The 18th edition of the Nagano Marathon, an IAAF Bronze Label Road Race, sees Kenya&rsquo;s Jairus Chanchima as the fastest man in the field but the big question is whether Tanzania&rsquo;s talented Fabiano Joseph will fulfil his potential on Sunday (17).
Chanchima has a best of 2:07:43 from the 2012 Seoul Marathon but this is the only time he has cracked 2:10:00 and his last marathon was at the 2014 Seoul Marathon where he was only 12th with 2:14:53.
The favorite&rsquo;s role consequently falls to the second-fastest runner in the field, his compatriot Laban Mutai, who recorded his personal best of 2:08:01 at the 2012 Koln Marathon. He also won the 2014 Linz Marathon with 2:08:03.
His latest marathon was in Valencia last November, where he was sixth with 2:09:55, still showing consistent form under 2:10:00.
However, the most intriguing runner in the field is Joseph.&nbsp;
Now 30, Joseph has run five marathons in his career but his marathon best is only 2:13:24 from 2006, when he made his debut at the Amsterdam Marathon. He was only 11th at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and 42nd at the IAAF World Championships Beijing 2015 but his credentials at shorter distances are quite impressive.
He won the 2005 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships and finished second at the 2003 and 2004 editions. His half marathon best is 59:56 and he has good track times to his name, although most were set almost a decade ago.
Theoretically, Joseph should be able to run a much faster marathon. How much faster is one of the intriguing questions on Sunday.
The third fastest runner in the field is Mongolia&rsquo;s Ser-Od Bat-Ochir who recorded the best of 2:08:50 in the 2014 Fukuoka Marathon. He is one of the most prolific elite runners in the world and Bat-Ochir has run at least four marathons every year since 2010. Nagano will be his second marathon of the year but he was a dismal 92nd in Lake Biwa Marathon last month and he may not be close to his best shape.&nbsp;
The best domestic runners in the field are Hiroki Kadota, who has a best of 2:10:46 from the 2015 Beppu-Oita Marathon, Taiga Ito, who has a best of 2:11:15 from the 2013 Tokyo Marathon and was fifth at the Nagano Marathon with 2:12:04, and Kazuya Ishida, who has a best of 2:11:57 from the 2012 Nobeoka Marathon.&nbsp;&nbsp;
The fastest woman in the race is Hellen Mugo, who recorded her best of 2:27:16 at the 2010 Carpi Marathon. But she has not broken 2:30:00 for the marathon since the 2012 Kosice Marathon.
By contrast, Peru&rsquo;s Gladys Tejeda recorded her best of 2:28:12 at the 2015 Rotterdam Marathon, and comes to Nagano in good form after finishing ninth at the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships last month.
Another woman to look out for is Kenya&rsquo;s Windfridah Kebaso, who runs for a Japanese corporate team.
Kebaso has run only one marathon, the 2015 Saitama Marathon, where she finished fifth with 2:32:08, but her half marathon best is 1:09:59 and her 10,000m best on the track is an impressive 31:19.92.
The top domestic runner is Kaori Yoshida, who has the best of 2:28:43 from 2015 Saitama Marathon.
In addition, a number of former great runners have been invited as guests this year. Among them is Japan&rsquo;s 2000 Olympic champion Naoko Takahashi and Kenya&rsquo;s two-time Olympic medallist Eric Wainaina as well as local star Yoshimi Ozaki, the 2009 world silver medallist.
Ken Nakamura for the IAAF

The 18th edition of the Nagano Marathon, an IAAF Bronze Label Road Race, sees Kenya’s Jairus Chanchima as the fastest man in the field but the big question is whether Tanzania’s talented Fabiano Joseph will fulfil his potential on Sunday (17).

Joseph aims to fulfil his marathon potential in Nagano

Four runners who have gone under the elite bench mark of one hour, including the defending champion Martin Mathathi will be on the start line of the 69th edition of Kagawa Marugame Half Marathon, an IAAF Silver Label Road Race on Sunday (1).Mathathi won the last year&rsquo;s race with 1:00:11, the Kenya&rsquo;s fastest half marathon since 2011 when recorded his personal best of 58:56 at the Great North Run in the north of England. However, the fastest half marathon runner in the quality field is Bernard Koech, who recorded 58:41 in the 2013 San Diego Half Marathon. However, the San Diego is downhill and point-to-point in nature so his fastest half marathon on a standard course is 59:10 at the 2012 Lille Half Marathon. Koech has run total of five half marathons under 60 minutes. The other sub-60 men are Eritrea&rsquo;s Samuel Tsegay and Tanzania&rsquo;s Fabiano Joseph. Tsegay recorded his best when he finished second with 59:21 at the 2014 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships. Joseph, 2005 world half marathon champion recorded his best of 59:56 back in and may not be in the same form as the others. Other contenders will be a contingent of Kenyans living in Japan: Paul Kuira, Edward Waweru, Jacob Wanjuki, Benjamin Gandu, and Enoch Omwamba. The battle for the top Japanese runner is likely to be between Masato Kikuchi, Keita Shitara, his twin brother Yuta Shitara, and Akinobu Murasawa. Kikuchi was 18th in the 2014 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships and has a half marathon best of 1:01:17 from 2014, while the Shitara brothers have half marathon best of 1:01:45 (Keita) and 1:01:48 (Yuta) from 2012. The Shitara brothers and Murasawa have also run under 28 minutes for 10,000m on the track.<h3>Flanagan the favourite </h3> On the women&rsquo;s side, Shalane Flanagan, the 2008 Olympic Games bronze medallist is the top name. The American has half marathon best of 1:08:31 from 2013. Although Flanagan is a prohibitive favourite, Ethiopia&rsquo;s Ehitu Kiros has the half marathon best of 1:09:38 and may be able to challenge Flanagan.&nbsp; Australia&rsquo;s Eloise Wellings, who has the 10,000m best of 31:41.31, is making the half marathon debut and it will be interesting to see whether she can also excel at the half marathon distance. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;The fastest Japanese woman in the field is Hanae Tanaka, who has the half marathon best of 1:09:18 from 2013 but there are five other domestic runners who have run under 71 minutes.Eri Hayakawa has a half marathon best of 1:10:13 from 2013, Misato Horie a best of 1:10:26 from 2013, Eri Makikawa ran 1:10:27 to win at the 2014 Marugame Half Marathon, Rui Aoyama has a the best of 1:10:28 from 2013 and Azusa Nojiri completes the list with a best of 1:10:53. Several runners, such as Nojiri, will be using the Marugame Half Marathon as a tune-up race for Tokyo Marathon next month. &nbsp;On the men&rsquo;s side, Arata Fujiwara has the half marathon best of 1:01:34, a marathon best of 2:07:48, and is among the invited runners for the Tokyo Marathon.&nbsp; The course record in Marugame is 59:48 by Kenya&rsquo;s Mekubo Mogusu in 2007 and possibly could be broken if the weather and pace is right, while the women&rsquo;s course record is 1:07:26 by Japan&rsquo;s Kayoko Fukushi in 2006. Ken Nakamura for the IAAF

