Naoko Sakamoto after her win at the 2004 Osaka Ladies Marathon (© Ken Nakamura)
Osaka, JapanIn extreme cold (3.8C at the start) and windy conditions Japan’s Naoko Sakamoto, who was fourth at last year's World Championships won the Osaka Ladies Marathon today in 2:25:29, perhaps the most important race of her career so far, as it establishes her as a favourite for Olympic selection.
Heavy snow stopped falling just before the race start time at 12:10pm, however, all was not well, for at the same time the wind became a factor, and from time to time, the swirling wind becoming a head wind.
The less than ideal weather conditions made the race extremely slow at the beginning; 5Km was passed in 18:19 and 10Km in 36:35. Consequently a large lead group of 21 runners contained all the major contenders and many others too. Yoko Shibui, Harumi Hiroyama and Kazue Ogoshi were near the front, while Masako Chiba stayed at the back of the pack like she did last year.
Nearing the 10Km point, Shibui went into the front and started to push the pace, and as a consequence (Shibui ran between 10Km and 11Km in 3:20) the lead pack disintegrated to 13 runners.
However, soon the pace dwindled and the group rose to 15 runners, with most sharing the pace making duties, and soon Sakamoto took over the lead. "When I took the lead I felt so good, I almost took off. But soon I realised that it is way too early," said the eventual winner.
Next Ogoshi took over the pace followed by Hiroyama, and at 17.5Km, Shibui was back in the lead. The pace was still quite modest.
Chiba's move
After halfway, Chiba started to move closer to the leaders, and settled in the middle of the pack, and then at 26.9Km went to the front and the real racing started.
Ogoshi, a debutante covered the move immediately, followed by Asha Gigi of Ethiopia, and soon everyone realised that this was the moment and started to chase Chiba.
"I was planning to go at 30Km, but when Chiba made her move, I knew that I had to go with her at all cost," said Sakamoto later.
All the major contenders except Hiroyama was able to move with Chiba but a kilometre later only four runners - Naoko Sakamoto, Masako Chiba, Hiromi Ominami and Yoko Shibui - were still in contention to qualify for the Olympic marathon team.
The 1Km between 27Km and 28Km was covered in 3:12, while the next two Km were covered in 3:16, and 3:19.
Sakamoto's killer blow
"After taking my bottle at the 30Km aid station I picked up the pace," confirmed Sakamoto describing her own surge which was the next, and ultimately decisive moment of the race.
Initially Chiba was able to stay reasonably close, as Sakamoto covered the next kilometre (3:04) but she ultimately paid the price of the extreme change of pace, for Chiba was soon passed by Ominami.
So at 31Km, the order was Sakamoto followed by Ominami and Chiba, while Shibui seemed to be out of it. Two kilometres later Sakamoto was now 25 seconds ahead of second placed Ominami.
Watching his runner taking a commanding lead, Sakamoto's coach Yutaka Taketomi said, "she made a move earlier than expected. I just hope that she can maintain it."
Sakamoto certainly did not disappoint, covering the next two 5Km segments in 15:48 and 16:30 to take the victory in 2:25:29.
Behind the winner, the battle for second place was absorbing. At 35.5Km Chiba had passed Ominami to move back into second place, hoping to reel Sakamoto back like she had done in this race last year. However, this time it was not to be, and Ominami was not finished either and re-caught Chiba just before the stadium. Chiba, however, was able to out-kick Ominami to capture the second place by the finish. Her time was relatively slow, 2:27:38, and her chances of Olympic marathon team selection is at best uncertain.
About that move at 30km Sakamoto commented - "If nobody was going, then I was planning to go at 30Km…” and after the surge “when I turned around and saw nobody, I kept on going."
"When I woke up in the morning the day was sunny, but by the time I left for the stadium it was snowing," said Sakamoto, who does not like cold weather. However she told herself that "the weather is the same for everyone," and decided not to let it worry her as it was something uncontrollable.
In the last two races, Sakamoto had slowed towards the end and had been passed by Chiba. In order to amend such a problem, Sakamoto had upped her training doing two 40Km runs in a one month stint in New Mexico, while she only did one 40Km run as the preparation for the Paris World Championships. As preparation for Osaka she covered almost 1000Km a month.
She also prepared for the change of pace strategy. In the final week of training in New Mexico, Sakamoto ran progressively faster for each 5 Km segment in the 15Km course.
Results:
1) Naoko Sakamoto 2:25:29
2) Masako Chiba 2:27:38
3) Hiromi Ominami 2:27:40
4) Mizuho Nasukawa 2:29:49
5) Harumi Hiroyama 2:31:07
6) Ryoko Kitajima 2:31:18
7) Renata Paradowska (POL) 2:31:47
8) Takako Kotorida 2:32:15
9) Yoko Shibui 2:33:02
10) Asha Gigi (ETH) 2:34:58
5Km 18:19 Luminita Talpos
10Km 36:35 (18:16) Yoko Shibui
15Km 53:58 (17:22) Naoko Sakamoto
20Km 1:11:40 (17:42) Yoko Shibui
Half 1:15:34
25Km 1:29:09 (17:29) Yoko Shibui
30Km 1:45:58 (16:49) Masako Chiba
35Km 2:01:45 (15:48) Naoko Sakamoto
40Km 2:18:15 (16:30) Naoko Sakamoto
42.195 2:25:29 (7:14) Naoko Sakamoto
