I enjoyed the Fukuoka International Marathon Race on BS digital televesion broadcast since the start through the finish. Mr. Atsushi Fujita (24 years) won the race with Japan highest record of 2 hours 6 minutes and 51 seconds (the last record was made by Mr. Akio Usami in 1970), passing over Mr. Abera, an Ethiopian, the winner of Sydney Olympic Marathon Races. Utilizing the new features of digital broadcast, they put subscreen beside the main screen, on which they show live pictures of race. The subscreen reports personal history of racers, comparison of data with past races and etc. I enjoyed the race at my home with the digital broadcast.
But almost all reports were concentrated on seeded racers. Non-seeded racers like Mr. Toshiya Katayama and Ken Hamano were almost neglected although they kept their place in top group through 30 kileometer. They reported about Mr. Katayama very little as he finishied the race as sixth. But they neglected completely Mr. Hamano who finishied as tenth and the third among Japanese racers. These new freshmen are very important for Japan to win world marathon races. I think the producer on spot whould be criticized.