The is an annual marathon race that takes place every February between the cities of Beppu and à Âita on the island of Kyushu in Japan. The race has IAAF Silver Label Road Race status and is a listed course of AIMS (Association of International Marathons).
First held in 1952 as a 35 km race, the looped marathon course begins at the bottom of Takasaki Mountain and reaches Beppu's Kankoko International Port before turning back towards the finishing point in the à Âita Municipal Athletic Stadium. The event is sponsored by The Mainichi Newspapers Co. and is formally known as the Beppu-à Âita Mainichi Marathon. It hosted the Asian Marathon Championship in 1994.
The course is AIMS-certified which means that performances on the course are eligible for national and world records. The course has historically provided fast times: in 1963 TÃ Âru Terasawa's time of 2:15:15.8 was recognised as the marathon world best and fifteen years later Shigeru SÃ Â brought the course its second world best with his winning time of 2:09:05.6 in 1978. Furthermore, Koichi Morishita's win in 1991 was the fastest time recorded that year. Gert Thys of South Africa won the race in 1996 with a time of 2:08:30 and his mark stood for seventeen years until Yuki Kawauchi completed the course in 2:08:15 in 2013.
The marathon race attracts approximately 500 entrants each year, of whom around two-thirds finish the course. 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. An additional road race, the Beppu-Oita Mainichi Half Marathon, was held in conjunction with the main race between 1976 and 2001.
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