Posted: November 27, 2007

Athletics: Published Report - Tergat Out Of Fukuoka Marathon

From David Monti © 2007 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com Former world record holder in the marathon, Paul Tergat, has abruptly withdrawn from Sunday's Fukuoka Marathon, according to a published report on the website of Japan's largest English language newspaper, The Daily Yomiuri. According to the report, Tergat was called to attend a special Kenyan armed forces training camp. The report said that the information came from the organizers of the marathon itself. Tergat, 38, was the headline athlete for what is widely regarded as Japan's most competitive men's marathon. The race will be held for the 61st time on Sunday. Organizers have used a time-honored formula of inviting a handlful of top overseas athletes, combining them with a group of Japanese stars, and leading them along the course through 30 km with pacemakers who try to help the top runners to a sub-2:07 finish time. In a typical year, only about 300 athletes compete at Fukuoka, and it was to be Tergat's Fukuoka debut. Last year's top-3 men at Fukuoka --Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia, Dmytro Baranovsky of Ukraine and Jaouad Gharib of Morocco-- all chose to run different marathons this fall. Gebrselassie sank Tergat's the world record at the real,- Berlin Marathon with a 2:04:26 clocking; Baranovsky dropped out of the ING New York City Marathon; and Gharib was second at the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon by just a fraction of a second to Patrick Ivuti. Without Tergat, the top international athlete slated to appear at Fukuoka is world half-marathon record holder, and Tergat's compatriot, Samuel Wanjiru. Hailu Negussie of Ethiopia, who won Boston in 2005 and Hofu in 2001 and 2002, is also on the entry list, along with Kenyan Daniel Yego, Irishman Mark Carroll, and Portuguese Alberto Chaiça. Five top Japanese, all vying for a spot on Japan's Olympic team (Fukuoka is an Olympic selection race), are also expected to start: Toshinari Takaoka, Atsushi Fujita, Shigeru Aburaya, Atsushi Sato and Yuko Matsumiya. The course record of 2:06:51 was set by Atsushi Fujita in 2000. A flat course and good pacemaking has allowed the 2:08 barrier to be broken in Fukuoka ten times. PHOTO: Paul Tergat breaks the marathon world record in Berlin in 2003 (photo courtesy of the real,- Berlin Marathon) Subscribe to the Runner's Web Weekly Digest