Skip to main content

Chepchirchir, Ito, Kawauchi, Kisorio and Sato Headline Elite Field of 53 at Marugame International Half Marathon

http://www.jiji.com/jc/c?g=spo_30&k=2012011600713
http://sankei.jp.msn.com/sports/news/120116/oth12011619010032-n1.htm
http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2012/01/16/kiji/K20120116002445470.html
http://sankei.jp.msn.com/region/news/120117/kgw12011702170000-n1.htm
http://www.shikoku-np.co.jp/sports/local/20120117000111

translated and edited by Brett Larner

On Jan. 16 the organizers of the 66th Kagawa Marugame International Half Marathon, scheduled for Feb. 5, announced the 36 men and 17 women making up this year's elite field.  Headlining the overseas men's field are 58:46 all-time #3 half marathoner Matthew Kisorio (Kenya) and course record holder Mekubo Mogusu (Kenya).  The top domestic draws in the men's race are national record holder Atsushi Sato (Team Chugoku Denryoku) and Olympic hopeful Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref.) in his final tuneup for the Tokyo Marathon.  Two-time World Championships marathoner Satoshi Irifune (Team Kanebo) will also run, and 2012 Hakone Ekiden top four Toyo University, Komazawa University, Meiji University and Waseda University will all send members of this year's teams.

1:08:07 half marathoner Sarah Chepchirchir (Kenya) leads the overseas women's field, along with Ethiopian Tiki Gelana.  2011 World Championships marathoner Mai Ito (Team Otsuka Seiyaku), 2009 World Championships marathoner Yoshiko Fujinaga (Team Shiseido) and Kagawa natives Yuka Izumi (Team Tenmaya) and Kumi Ogura (Team Shikoku Denryoku) top the women's race.   Making a return from giving birth to her first baby, marathoner Mari Ozaki (Team Noritz) will also line up, and 2010 Nagoya International Women's Marathon winner Yuri Kano (Team Shiseido) is entered in the women's general division.  11025 people are entered for the half marathon, with entrants in the 3 km and 1 km races swelling the total numbers to 12384.

2012 Kagawa Marugame International Half Marathon Elite Field Highlights
Marugame, Kagawa, 2/5/12
click here for complete elite field listing

Women
Sarah Chepchirchir (Kenya) - 1:08:07
Yuri Kano (Team Shiseido) - 1:08:57
Yoshiko Fujinaga (Team Shiseido) - 1:09:29
Mari Ozaki (Team Noritz) - 1:09:33
Hiroko Miyauchi (Team Kyocera) - 1:09:54
Mai Ito (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) - 1:10:03
Tiki Gelana (Ethiopia) - 1:10:22
Kaoru Nagao (Team Univ. Ent.) - 1:10:45
Noriko Higuchi (Team Wacoal) - 1:10:51
Shino Saito (Team Shimamura) - 1:10:51
Yuka Izumi (Team Tenmaya) - 1:10:58
Yui Sakai (Team Shiseido) - 1:11:05
Sung-Eun Kim (Korea) - 1:11:34
Shoko Mori (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) - 1:11:41
Rika Shintaku (Team Shimamura) - 1:11:49
Sayo Nomura (Meijo Univ.) - 1:11:54
Chiharu Matsuo (Team Kyudenko) - 1:12:00
Misato Horie (Team Noritz) - 1:12:16
Kumi Ogura (Team Shikoku Denryoku) - 1:12:21
Eriko Noguchi (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 1:12:44
Ho-Sun Park (Korea) - 1:12:58
Margarita Plaksina (Russia) - 2:27:07 (marathon)

