2014 Tokyo Marathon
Apparently because of some negative comments he made on a Japanese figure skater.
The race was fantastic as both the men's and women's races were decided after 40k.
The former HS star skipped college and the famed Hakone Ekiden to try to be world class at the marathon. He's #4 all-time at 13.1 in Japan *60:53).
He'd love you to come race there. International applicants have a 66% change of getting in - Japanese 10%.
The Tokyo Marathon has a great field that includes 2-time World champ Abel Kirui, Tadesse Tola (2:04:49), Chicago champ Dennis Kimetto, 2011 World Junior XC champ Geoffrey Kipsang and more.
Kirui missed most of 2013 with a stress fracture, but says his form is coming back around. Talking about Kenya's poor performance at Worlds (their first runner was 9th) he actually said they should have spent more time in the AK training camps, advocating for 4 months there. We might disagree with the Kenyan training camps, but agree with his statement that AK needs to make it's team selection more in advance.
“They made small calculation errors. Preparations by our coaches and Athletics Kenya when we go for major championships should be four months in camp, there’s no shortcut in the marathon, not one month, two months or three months."
Kirui said he's recovered from the stress fracture that kept him out of last year's London Marathon and was disappointed not to be chosen for the 2014 London elite field.
Asked why he made the move to the marathon so early (he ran his debut at 19) he said, “It is a decision I made in consultation with my coach and manager since the truth is I do not have fast times to compete with the very best on track. There are also more career possibilities in half and full marathon as opposed to track races that are getting fewer every day."
A look at the routes in Berlin, Chicago, New York, Tokyo, London, Boston.