FUKUOKA—Kenyan Martin Mathathi won the Fukuoka International Open Marathon Championship on Sunday with a time of 2 hours, 7 minutes and 16 seconds. Yuki Kawauchi, who represented Japan at the World Championships in Athletics in Moscow this summer, finished third with a time of 2:09:05.
Joseph Gitau, also from Kenya, finished second at 2:09:00, though he was hoping for his second consecutive victory at the championship.
The race was held also as a trial to choose competitors for the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.
Arata Fujiwara, who ran for Japan at the London Olympics, dropped out of the race at around the 20-kilometer mark.
Mathathi dropped out of last year’s race.
The race was held also as a trial to choose competitors for the 2014 Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea.-the-japan-news.com
