Skip to main content

Bat-Ochir, Yoshitomi Win Hofu Yomiuri Marathon

by Brett Larner

The worldwide marathon season came to a close for the year with the Dec. 19 Hofu Yomiuri Marathon. Coming off a top-10 finish at September's Berlin Marathon, Mongolian ace Serod Bat-Ochir took his first win in three straight Hofu appearances. Bat-Ochir sat in a large pack behind pacemaker Dishon Karukwa (Kenya/Team Aisan Kogyo) through the early stages of the race until it whittled down to three by 30 km. Pushing ahead, he dropped Kenyan debutant Samuel Ganga (Team Mazda) and by 35 km had a three-second gap on Taiga Ito (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC). From there it was smooth sailing all the way to the finish. Ganga dropped out before 40 km, leaving Ito free in 2nd and challenged only by teammate Hiroyuki Kamiguchi (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC), who ran a patient race to close strongly and take 3rd.

Although Hofu has regularly had second-tier women, its official women's division only opened last year. Hiroko Yoshitomi (Saga T&F Assoc.) put pressure on past winners Hisae Yoshimatsu (Shunan City Hall) and Noriko Hirao (First Dream AC) throughout the race, easily breaking away to win in a course record 2:38:01.

2010 Hofu Yomiuri Marathon
click here for complete results
Men
1. Serod Bat-Ochir (Mongolia) - 2:14:49
2. Taiga Ito (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 2:15:42
3. Hiroyuki Kamiguchi (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 2:15:53
4. Hirotaka Honda (Team Chugoku Denryoku) - 2:19:30
5. Takashi Yamauchi (Team Aisan Kogyo) - 2:19:50

Women
1. Hiroko Yoshitomi (Saga T&F Assoc.) - 2:38:01 - CR
2. Hisae Yoshimatsu (Shunan City Hall) - 2:40:49
3. Noriko Hirao (First Dream AC) - 2:51:40
4. Emiko Hirai (Hirakata Masters AC) - 2:52:31
5. Nana Higashi (Daiwa AC) - 2:53:48

(c) 2010 Brett Larner
all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

Anonymous said…
Yes Bat-ochir is getting into some competition thing lately. He has won Brighton marathon in UK in April. Could anyone post Hofu marathon video in youtube? I searched all over about this marathon and only your blog has real details about this marathon.

UB guy
December 23, 2010 at 11:49 AM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Hakone Ekiden Qualifying Race Entry Roster Sizes Increased from 14 to 16

Hakone Ekiden organizers KGRR have announced details for the qualifying half marathon for next year's 103rd Hakone Ekiden. The Yosenkai qualifying race will be held Oct. 17 in Tachikawa, Tokyo. The combined times of the 10 fastest finishers from each participating team will be used for team scoring, with the 10 fastest teams going on the the main event next January and top-placing individuals from teams that do not qualify being names to the Kanto Region Student Alliance select team. One change from previous years is that the number of runners each school can enter has been increased from 14 to 16. Teams will still only be allowed to have from 10 to 12 athletes on the starting line, but the move gives coaches greater flexibility in making the final decision on their starting rosters. No changes have been made to the qualifying times of 34:00 for 10000 m or 1:13:00 for the half marathon, and the new earlier starting time of 8:30 a.m. introduced last year in an effort to mitigate ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Japan's Team for Nagoya Asian Games

The JOC announced the full lineups for the men's and women's teams for September's Nagoya Asian Games . Being hosted in Japan the Asian Games are a pretty big deal, and it's pretty close to the maximum of 2 athletes per event. The men's and women's triple jump, the women's 400 m and the women's discus throw only have 1 athlete on the Japanese team, and it's a big FU to the shot putters apparently as nobody was named to either the men's or women's teams even though people ranked lower in the World Athletics Asian rankings than top JPN shot putters Daichi Morishita and Chiharu Saka did make the team in other events. But, let's focus on what it is, not what it isn't. Going off this week's Asian rankings 8 men and 5 women are ranked #1 in their event, with a total of 19 men and 14 women ranked in the top 3. Factor in a limit of 2 per nationality and the relays and Japan's chances of scoring a great medal haul are looking good. M...
1 comment
Read more

2-Time Olympian Yuka Takashima Joins Uniqlo Women's Team

On July 21 the Uniqlo women's team announced that 2-time Olympic 10000 m runner Yuka Takashima had joined its lineup as of July 16. Born in Yamaguchi in 1998, Takashima anchored Okayama's Kojokan H.S. to its first-ever National High School Ekiden win in 2005. After graduating she joined the Denso corporate team, playing a key role in its 3-straight National Corporate Women's Ekiden titles. In 2015 she ran the 10000 m at the 2015 Beijing World Championships. In the spring of 2016 Takashima transferred to the Shiseido corporate team, where she made the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics team in the 10000 m. She played an important role for the team in its ekidens, and in 2022 anchored Shiseido to its first national title in 16 years. In 2023 she was 2nd in the 10000 m National Championships, securing her place on her 2nd Olympic team at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Takashima's PBs are 15:26.33 for 5000 m, 30:57.26 for 10000 m, and 2:26:13 for the marathon. In March this year T...
Post a Comment
Read more