Fukuoka Marathon
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The Fukuoka International Open Marathon Championship (福岡国際マラソン Fukuoka Kokusai Marason), held in Fukuoka, Japan, is a prominent international marathon race established in 1947. It is usually held on the first Sunday in December.
The reigning Fukuoka Marathon champion is Tsegaye Kebede of Ethiopia whose time of 2:06:10 in the 2008 edition broke the course record of 2:06:39 set by Samuel Wanjiru of Kenya in 2007.
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[edit] History
In 1947, the first Asahi marathon (named after its main sponsor, Asahi Shimbun), predecessor of the Fukuoka International Marathon Championship, was held in Kumomoto, hometown of Shizo Kanaguri, the godfather of marathon running in Japan. The inaugural race was won by Toshikazu Wada in 2:45:45. For its first seven years, the venue of the marathon changed every year, and only Japanese men participated. In 1954, foreign athletes were invited to participate for the first time in the history of Japanese marathons. In 1955, the name of the event was changed to become the Asahi International Marathon. In 1963, the race was held outside of Fukuoka for the last time, on the 1964 Tokyo Summer Olympics marathon course.
In 1966, the Fukuoka Marathon was sanctioned by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), and changed its name to the Fukuoka International Marathon Championships. The driving idea behind the name change was to invite the winners of all the major marathons around the world to a year-end race to crown the best marathon runner of the year. Mike Ryan of New Zealand won the 1966 race in 2:14:04.6, after a duel with Hidekuni Hiroshima of Japan, who finished immediately behind in 2:14:05.2.
In 1967, the world's top three performances of the year were recorded at Fukuoka, as the all-time list of performances was largely re-written. Derek Clayton of Australia became the first marathon runner ever to break the magical 2 hours and 10 minutes barrier, racing to a mark of 2:09:36.4.[1]
In 1970, for the first time since attaining IAAF sanction and stature as a major international marathon, a Japanese national, Akio Usami, won the prestigious marathon in a Japanese national record time of 2:10:37.8, defeating a stellar international field headed by pre-race favorites Ron Hill and Bill Adcocks (Coventry Godiva Harriers) of Great Britain.
[edit] Men's Winners
Winners of the Fukuoka International Marathon[2]
| Date | Athlete name | Ccountry | Time | Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| December 7, 2008 | Tsegaye Kebede |  Ethiopia |
2:06:10 | Current Course Record |
| December 2, 2007 | Samuel Wanjiru |  Kenya |
2:06:39 | Then-Course Record |
| December 3, 2006 | Haile Gebreselassie | Ethiopia |
2:06:52 | |
| December 4, 2005 | Dimitry Baranovsky |  Ukraine |
2:08:29 | |
| December 5, 2004 | Tsuyoshi Ogata |  Japan |
2:09:10 | |
| December 7, 2003 | Tomoaki Kunichika | Japan |
2:07:52 | |
| December 1, 2002 | Gezahegne Abera | Ethiopia |
2:09:13 | |
| December 2, 2001 | Gezahegne Abera | Ethiopia |
2:09:25 | |
| December 3, 2000 | Atsushi Fujita | Japan |
2:06:51 | Then-Japan Record |
| December 5, 1999 | Gezahegne Abera | Ethiopia |
2:07:54 | |
| December 6, 1998 | Jackson Kabiga | Kenya |
2:08:42 | |
| December 7, 1997 | Josia Thugwane |  South Africa |
2:07:28 | |
| December 1, 1996 | Lee Bong-Ju |  South Korea |
2:10:48 | |
| December 3, 1995 | Luiz Antonio dos Santos |  Brasil |
2:09:30 | |
| December 4, 1994 | Boay Akonay |  Tanzania |
2:09:45 | |
| December 5, 1993 | Dionicio Cerón |  Mexico |
2:08:51 | |
| December 6, 1992 | Tena Negere | Ethiopia |
2:09:04 | |
| December 1, 1991 | Shuichi Morita | Japan |
2:10:58 | Course layout changed to current one |
| December 2, 1990 | Belayneh Densamo | Ethiopia |
2:11:35 | |
| December 3, 1989 | Manuel Matias |  Portugal |
2:12:54 | |
| December 4, 1988 | Toshihiro Shibutani | Japan |
