A Year After Falling Apart in Fukuoka, Mathathi Makes Amends

Published by IAAF on December 1, 2013

Kenya’s Martin Mathathi, the 2007 IAAF World Championships 10000m bronze medalist, was an impressive winner of the 67th Fukuoka International Marathon, an IAAF Gold Label Road Race, in 2:07:16 on Sunday (1). 

Last year on his Marathon debut, Mathathi dropped out of the Fukuoka Marathon just after 35km, but this year, on a humid day when the temperatures hovered around 9 degrees Celsius, he showed that he had clearly learned his lesson, as this was the point where he took control of the race.

Taking the lead with 10km to go, Mathathi started to push the pace hard in the final seven kilometres to leave his final challenger and compatriot, 2012 Fukuoka winner Joseph Gitau, having to settle for second place.

Gitau, who won 12 months ago in a personal best of 2:06:58, finished second in 2:09:00.

Local star Yuki Kawauchi was running his 10th Marathon of the year, was third with 2:09:05, giving the crowds plenty to cheer despite the fact that the last Japanese winner of one of the country’s most iconic races over the classic distance was back in 2004, when Tsuyoshi Ogata took the honours.

Kawauchi fell short of improving on his personal best of 2:08:14 but it was his third sub-2:10 Marathon of the year, having ran 2:08:15 in the Beppu-Oita Marathon in February and then 2:08:14 in the Seoul Marathon the following month.

Perhaps more importantly, since he was the first Japanese in the race, at this point, Kawauchi is the leading contender to make the Japanese marathon team for the next year’s Asian Games in the South Korean city of Inchon. 

Kawauchi has now brought his career list of sub-2:10 Marathons total to five, one behind the Japanese record of six by Toshinari Takaoka, the national record holder. He is planning another marathon, Hofu Marathon, in two weeks’ time and will be attempting to break the 2:10 barrier twice in two weeks in a bid to equal Takoaka’s ‘record’.