Skip to main content

Kawauchi, Kipsang Headline First Osaka Marathon Elite Field

by Brett Larner

The organizers of next month's first edition of the new Osaka Marathon have officially made their entry into the already crowded fall marathon season with the release of the elite field for the Oct. 30 race.

Topping the men's field with a 2:07:29 best is 2009 Tokyo Marathon champion Salim Kipsang (Kenya).  His best competition, a surprise entry coming just less than two months after the Daegu World Championships, is 2:08:37 runner Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref.) who beat Kipsang at the 2010 Tokyo Marathon.  Other overseas runners include Elijah Sang (Kenya) and Woody Harrelson lookalike Alexsey Sokolov (Russia), who also ran in the World Championships.  The small domestic field includes Japan's two other top amateur runners after Kawauchi, 2009 Copenhagen Marathon winner Toyokazu Yoshimura and infamous wig runner Nobuaki Takata.

The women's field consists primarily of veterans, led by Olympic medalist Lidia Simon (Romania), Hokkaido Marathon course record holder Kiyoko Shimahara (Second Wind AC) and two-time Osaka International Women's Marathon runner-up Mari Ozaki (Team Noritz).  The top contender among the younger runners is 2008 Hokkaido Marathon winner Yukari Sahaku (Team Univ. Ent.).

Non-competitive invited guest runners at the Osaka Marathon include former 10000 m and marathon national record holder Takeyuki Nakayama, 100 km world record and marathon junior national record holder Takahiro Sunada, 1993 Paris Marathon winner Mitsuyo Wada, 1991 Tokyo International Women's Marathon winner Mari Tanigawa, 1985 World University Games winner Mami Fukao and round-the-world celebrity runner Kanpei Hazama.

2011 Osaka Marathon Elite Field
to be held Osaka, Oct. 30, 2011
click here for complete field listing

Men
Salim Kipsang (Kenya) - 2:07:29 (Berlin, 2007)
Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref.) - 2:08:37 (Tokyo, 2011)
Kenjiro Jitsui (Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 2:08:50 (Tokyo Int'l, 1996)
Elijah Sang (Kenya) - 2:10:13 (Frankfurt, 2007)
Alexsey A. Sokolov (Russia) - 2:11:53 (Zurich, 2011)
Toyokazu Yoshimura (Osaka T&F Assoc.) - 2:15:05 (Hofu, 2009)
Kenji Onaka (Team NTT Nishi Nihon) - 2:15:23 (Kochi, 2011)
Nobuaki Takata (Hirakata Masters AC) - 2:19:00 (Fukuoka Int'l, 2009)

Women
Lidia Simon (Romania) - 2:22:54 (Osaka Int'l, 2000)
Mari Ozaki (Team Noritz) - 2:23:30 (Osaka Int'l, 2003)
Kiyoko Shimahara (Second Wind AC) - 2:25:10 (Hokkaido, 2009)
Yukari Sahaku (Team Univ. Ent.) - 2:28:55 (Tokyo, 2009)
Yuri Yoshizumi (Osaka Nagai AC) - 2:42:15 (Fukuchiyama, 2009)
Yuki Ino (Team Noritz) - 2:42:33 (Senshu Int'l, 2011)
Misato Tomoeda (Team Toyota Jidoshokki) - debut - 1:15:48 (Jitsugyodan Half)

(c) 2011 Brett Larner
all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Australian Male Arrested on Drug Smuggling Charges After Entering Japan for Osaka Marathon

On Apr. 9 the Kinki Region Bureau of Health, Labor and Welfare's Drug Control Division arrested Matthew Inglis Fox , 38, an Australian business owner of no known fixed address, on charges of violating the importation regulations of the Narcotics Control Act by smuggling tablets containing marijuana elements from the United States. The suspect had entered Japan in February to run in the Osaka Marathon . The suspect was arrested on suspicion of smuggling approximately 12 pills containing marijuana by sending them from a U.S. airport to Osaka's Kansai Airport using an international courier service on Feb. 19. The Osaka branch of the Customs Service discovered the tablets in arriving cargo and suspected them to be narcotics. Customs contacted the Narcotics Control Division, which then began its investigation of the case. According to the Narcotics Control Division, the suspect denies the charges.  Translator's note: Fox, who received a lifetime ban from the Ageo City Half Mara...
41 comments
Read more

Long Time Coming - Akira Akasaki and Haruka Onodera's Road to the 2022 United Airlines NYC Half

Back in pre-pandemic days Akira Akasaki and Haruka Onodera  were still in college, Akasaki at Takushoku University and Onodera at Teikyo University . At the 2019 Ageo City Half Marathon they frontran most of the race together, dead set on finishing in the top two Japanese collegiate spots to win invitations to the 2020 United Airlines NYC Half. For Akasaki it had already been a year and a half wait. Inspired by Kenta Murayama 's 1:00:57 5th place in finish in New York in 2017 and Kei Katanishi 's 7th-place in 2018, Akasaki went for it his junior year in his debut at the 2018 Ageo Half . "Coming up to 10 km I was in the lead pack and feeling good, so I knew I had a shot at going to New York and got pretty excited," he said. But right after the 10 km turnaround point he tripped and fell, and by the time he was back up the lead group was out of range. He finished 20th in 1:03:07, over a minute and a half behind top Japanese university man Ken Nakayama . "I was f...
1 comment
Read more

My Training for 1:00:44

Hi, I'm Ayumu Kobayashi . Today I'm going to write about this year's National Corporate Half Marathon and the training I did for it. I hope other runners will find it even a little bit helpful. At the Corporate Half on Feb. 13 I was 10th in 1:00:44. My goal had been to run 61 minutes, so I hit that target. My Training Menu In January I ran a total of 681 km. Key workouts: Jan. 11: 1000 m x 5 at 2:50/km Jan. 12: 22.5 km Jan. 15: 9 km variable pace Jan. 17: 25 km Jan. 24: 1000 m x 8 at 2:52/km Jan. 27: 1 km + 4 km + 2 km Jan. 30: 16 km at 3:18/km avg. In January I was tired from the New Year Ekiden and had some knee pain after it, so I just jogged for 10 days until I started doing workouts again on the 11th. That's why I only ran 681 km for the month. But even on the jog days I was aware that I had the Corporate Half coming up, so I was doing around 30 km. It's pretty meat and potatoes, but I think it was really important. February (training for the 10 days before...
2 comments
Read more