the first Japanese and a possible berth for the World Championships Marathon team was shaping up to be between Hiroyuki Horibata and Masato Imai. With five kilometres left, Horibata left Imai behind and started chasing Moses Kangogo who was in third. Horibata caught and passed the Kenyan before 40Km and finished third with 2:09:25, to make the suqad for Daegu.

“I could not imagine myself running 2:09, Horibata said. “I was not confident about being the first Japanese either.” Because he was recently injured, his coach Takeshi Soh entered Horibata in the race but did not tell him about running the race until two weeks ago. Soh was afraid that Horibata might overtrain. “Seeing that I need to run 80 seconds for the final lap on the track, I just went after the time. I was not concerned with the runners behind me,” said Horibata, who barely broke the required time of 2:09:30.  Asked about a collision with Imai in the 31st kilometre, Horibata explained, “After I got tangled up with Imai and fell behind him, I was determined to finish ahead of him.  It (tangle up) may have been good thing for me.”

Leading Results –

Weather: Cloudy; temperature: 11C; Humidy;  57%  Wind: South South West 2.5m/s
Athletes JPN unless otherwise noted

1) Wilson Kipsang (KEN) 2:06:13
2) Deriba Merga (ETH)  2:09:13
3) Hiroyuki Horibata   2:09:25
4) Kentaro Nakamoto  2:09:31
5) Moses Kangogo (KEN) 2:09:48
6) Masato Imai    2:10:41
7) Satoshi Yoshii   2:10:45
8) Satoru Kasuya  2:11:17
9) Masashi Hayashi  2:11:19
10) Koji Gokaya    2:12:07
11) Hironori Arai   2:12:27
12) Seiji Kobayashi  2:12:35
13) Mohammed El Hashimi (MAR) 2:12:36
14) Satoru Sasaki   2:12:42
15) Yohanes Abera (ETH) 2:12:44

Splits:
5Km 15:03    Samuel Ndungu (pace)
10Km 30:00 (14:57)  Masashi Kada (pace)
15Km  45:05 (15:05)  Samuel Ndungu (pace)
20Km  60:10 (15:05)   Samuel Ndungu (Pace)
Half  63:30    Samuel Ndungu (pace)
25Km 1:15:06 (14:56)  Patrick Ndiwa (pace)
30Km 1:29:51 (14:45)  Deribe Merga
 1:29:51  Wilson Kipsang
 1:29:59  Moses Kangogo
35Km 1:44:50 (14:59)  Wilson Kipsang
 1:44:50  Deriba Merga
 1:45:50  Moses Kangogo
 1:46:04  Hiroyuki Horibata
40Km 1:59:53 (15:03)  Wilson Kipsang
 2:01:04  Deriba Merga
 2:02:14  Hiroyuki Horibata
 2:02:14  Moses Kangogo
Finish 2:06:13 (6:20)  Wilson Kipsang