Skip to main content

Hokkaido Marathon Announces Elite Field

by Brett Larner

The Hokkaido Marathon has announced the elite field for this year's race, scheduled for Aug. 30 on a new course. The premier summer Japanese marathon, Hokkaido has attracted a top field of domestic athletes not running the World Championships a week prior.

The women's race promises to be the highlight of the event, with this year's Tokyo Marathon winner Mizuho Nasukawa (Team Aruze), inexplicably omitted from the World Championships marathon team, squaring off against teammate and defending champ Yukari Sahaku (Team Aruze) who is running the 10000 m in the Berlin World Championships, 2008 Tokyo Marathon winner Claudia Dreher (Germany), 2008 Honolulu Marathon winner Kiyoko Shimahara (Second Wind AC), 2006 Hokkaido winner Kaori Yoshida (Amino Vital AC) and more.

In the men's race, defending champ Masaru Takamizawa (Saku Chosei H.S.) will face former teammates Yuzo Onishi (Team Nissin Shokuhin) and Toshinari Suwa (Team Nissin Shokuhin), Kenyan great Daniel Njenga (Team Yakult), 2009 Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon runner-up Seiji Kobayashi (Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki) who narrowly missed making the Berlin World Championships team, and others.

2009 Hokkaido Marathon - Elite Field
Women
Naoko Sakamoto (Team Tenmaya) - 2:21:51 (Osaka 2003)
Mizuho Nasukawa (Team Aruze) - 2:25:38 (Tokyo 2009)
Kiyoko Shimahara (Second Wind AC) - 2:26:14 (Hokkaido 2005)
Aki Fujikawa (Team Shiseido) - 2:27:06 (Nagoya 2004)
Claudia Dreher (Germany) - 2:27:55 (Hannover 1999)
Akemi Ozaki (Second Wind AC) - 2:28:39 (Tokyo Int'l 2007)
Yukari Sahaku (Team Aruze) - 2:28:55 (Tokyo 2009)
Kaori Yoshida (Amino Vital AC) - 2:30:58 (Nagoya 2008)
Naoko Ota (Saku AC Hokkaido) - 2:48:52 (Nagoya 2008)
Mai Fujisawa (Hokkaido City Hall) - 2:50:23 (Nagoya 2009)

Men
Daniel Njenga (Team Yakult) - 2:06:16 (Chicago 2002)
Toshinari Suwa (Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 2:07:55 (Fukuoka 2003)
Yuzo Onishi (Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 2:08:54 (Biwako 2008)
Tomoya Shimizu (Team Sagawa Express) - 2:09:23 (Biwako 2008)
Laban Kagika (Team JFE Steel) - 2:10:24 (Fukuoka 2001)
Seiji Kobayashi (Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki) - 2:10:38 (Beppu-Oita 2009)
Yuri Hyuchun (Ukraine) - 2:10:59 (Debuno 2008)
Masaru Takamizawa (Saku Chosei H.S.) - 2:12:10 (Hokkaido 2008)
Toyoshi Ishige (Team Yakult) - 2:12:45 (Biwako 2008)
Hiroshi Matsuda (Saku AC Hokkaido) - 2:23:38 (Fukuoka 1999)

(c) 2009 Brett Larner
all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

TokyoRacer said…
Wait a minute...a Japanese high school kid ran a 2:12 last year...as a HS junior??
August 7, 2009 at 11:00 PM
Brett Larner said…
No, he's a teacher there. Young, but not that young. Takamizawa ran for Nissin for a year or two then quit last year to take a job at Saku Chosei where he'd gone to high school. He ran in a SC singlet last year and I remember the announcers repeatedly saying that he was not actually a high school student.
August 7, 2009 at 11:32 PM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

19-Yr-Old Munakata Breaks Miura's U20 NR to Win Ageo City Half Marathon

The Ageo City Half Marathon is always big, the main race that the coaches of Hakone Ekiden-bound university men's teams use for firming up their entry rosters for the big show. That makes what's basically an idyllic small town race into one of the world's great road races, with depth unmatched anywhere. One of the top-tier people on the start list at 1:02:07, Kodai Miyaoka (Hosei Univ.) took the race out fast, but the entire pack was keying off the fastest man in the race, Reishi Yoshida (Chuo Gakuin Univ.), 1:00:31. Yoshida reeled Miyaoka in before 5 km and kept things steady in the low-1:01 range, wearing down the lead group to around 10 including his CGU teammate Taisei Ichikawa , a quartet from Izumo and National University Ekiden runner-up Komazawa University , 2 runners from local Daito Bunka University , 2:07:54 marathoner Atsumi Ashiwa (Honda), and Australian Ed Goddard . Right after 15 km Komazawa went into action, Yudai Kiyama , Hibiki Murakami and Haru Tanin
Post a Comment
Read more

Ageo City Half Marathon Preview and Streaming

This weekend's big race is the Ageo City Half Marathon , the next stop on the collegiate men's circuit. Most of the universities bound for the Jan. 2-3 Hakone Ekiden use Ageo to thin down the list of contenders for their final Hakone rosters, and with JRN's development program that sends the first two Japanese collegiate finishers in Ageo to the United Airlines NYC Half every year a lot of coaches put in some of their A-listers too. That gives Ageo legendary depth and fast front-end speed, with a 1:00:47 course record last year from Kenyan corporate leaguer Paul Kuira (JR Higashi Nihon) and the top 26 all clearing 63 minutes. Since a lot of programs just enter everybody on their rosters you never really know who on the entry list is actually going to show up, but if even a quarter of the people at the top end of this year's list run it'll be a great race, even if conditions are looking likely to be a bit warmer than ideal. Chuo Gakuin University 's Reishi Yoshi
Post a Comment
Read more

10000 m NR Attempt In the Works Saturday at Hachioji Long Distance - Streaming and Preview

There are a bunch of other time trial meets this weekend and next, but Saturday's Hachioji Long Distance is the last big meet for Japanese men, 8 heats of Wavelight-paced 10000 m finely graded from target times of 28:50 down to 26:59 for the fastest heat. Heat 6 at 17:55 local time is effectively the B-race, with 35 Japan-based Kenyans targeting 27:10 at the front end, and in a lot of cases a spot on their teams at the New Year Ekiden national championship on Jan. 1. Corporate teams are only allowed to field one non-Japanese athlete in the New Year Ekiden, and only on its shortest stage, and getting to that has a big impact on African athletes' contracts and renewal prospects. Toyota Boshoku , Yasukawa Denki , Chugoku Denryoku , Aisan Kogyo , JR Higashi Nihon , Subaru and 2024 national champion Toyota are all fielding two Kenyans, and Aichi Seiko three. For people like Toyota's Felix Korir and Samuel Kibathi , getting as close to the 27:10 target time as they can and
Post a Comment
Read more