Skip to main content

Sang, Simon Win 27,000-Strong Inaugural Osaka Marathon

http://www.pjnews.net/news/291/20111030_2

translated and edited by Brett Larner

Stretching from Osaka City Hall to the south part of Osaka Bay, 27,000 runners took part in Kansai's first mass-participation marathon, the Oct. 30 Osaka Marathon.  With a surge at 30 km Elijah Sang (Kenya) became the race's first champion, winning in 2:12:43.  In post-race comments Sang told the media, "I think this will be a very fast course.  The cheering was incredibly loud, so I never got tired or had to back off.  Things went as planned and I made a move at 30 km.  I was able to win because I was running for the win."

Veteran Lidia Simon (Romania) won the women's race in 2:32:48.  "The course is an easy one without any difficult sections," she said, "but I had trouble maintaining my speed after the turnaround.  I wasn't able to hit my target of a sub-2:30 time, but I did manage to achieve my other goal of winning.  My next goal will be to run in London for my fifth Olympic Games."  Hokkaido Marathon course record holder Kiyoko Shimahara (Second Wind AC) was 2nd in 2:33:36, while local heroine Yuri Yoshizumi (Osaka Nagai AC) came through with a two-minute PB for 3rd in 2:40:31.

The top Japanese man in the race, 4th in 2:14:31, was the popular Yuki Kawauchi, who was once again wheeled away to receive emergency medical treatment after crossing the finish line.  At the post-race press conference Kawauchi commented, "My time was what I was planned, but when the foreign runners sped up at 35 km I slowed down.  I drew strength from all the cheers along the course, and especially out in the bay area near the end where there weren't many people I got a boost when people yelled, 'Go Kawauchi!'"

Kawauchi ran Osaka less than two months after September's World Championships marathon in Daegu, Korea, but with regard to the short period of time between his two races he said, "I can't train a lot for one specific race like corporate runners.  If I don't race a lot my level will go down."  Kawauchi plans to run next month's Ageo City Half Marathon to sharpen his speed for the first domestic selection race for the Olympic team, December's Fukuoka International Marathon.  "Regardless of how things go in Fukuoka," he said, "I'm going to run the Tokyo Marathon as well."

Along with all 27,000 runners on the roads, the cheers from countless roadside supporters as well as the hard work of the the race staff and volunteers combined to help make the first Osaka Marathon an event where Osaka truly become one.

Translator's note: 3rd-place Salim Kipsang (Kenya) won the 2009 Tokyo Marathon.  4th-place Kawauchi's time was the 3rd-best of his career.  2009 Copenhagen Marathon winner Toyokazu Yoshimura (Hyogo Pref.) returned from a year and a half of injury to finish 6th, while notorious 2009 Tokyo Marathon wig runner Nobuaki Takata (Hirakata Masters AC) was 7th.

2011 Osaka Marathon
Osaka, 10/30/2011
click here for complete results

Men
1. Elijah Sang (Kenya) - 2:12:43
2. Aleksey A. Sokolov (Russia) - 2:13:15
3. Salim Kipsang (Kenya) - 2:14:18
4. Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref.) - 2:14:31
5. Kenji Onaka (Team NTT Nishi Nihon) - 2:14:36 - PB
6. Toyokazu Yoshimura (Hyogo Pref.) - 2:21:10
7. Nobuaki Takata (Hirakata Masters AC) - 2:22:28

Women
1. Lidia Simon (Romania) - 2:32:48
2. Kiyoko Shimahara (Second Wind AC) - 2:33:36
3. Yuri Yoshizumi (Osaka Nagai AC) - 2:40:31 - PB

Comments

Samurai Running said…
It was a really fantastic marathon course and the crowd, with a lot of them yelling at us in thick Osaka ben really was something!

Only thing lacking, there could have been more overseas particpants! They were thin on the ground yesterday.
TokyoRacer said…
And congratulations to Scott on his 2:47.

Most-Read This Week

Ninja Runner Yuka Ando Leads Japanese Women's Marathon Team in London: "I Want to Go For It"

Her form has been dubbed "ninja running." Both arms held straight down with almost no movement. That idiosyncratic style carried Yuka Ando , 23, to the fastest-ever marathon debut by a Japanese woman, 2:21:36, at March's Nagoya Women's Marathon to land at #4 on the all-time Japanese lists. All at once Ando found herself catapulted to the top level of women's marathoning, a candidate for Japan's next great marathoner. When she was younger Ando ran moving her arms like other runners, but she had a bad habit of moving robotically, her upper body and lower body not working in sync. The turning point came in 2014 when she joined Suzuki Hamamatsu AC . Working there with coach Masayuki Satouchi to eliminate the faults in her form, the pair arrived at the ninja running style that let her run relaxed. "Other people keep asking me, "Isn't it hard to run like that?" but for me it's comfortable," she said. The efficient form helped her mai

Yamaguchi 10th at United Airlines NYC Half - Weekend Overseas Results

2024 national cross-country champion Tomonori Yamaguchi was the top Japanese finisher in the men's race at the United Airlines NYC Half , taking 10th in 1:04:36. A 2nd-year at Waseda University , Yamaguchi was one of three collegiate runners running New York in the 11th year of JRN's development program collaboration between the Ageo City Half Marathon and the New York Road Runners, a program that has seen people like future half marathon and marathon NR breaker Yuta Shitara and Paris Olympic team member Akira Akasaki make their international debuts. Yamaguchi's Waseda teammate Taishi Ito started fast, going with the leaders through 5 km in 14:29 before losing touch. Hosei University senior Rei Matsunaga went through in 14:42 in his last race before joining the JR Higashi Nihon corporate team in April. Yamaguchi, who caught COVID after winning last month's National Cross-Country Championships, started more conservatively with a 15:11 first 5km. But where both Ito

Rui Aoki Wins National University Men's Half Marathon - Weekend Results

Yuka Ando 's win at the Nagoya Women's Marathon was the big news of the weekend, but there were other high-level races happening, even in Nagoya. Held in parallel with the marathon, the Nagoya City Half Marathon saw Australians Natalie Rule and Ed Goddard take easy wins by about 2.5 minutes each, Rule in 1:13:57 and Goddard in 1:04:01. The new Biwako Marathon also had a non-Japanese winner, China's Yousheng Guan scoring 1st in 2:14:58 with Japan's Hirohito Sugai next in 2:16:40. Mikiko Ota won the women's race in 2:50:44. The Shizuoka Marathon returned for its first running in five years, with club runner Shumpei Oda leading the top 7 men under 2:20 in 2:15:36. Women's winner Remi Tanaka ran 2:41:23, beating runner-up Ayumi Sano by exactly 7 minutes. And in Tokyo, Rui Aoki continued what has been a great season so far for Koku Gakuin University with a win at the National University Men's Half Marathon . Aoki and Hiro Konda of Chuo Gakuin Unive