Skip to main content

No Women at Kumanichi 30 km - Elite Field Announced

http://kumanichi.com/lsports/kiji/20110210001.shtml

translated by Brett Larner

On Feb. 9 the organizers of the 55th edition of the world's most competitive 30 km race, the Kumanichi 30 km Road Race scheduled for Feb. 27 in Kumamoto, Kyushu, announced the 13 athletes in this year's elite field. Known as "The Gateway to the Marathon," Kumanichi typically invites young corporate and university runners still in their 20's to get their first experience of longer distance.

2nd by just one second at this year's New Year Ekiden, Team Fujitsu sends two men to try to follow team leader Atsushi Fujita's win at last year's Kumanichi. Shoji Akutsu won the New Year Ekiden's Sixth Stage, while Shota Yamaguchi was 5th on the competitive Third Stage.

New Year Ekiden winner Team Toyota will field Takamasa Uchida, while 3rd place Team Nissin Shokuhin is sending Kenichi Jiromaru. Two of the strong Team Kanebo's youngest members, Tomoyuki Morita and Hiroki Kadota, will run, while Kyushu-based athletes include Shuji Yoshikawa (Team Kyudenko) and Takahiro Mori (Team Asahi Kasei). Two university runner's from this year's high-level Hakone Ekiden are also on the invite list, 3rd place Komazawa University's Akinori Iida, and Koku Gakuin University's Norimasa Nishina who helped lead Koku Gakuin to its first-ever seeded finish.

This year's Kumanichi will not include any women in either the invited or general fields. 53 men make up the general field alongside the 13 invited runners. The race will begin at 10 a.m. in front of the Kumanichi Convention Center in Kumamoto.

Translator's note: The absence of any elite women is probably connected to the Yokohama International Women's Marathon being run on February 20 this year rather than in its usual November time slot.

Comments

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...

Olympian Hagitani Takes 10 Minutes Off Yodogawa Kanpei Half Marathon CR

At the Yodogawa Kanpei Half Marathon in Hirakata, Osaka on Dec. 15, Kaede Hagitani , 24, took over 10 minutes off the women's course record to win in 1:10:37. Hagitani ran the 5000 m at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and is targeting the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Men's winner Koki Hosokawa , 31, broke his own CR with a 1:08:03 to win for the 2nd year in a row. In 5˚ temperatures the race set off along the Yodogawa river. Competing as a first step in her comeback after having left the sport post-Olympics, Hagitani had a spectacular record-breaking run that earned her a permanent invitation. "I usually train alone, so I never feel like I'm really on except in a race like this," she said. "The male runners in the race helped me have a good one." When asked why she ran a local race like the Kanpei Half when everyone else there was just a regular amateur Hagitani laughed and said, "My parents live near here." At the Tokyo Olympics Hagitani broke her 5000...

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,...