WIKIPEDIA - Beppu-Ōita Marathon

The Beppu-Ōita Marathon (別府大分マラソン Beppu Ōita Marason?) is an annual men's marathon race that takes place every February between the cities of Beppu and Ōita in Japan. First held in 1952 as a 35 km race, the looped marathon course begins at the bottom of Takasaki Mountain and it reaches Beppu's Kankoko International Port before turning back towards the finishing point in the Ōita Municipal Athletic Stadium.[1] The race has IAAF Silver Label Road Race status, making it one of the world's more prestigious competitions.[2] The event is sponsored by Mainichi and is formally known as the Beppu-Ōita Mainichi Marathon.[3]
The course is AIMS-certified which means that performances on the course are eligible for national and world records.[4] The course has historically provided fast times: in 1963 Tōru Terasawa's time of 2:15:15.8 was recognised as the marathon world best and fifteen years later Shigeru Sō brought the course its second world best with his winning time of 2:09:05.6 in 1978.[nb 1] Furthermore, Koichi Morishita's win in 1991 was the fastest time recorded that year.[7] The current course record holder is Gert Thys of South Africa who won the race in 1996 with a time of 2:08:30.[8]
The marathon race attracts approximately 500 entrants each year, of whom around two-thirds finish the course.[9] The large majority of the runners are Japanese, or Japanese-based. A small number of international athletes are invited to compete each year, although other foreign athletes also appear in the race for pace setting purposes.[10] An additional road race, the Beppu-Oita Mainichi Half Marathon, was held in conjunction with the main race between 1976 and 2001.[9]

READ ON...