Men
Matthew Kisorio (Kenya) - 58:46
Mekubo Mogusu (Kenya) - 59:48
Atsushi Sato (Teak Chugoku Denryoku) - 1:00:25
Jacob Wanjuki (Kenya/Team Aichi Seiko) - 1:00:32
James Mwangi (Kenya/Team NTN) - 1:00:34
Alistair Cragg (Ireland) - 1:00:49
Daniel Gitau (Kenya/Team Konica Minolta) - 1:01:08
Satoshi Irifune (Team Kanebo) - 1:01:36
Kenta Oshima (Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 1:01:48
Rachid Kisri (Morocco) - 1:01:52
Yuko Matsumiya (Team Konica Minolta) - 1:01:53
Yusuke Takabayashi (Team Toyota) - 1:01:54
Soji Ikeda (Team Yakult) - 1:02:10
Arata Fujiwara (Tokyo T&F Assoc.) - 1:02:17
Yukihiro Kitaoka (Team NTN) - 1:02:17
Keita Kurihara (Team Chudenko) - 1:02:17
Tomoyuki Morita (Team Kanebo) - 1:02:20
Munehiro Sugaya (Team Toyota Boshoku) - 1:02:22
Makoto Tobimatsu (Team Yasukawa Denki) - 1:02:26
Cosmas Ondiba (Kenya/Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) - 1:02:27
Chiharu Takata (Team JR Higashi Nihon) - 1:02:27
Keisuke Nakatani (Team JR Higashi Nihon) - 1:02:30
Hiromitsu Kakuage (Komazawa Univ.) - 1:02:34
Ryotaro Nitta (Team Konica Minolta) - 1:02:35
Masaki Shimoju (Team Konica Minolta) - 1:02:35
Masatoshi Kikuchi (Team Fujitsu) - 1:02:36
Satoru Kasuya (Team Toyota Boshoku) - 1:02:40
Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref.) - 1:02:40
Takumi Owada (Team Hitachi Cable) - 1:02:40
Tsukasa Morita (Team Sanyo Tokushu Seiko) - 1:02:42
Seiji Kobayashi (Team Mitsuibishi Juko Nagasaki) - 1:02:44
Shuji Yoshikawa (Team Kyudenko) - 1:02:44
Satoshi Yoshii (Team Sumco) - 1:02:45
Kazuya Deguchi (Team Asahi Kasei) - 1:02:46
Daisuke Matsufuji (Team Kanebo) - 1:02:47
Kazuhiko Bando (Team Shikoku Denryoku) - 1:02:49
Masanori Kitajima (Team Yasukawa Denki) - 1:02:50
Ryo Matsumoto (Team Shikoku Denryoku) - 1:02:50
Shota Yamaguchi (Team Fujitsu) - 1:02:51
Ryo Yamamoto (Team Sagawa Express) - 1:02:51
Yuta Igarashi (Team JR Higashi Nihon) - 1:02:52
Masaki Ito (Kokushikan Univ.) - 1:02:53
Tomoyuki Sato (Team Asahi Kasei) - 1:02:53
Hidemi Yokomine (Team Yakult) - 1:02:53
Koji Matsuoka (Team Mazda) - 1:02:55
Yuki Iwai (Team Asahi Kasei) - 1:02:59
Dmytro Baranovskyy (Ukraine) - 2:07:15 (marathon)
Jinhyeok Jeong (Korea) - 2:09:28 (marathon)
Benjamin Gandu (Kenya/Nihon Univ.) - 28:03.43 (10000 m)
Shuhei Yamamoto (Waseda Univ.) - 28:38.15 (10000 m)
Keita Shitara (Toyo Univ.) - 28:46.80 (10000 m)
Hiroyuki Sasaki (Waseda Univ.) - 28:48.47 (10000 m)

Comments

Kevin said…
It's clear that Yuri Kano won't make the Olympic team. I don't know why she even bother trying running Nagoya.

Most-Read This Week

Everything You Need to Know About the 2026 Hakone Ekiden

The Hakone Ekiden is the world's biggest road race, 2 days of road relay action with Japan's 20 best university teams racing 10 half marathon-scale legs from central Tokyo to the mountains east of Mount Fuji and back. The level just keeps going higher and higher , hitting the point this year where there are teams with 10-runner averages of 13:33.10 for 5000 m, 27:55.98 for 10000 m, and 1:01:20 for the half marathon. It's never been better, and with great weather in the forecast it's safe to say this could be one of the best races in Hakone's 102-year history, especially on Day One. If you've seen it then you know NTV's live broadcast is the best sports broadcast in the world, with the pre-race show kicking off at 7:00 a.m. Japan time on the 2nd and 3rd and the race starting at 8:00 a.m. sharp. If you've got a VPN you should be able to watch it on TVer starting at 7:50 a.m. on the 2nd , and again at 7:50 a.m. on the 3rd . There's even a 2-hour high...

Mashiko Breaks U20 5000 m NR - Weekend Track Roundup

Saturday's Kanakuri Memorial Meet in Kumamoto was the weekend's main event in Japanese track, but there were good results at the Nittai University Time Trials meet in Yokohama too. Emmanuel Maru (Toyota Boshoku) led the men's 5000 m A-heat at Kanakuri in 13:14.06, with Tomonori Yamaguchi (SGH) clocking the fastest Japanese time in 13:16.38 in his first race as a corporate leaguer. Waseda University duo Rui Suzuki and Yota Mashiko went 6-7 in 13:20.64 and 13:22.87, the 18-year-old Mashiko shaving 0.04 off the U20 NR. In 8th, Yamato Yoshii (Toyota) ran a PB of 13:23.92. 3000 mSC NR holder Ryuji Miura (Subaru) continued to struggle after a weak indoor season, finishing 18th of 20 finishers in 13:45.10. 19-year-old Festus Kimorwo (Kurosaki Harima) was under 13:20 in the B-heat too, winning in a 13:19.59 PB. 2 more collegiate men broke 13:30, Daichi Fujita (Chuo Univ.) 8th in 13:28.93 and Riki Koike (Soka Univ.) 9th in 13:29.09. The top 6 in the men's 800 m A-hea...