Birhanu Legese and Ruti Aga Win Tokyo Marathon

By Adam Kopet of DyeStat

Ethiopia’s Birhanu Legese and Ruti Aga won Tokyo Marathon titles Sunday to earn career firsts, running 2:04:48 and 2:20:40, respectively.

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Fast times had been on the minds of the top athletes in the days before the race with Kenya’s Dickson Chumba and Aga both publicly stating their goals of breaking the men’s and women’s course records..

Chumba entered the race as the defending champion, having earned five podium finishes in the previous five editions of the race. His winning time in 2018 was 2:05:30, well shy of the 2:03:58 course record.

The day started with rain in the forecast and it arrived early, soaking the streets, the runners and the spectators before the gun fired. Coupled with the cool temperatures, athletes struggled to stay warm.

The lead pack was on record pace early, reaching the first 5K split in 14:37. The leaders ran the next 5K in 14:32, reaching 10K in 29:09, which put them on 2:03:00 pace.

The first casualty of the hot early pace was Asian record holder El Hassan El Abbassi of Bahrain, who started to drift off the lead pack. He hung on for a while and then dropped out.

The pace began to slow. Still, the pack dwindled down to eight men as they passed halfway in 1:02:02. A course record would require a negative split.

Shortly after the halfway mark, the trio of Chumba, Legese and Bedan Karoki, a Japan-based runner from Kenya, broke away from the leaders with two pacemakers. From there it was a battle of attrition.

Chumba was the first to break after 25K. Then it was Karoki’s turn. He lasted through 30K.

It was all Legese in the final 12 kilometers. He slowed over that time, but less so than the others, as the rain and slight wind took a toll. He crossed the finish line two minutes ahead of Karoki. Chumba recorded another podium finish with a time of 2:08:44.

Legese’s 2:04:48 ranks second all-time at the Tokyo Marathon.

The women’s race started out on course-record pace. The lead pack of women, mixed with slower men, reached 5K in 16:34 and 10K in 33:04.

From there, the pace quickened, with a group of seven women leading the charge, reaching 15K in 49:25 and the halfway point in 1:09:44.

By 35K, Aga had made her bid for the win. After multiple runner-up finishes at previous Abbott World Marathon Majors races, she was in position to break the tape first. She held an eight-second lead at 35K, a gap that only grew.

Aga pulled away for the win, building a 21-second gap at the finish. The weather prevented her from breaking the course record. Helen Tola and Shure Demise, both of Ethiopia, finished second and third in 2:21:01 and 2:21:05, respectively.

Aga's time ranks third in Tokyo Marathon history

The Tokyo Marathon also served as a qualifying race for Japan’s Marathon Grand Championship (MGC) race in September. The MGC race will operate like the U.S. Olympic Trials Marathon. Thus far, 28 men and nine women have qualified for the race. Few Japanese runners were able to qualify Sunday given the weather conditions.

Suguru Osako, who has already earned a spot at the MGC race, dropped out before 30K in Tokyo. He is the current Japanese record holder at 2:05:50 from his third-place finish at the 2018 Chicago Marathon.

Road to Gold

More than 2,000 runners took Saturday to the streets of Atlanta for the Atlanta Track Club’s Road to Gold race. Amy Cragg and Brogan Austin won the 8-mile race.

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The race followed the final loop of the Olympic Trials Marathon, giving Olympic hopefuls a good chance to see the closing stages of the course many will compete on next year.

In the women’s race, Cragg dominated, running away from the rest of the field to win in 43:23. Carrie Dimoff was second in 44:24.

The men’s race was won by Austin in 38:06, ahead of 2016 Olympian Jared Ward in 38:17.

David Monti of Race Results Weekly has a full recap of the action for RunnerSpace.

Birmingham Wine 10K

Following an impressive collegiate career at New Mexico, Alice Wright of Great Britain and the HOKA ONE ONE Northern Arizona Elite won her first professional race at the Birmingham Wine 10K. She ran 34:01.

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