Skip to main content

Noguchi, Takaoka, Fujiwara and Njoroge to Compete in Sendai International Half Marathon (updated)

by Brett Larner

On May 8, the Sendai International Half Marathon released the names of the invited runners for this year`s 18th edition, to be held May 11 in Sendai. Headlining the field are Japanese national marathon record holders Mizuki Noguchi (Team Sysmex) and Toshinari Takaoka (Team Kanebo).

Noguchi will be using Sendai as a tune-up for the Beijing Olympics after a spring season which saw her drop out of her other preparatory races after a series of minor setbacks. She is the defending champion, having won last year`s Sendai in a strong 1:08:54, and is also the overwhelming favorite in a somewhat limited women`s field which includes only one other Japanese runner with a PB under 1:10. Her strongest competition will likely come from Yuko Machida (Team Nihon ChemiCon), a member of Japan`s team at last year`s World Road Running Championships, and Kei Terada (Team Tenmaya), 2nd place finisher at last year`s Universiad Half Marathon Championships. Machida`s teammate Hiroko Shoi also has potential for a good showing.

Takaoka comes to Sendai a month after finishing 16th in the Paris Marathon. The half marathon is the only standard distance from 3000 m to full marathon in which Takaoka has never been the national record holder, but he still holds one of the fastest PBs in the field. He will, however, face a difficult challenge in Sendai from many of the younger runners. Potential winners include defending champion Ombeche Mokamba (Team Aidem), Kenyans Harun Njoroge (Team Komori) and Joseph Mwaniki (Team Konica-Minolta), who finished 1-2 at February`s Marugame Half Marathon, Arata Fujiwara (Team JR East), a half marathon specialist who finished 2nd at February`s Tokyo Marathon, Kazuo Ietani (Team Sanyo Special Steel), the 2nd place finisher at March`s Jitsugyodan Half Marathon Championships, and Masaki Shimojo (Team Konica-Minolta), winner of February`s Kumanichi 30 km Road Race.

Top competitors in Sendai:

Women
Mizuki Noguchi (Team Sysmex), PB: 1:07:43 (2006)
Tomoko Tamamushi (Harriers AC), PB: 1:09:50 (2000)
Nozomi Iijima (Team Sekisui Kagaku), PB: 1:10:40 (2003)
Yuko Machida (Team Nihon ChemiCon), PB: 1:11:55 (2007)
Hiroko Shoi (Team Nihon ChemiCon), PB: 1:12:22 (2008)
Kei Terada (Team Tenmaya), PB: 1:12:37 (2007)
Seyo Hayakawa (Team Sekisui Kagaku), PB: 1:14:22 (2008)
Chiyuki Mochizuki (Team Yamada Denki), PB: 1:15:26 (2005)
Kozue Saito (Team Sports Yamagata 21), PB: 1:15:34 (2007)
Saori Hieda (Bukkyo University), PB: 1:16:28 (2007)
Megumi Oshima (Team Shimamura), PB (marathon): 2:24:25 (2005)
Mizuho Kishi (Team Yamada Denki), PB (5000 m): 17:42.68

Men
Masatoshi Ibata (Team Aisan Kogyo), PB: 1:00:55 (1996)
Toshinari Takaoka (Team Kanebo), PB: 1:01:07 (2003)
Kazuo Ietani (Team Sanyo Special Steel), PB: 1:01:30 (2001)
Harun Njoroge (Team Komori Corp.), PB: 1:01:35 (2008)
Toshihiro Iwasa (Team Otsuka Seiyaku), PB: 1:01:36 (2005)
Joseph Mwaniki (Team Konica-Minolta), PB: 1:01:39 (2008)
Tetsuo Nishikawa (Team YKK), PB: 1:01:48 (2001)
Ombeche Mokamba (Team Aidem), PB: 1:02:29 (2007)
Arata Fujiwara (Team JR East), PB: 1:02:17 (2006)
Seiji Kobayashi (Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki), PB: 1:02:44 (2007)
Masaki Shimojo (Team Konica-Minolta), PB (30 km): 1:30:33 (2008)
Hideyuki Obinata (Team Fujitsu), PB (marathon): 2:08:52 (2001)

A complete listing of the inivted athletes for this year's Sendai Half can be found at:

http://www.sendaihalf.com/jp/history/18-2008athletes/

(c) 2008 Brett Larner
all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Rui Aoki and Shunsuke Kuwata Making U.S. Debut at United Airlines NYC Half

When the National University Half Marathon was canceled in 2011 after the massive earthquake and tsunami struck northeastern Japan 2 days before the race, JRN talked to the New York Road Runners about bringing 2 collegiate runners to the United Airlines NYC Half Marathon the next weekend as a show of support. It wasn't possible to pull it together in the immediate aftermath of the disasters, but a year later we brought 2 young 2nd-years from Hakone Ekiden CR breaker Toyo University , Kento Otsu and Yuta Shitara , who had been the top 2 Japanese collegiate finishers at the Ageo City Half Marathon in November before Hakone. Shitara ran 1:01:48, at the time the fastest-ever by a Japanese man on U.S. soil, with Otsu running a solid 1:03:15. Thanks to that great start the Ageo-NYC partnership became a regular thing, and except for the pandemic it's continued every year since, expanding this year to June's New York Mini 10 km when 2 runners from Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden runne...
2 comments
Read more

Kuwata Runs Fastest-Ever Half Marathon by Japanese Man Outside Japan at United Airlines NYC Half

When the NYRR changed the United Airlines NYC Half course back in 2018 to more or less its current Boston-style hilly one-way version it seemed like it had been repurposed from a fast course to something more tactical. That went out the window last year with new course records of 59:09 and 1:07:04 from Abel Kipchumba and Sharon Lokedi , and this year's results backed that up. Hellen Obiri ground Lokedi down and took over 30 seconds off her CR, winning in 1:06:33 with Lokedi only 6 seconds off what she ran in 2025 but a distant 2nd in 1:07:10. British road 10 km NR holder Megan Keith rolled up hard late in the race to finish 3rd in 1:07:13 less than 10 seconds off old CR too. The men's race saw a big group of 18 attack the hilly first half on sub-59 pace, American Joe Klecker leading through 5 km in 13:57 and Houston Marathon winner Zouhair Talbi through 10 km in 27:56. Right up in it was Shunsuke Kuwata , a 20-year-old 2nd-year at 2025 National University Ekiden champ Koma...
Post a Comment
Read more

16 Women and 26 Men on the Current Olympic Trials Qualifier List

Last weekend's Nagoya Women's Marathon and the Tokyo Marathon the weekend before brought the main part of the first year of qualification for the Marathon Grand Championship Race, Japan's L.A. Olympics marathon trials to be held in Nagoya in October, 2027, to an end. There are still a few races like the Nagano Marathon and overseas World Athletics platinum label races this season where people might qualify, but for the most part we're not likely to see many new additions until August's Hokkaido Marathon, where the qualifying period opened last year. As of right now 16 women and 26 men have qualified, although the first woman to make the cut, Ai Hosoda , announced that she was retiring after Tokyo earlier this month. Out of the 16 women to have qualified so far, Mikuni Yada is the fastest with her 2:19:57 debut at Osaka Women's in January. Including Hosoda that makes 2 qualifiers for the Edion corporate team, but Daihatsu has the biggest share of the field so ...
1 comment
Read more