2:11:04 | |
| December 6, 1987 | Takeyuki Nakayama | Japan |
2:08:18 | |
| December 7, 1986 | Juma Ikangaa | Tanzania |
2:10:06 | |
| December 1, 1985 | Hisatoshi Shintaku | Japan |
2:09:51 | Course layout changed |
| December 2, 1984 | Takeyuki Nakayama | Japan |
2:10:00 | |
| December 4, 1983 | Toshihiko Seko | Japan |
2:08:52 | |
| December 5, 1982 | Paul Ballinger |  New Zealand |
2:10:15 | |
| December 6, 1981 | Robert de Castella |  Australia |
2:08:18 | Then-World Record |
| December 7, 1980 | Toshihiko Seko | Japan |
2:09:45 | The first marathon race in which two runners made "sub-10" records at a time. |
| December 2, 1979 | Toshihiko Seko | Japan |
2:10:35 | |
| December 3, 1978 | Toshihiko Seko | Japan |
2:10:21 | |
| December 4, 1977 | Bill Rodgers |  United States |
2:10:56 | |
| December 5, 1976 | Jerome Drayton |  Canada |
2:12:35 | |
| December 7, 1975 | Jerome Drayton | Canada |
2:10:09 | |
| December 8, 1974 | Frank Shorter | United States |
2:11:32 | Renamed as "Fukuoka International Open Marathon Championship" (福岡国際マラソン選手権 Fukuoka Kokusai Marason Senshuken) |
| December 2, 1973 | Frank Shorter | United States |
2:11:45 | |
| December 3, 1972 | Frank Shorter | United States |
2:10:30 | |
| December 5, 1971 | Frank Shorter | United States |
2:12:51 | |
| December 6, 1970 | Akio Usami | Japan |
2:10:38 | |
| December 7, 1969 | Jerome Drayton | Canada |
2:11:13 | |
| December 8, 1968 | Bill Adcocks |  England |
2:10:48 | |
| December 3, 1967 | Derek Clayton | Australia |
2:09:37 | Then-World Record |
| November 27, 1966 | Mike Ryan | New Zealand |
2:14:05 | Renamed as "International Marathon Championship" (国際マラソン選手権 Kokusai Marason Senshuken) |
| October 10, 1965 | Hidekuni Hiroshima | Japan |
2:18:36 | |
| December 6, 1964 | Toru Terasawa | Japan |
2:14:49 | |
| October 15, 1963 | Jeff Julian | New Zealand |
2:18:01 | Held in Tokyo as a pre-Olympics event |
| December 2, 1962 | Toru Terasawa | Japan |
2:16:19 | |
| December 3, 1961 | Pavel Kantorek |  Czechoslovakia |
2:22:05 | Water stations are set along the course from this edition |
| December 4, 1960 | Barry Magee | New Zealand |
2:19:04 | |
| November 8, 1959 | Kurao Hiroshima | Japan |
2:29:34 | Fukuoka became the permanent host since this edition of race except 1963 |
| December 7, 1958 | Nobuyoshi Sadanaga | Japan |
2:24:01 | Held in Utsunomiya, Tochigi |
| December 1, 1957 | Kurao Hiroshima | Japan |
2:21:40 | Held in Fukuoka, Fukuoka |
| December 9, 1956 | Keizo Yamada | Japan |
2:25:15 | Held in Nagoya, Aichi. No non-Japanese runners participated. |
| December 11, 1955 | Veikko Karvonen |  Finland |
2:23:16 | Held in Fukuoka, and Koga, Fukuoka. Renamed as "Asahi International Marathon" (朝日国際マラソン Asahi Kokusai Marason) |
| December 5, 1954 | Reinaldo Gorno |  Argentina |
2:24:55 | Held in Kamakura and Yokohama, Kanagawa. First race which non-Japanese runners are invited |
| December 6, 1953 | Hideo Hamamura | Japan |
2:27:26 | Held in Nagoya, Aichi |
| December 7, 1952 | Katsuo Nishida | Japan |
2:27:59 | Held in Ube, Yamaguchi |
| December 9, 1951 | Hiromi Haigo | Japan |
2:30:13 | Held in Fukuoka, and Maebaru, Fukuoka |
| December 10, 1950 | Shunji Koyanagi | Japan |
2:30:47 | Held in Hiroshima, Hiroshima |
| December 4, 1949 | Shinzo Koga | Japan |
2:40:26 | Held in Shizuoka, Shizuoka |
| December 5, 1948 | Saburo Yamada | Japan |
2:37:25 | Held in Takamatsu, Kagawa |
| December 7, 1947 | Toshikazu Wada | Japan |
2:45:45 | Held in Kumamoto, Kumamoto as "Kanaguri Prize Asahi Marathon" (金栗賞朝日マラソン Kanaguri-Shō Asahi Marason) |
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Fukuoka-Marathon.com - Fukuoka International Open Marathon Championship (official site, English language portal)
- Asahi.com - Fukuoka Marathon sponsor page
- IAAF.org 'A history of the Fukuoka International Marathon Championships', K. Ken Nakamura, International Association of Athletics Federations
