Skip to main content

Team Asahi Kasei's Masaya Shimizu Takes First-Ever Victory in Nobeoka Nishi Nihon Marathon

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/news/20080224-OHT1T00205.htm
http://www.umk.co.jp/news/headline/20080224.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

Masaya Shimizu of Team Asahi Kasei won the Nobeoka Nishi Nihon Marathon on a windy Feb. 24 in a time of 2:13:06. It was his 4th full marathon and first time winning at the distance.

18 seconds behind Shimizu was Team Kyudenko's Tomonori Onitsuka, with Kentaro Nakamoto of Team Yasukawa Denki 3rd in his marathon debut. Team Asahi Kasei's Muneyuki Ojima, running his final marathon, was 9th.

Shimizu launched a spurt at 30 km, breaking up the lead pack and turning the event into a match race against Onitsuka. Attacking at 41 km, he managed to break contact with Onitsuka and run away to his first victory. Both runners were slightly off their PB times.

Conditions at the start were 6.4 degrees with 35% humidity and NNW winds at 6.1 m/s.

Translator's note: Team Asahi Kasei continues its strong showing in the marathon this year. Asahi Kasei runner Tomoya Adachi ran 2:11:59 to win the Feb. 3 Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon in his debut, and teammate Hiroyuki Horibata was 9th in the Tokyo Marathon on Feb. 17, likewise debuting in 2:11:47.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Japan Post Holds Off Sekisui Kagaku to Win Queens Ekiden National Title

  Japan Post  was back on top at the Queens Ekiden corporate women's national championships Sunday in Sendai, holding off last year's winner Sekisui Kagaku  over the second half of a race that came as close as 1 second to take 1st with a final margin of victory of 27 seconds. Sekisui Kagaku was out fast with a win on the 7.0 km opening leg by Erika Tanoura  and a new CR for the 12:56 second leg by Yuma Yamamoto , 17 seconds better than her own CR from last year. Last year's 4th-placer Shiseido  briefly led on the 10.6 km third leg with an excellent 33:17 stage win from Rino Goshima , but behind her Japan Post's Ririka Hironaka  returned from her latest injury problems to pass Sekisui Kagaku's Sayaka Sato  and hand off 6 seconds ahead. New recruit Caroline Kariba  ran Shiseido down on the 3.6 km fourth leg and put Japan Post 22 seconds ahead of Sekisui Kagaku, but a duel of marathoners between JP's  Ayuko Suzuki  and Sekisui's Hitomi Niiy...
Post a Comment
Read more

2023 Champion Kamimura Gakuen Girls Ready for Sunday's National High School Ekiden

Ahead of the Dec. 22 National High School Ekiden in Kyoto, the 2023 national champion Kamimura Gakuen H.S. girls held an open practice session for the media. 2023 was Kamimura Gakuen's only 2nd national title ever. Can it make it two in a row? The Kamimura Gakuen girls won the Nov. 2 Kagoshima Prefecture High School Ekiden, its 9th-straight win and 31st victory overall in the prefectural qualifying race for Nationals. 3rd on her stage at Nationals last year as part of the winning team, Hina Ogura summed up this year's lineup. "There's no really dominant star runner this year, but each person is aware of their position on the team and working together to share in everyone playing leading roles." Sakine Noguchi ran the Second Stage at Nationals last year. "I think we've improved our stamina," she said, "so I hope that we can get the best possible results and all finish with a smile." Handling the First Stage last year, Rin Setoguchi said,...
Post a Comment
Read more

Kyoyama Girls and Fuji Boys Win National Junior High School Ekiden Titles

The 32nd National Junior High School Ekiden took place Sunday at Kibogaoka Bunka Koen in Shiga. In the girls' race, Okayama's Kyoyama J.H.S. scored back-to-back titles with a 41:18 for the 5-leg, 12.0 km course. After a slow start from lead runner Wakana Minami , the Kyoyama girls moved up steadily, third runner Mei Iwasaki taking the lead with a stage win and fourth runner Chisato Shimoda setting a new stage record of 6:41 for her 2.0 km leg. It was only the sixth successful title defense in Nationals history, with Kyoyama joining past two-time champions Gotemba J.H.S. (Shizuoka), Nakanojo J.H.S. (Gunma), Fujimi J.H.S. (Gunma), Katsura J.H.S. (Kyoto), and Inami J.H.S. (Hyogo). 47 seconds back in 2nd was Osawano J.H.S. (Toyama), whose fifth runner Shiho Kurokawa , winner of last year's third leg, had the fastest time on her leg again. Kamimura Gakuen J.H.S. (Kagoshima) was 3rd, whose anchor Kirari Takeda , fastest on the second leg win last year, passed 3 people ...
Post a Comment
Read more