Four runners who have gone under the elite bench mark of one hour, including the defending champion Martin Mathathi will be on the start line of the 69th edition of Kagawa Marugame Half Marathon, an IAAF Silver Label Road Race on Sunday (1).

Course record under threat at the Kagawa Marugame Half Marathon 

Fabiano Joseph of Tanzania confirmed his ranking as the world&rsquo;s number one half-marathoner, when he ran away from the defending champion, John Korir of Kenya, to win the MTN Lagos Half-Marathon in a new course record of 1:02:20. In his first serious race in six months, following a left hamstring injury, Korir, 25 acquitted himself well enough, finishing second and equalling his former course record of 1:03:05. John Yuda, Joseph&rsquo;s training partner at Tanzania&rsquo;s altitude training center at Arusha, finished third in 1:04:21. But with such a decisive victory, Joseph, not 20 until mid-December, more than underlined the form that won him a narrow victory in the World Half-Marathon Championship in Edmonton, Canada six weeks ago.Competitors struggle with hot conditionsAt the 8 a.m. start beside the Port of Lagos, the temperature was already 27 C. (80 F) with 94% humidity, the sort of conditions that are always going to rule out super-fast times on this course. Fortunately, the sun was obscured by clouds for most of the hour that the elite were operating. But the 20,000 or so locals, most of whom were on the course until close to midday, bore the full brunt of the heat. At the front, Charles Munyeki Kiama was undaunted both by the conditions and the quality of opposition.Kiama, just 17 and the winner of the&nbsp;Nairobi Half-Marathon in 1:01:34 three weeks ago, lived up to his billing as the quality outsider. He dashed into the lead, and stayed there until just before the 15 kilometres mark. By 5km, he only had the eventual top three placers, plus Yonas Kifle of Eritrea (third in Edmonton), and Cuthbert Nyasango of Zimbabwe for company.By 12km in 34:45, there was only Kiama, Joseph and Korir at the front. But when Joseph moved into the lead just before 15km (43:50), it was Kiama who cracked. He dropped back so rapidly that Yuda not only passed him, but took close to a minute out of him over the last five kilometres.And it didn&rsquo;t take long for Joseph to do the same to Korir. The pair occasionally train together in Kenya, but there was little sign of their friendship as the finishing venue, the National Stadium, loomed into view on the horizon across the causeway. Joseph invited Korir to share the lead, and when the Kenyan politely refused, his Tanzanian neighbour rightly took it as a sign of fatigue and moved away inexorably.Third straight top class road win for Joseph in six weeksKorir said later that he was getting dehydrated, proof of which was he snatched a bottle of water from a watching policeman&rsquo;s hand, and downed it. That got him to the next water station in better shape, and he briefly rallied. But it made little impression on Joseph, who wheeled into the stadium at just past 9 a.m. for another victory. After two second places in the &lsquo;world half,&rsquo; in 2003 and 2004, his win in Edmonton had given him a taste for victory. He flew to France from Canada, and won the Paris 10km. This is his third top class road win in six weeks. He said afterwards, "When Korir did not want to respond when I asked him to take the lead, I thought then that I was going to win. I was third in this race in 2002 (his first international race, at 16 years old!), so now I am very glad to win it."Korir said, &ldquo;It was just too hot for me. It&rsquo;s much cooler where I train at altitude in Kenya. I was OK until 15k, then I started to need water. I was glad to finish second, because Fabiano is World champion. It&rsquo;s no shame to finish second to the champion."Joseph pocketed US$10,000, with Korir taking $5000 and Yuda $3000.Low key women's race&nbsp;The women&rsquo;s race was a lower key affair, with Millicent Doadi of Ghana winning $3000 for first place, in 1:16:31. Faustina Ramos of Spain was second ($1,500) in 1:24:03, and Farida Makula of Tanzania third ($500) in 1:25.05.Pat Butcher for the IAAF

Fabiano Joseph of Tanzania confirmed his ranking as the world’s number one half-marathoner, when he ran away from the defending champion, John Korir of Kenya, to win the MTN Lagos Half Marathon in a new course record of 1:02:20.

Joseph beats Korir in course record - Lagos Half Marathon Report

Fabiano Joseph of Tanzania confirmed his ranking as the world’s number one half-marathoner, when he ran away from the defending champion, John Korir of Kenya, to win the MTN Lagos Half-Marathon in a new course record of 1:02:20.