Skip to main content

Higashino, Makishima, Watanabe, Ichida Twins Win on Roads in Kyushu

http://www.oita-press.co.jp/localNews/2012_132608542166.html
http://www.373news.com/modules/pickup/index.php?storyid=37548
http://www.nagasaki-np.co.jp/kiji/20120110/05.shtml

translated and edited by Brett Larner

Japan's southernmost main island Kyushu was the site of most of the long weekend's road action.

The 49th South Japan Long Distance Meet took place Jan. 8 in Kagoshima on a road loop course inside Kagoshima Sports Park.  A track 10000 m until last year, the open men's 10 km division saw  Takashi Ichida (Daito Bunka Univ., formerly of 2010 national champion Kagoshima Jitsugyo H.S.) take the win in 29:35.  His identical twin brother Hiroshi Ichida (also Daito Bunka Univ. / Kagoshima Jitsugyo H.S.) was close behind in 2nd in 29:38 with Chihiro Suzuhigashi (Kokubu SDF Base) also cracking 30 minutes as he took 3rd in 29:59.  Click here for top results.

A record 951 people competed in the Oita City Half Marathon on Jan. 9 on a course starting and finishing at the Oita Civic Track and Field Grounds.  In the men's half-marathon division Kenji Higashino (Team Asahi Kasei) won a close three-way sprint finish to take 1st in 1:05:19.  His teammate Ryoichi Matsuo (Team Asahi Kasei) was just behind in 2nd in 1:05:21 with amateur Hiroki Nonaka (Usuki Fire Dep't) 3rd in 1:05:23.  Saori Makishima (Canon AC Kyushu) won the women's division in 1:15:19.  Three local high schoolers broke 30 minutes in the men's 10 km, led by Shuhei Kondo (Oita Tomei H.S.) in 29:47.  Sayaka Kuribayashi (Uwa H.S.) likewise won the women's 10 km, clocking 36:22.  The half-marathon started at 10:00 a.m., with the 10 km getting underway at 10:08.  772 people finished the half-marathon, 179 people the 10 km.  The runners travelled along Oita's waterfront highway and took in many of the sights of downtown Oita on a course conducive to fast times.  Click here for complete results.

Further west in Nagasaki at the 41st Unsen Obama Half-Marathon, Masahiko Watanabe (Team Sumco) took his first win in the men's open division in 1:05:54.  A total of 1046 people from elementary school students to adults took part in the different divisions.  Tomoya Oda (Isahaya H.S.) won the high school boys' 10 km in 30:58, while Kana Matsuzoe (Nagasaki Shogyo H.S.) won the high school girls' 5 km in 17:12.

Comments

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