Skip to main content

Fukui Runs PB in European Marathon Debut at Muenster Marathon

text and photos by Brett Larner

Makoto Fukui (Team Fujitsu) and Ryosuke Fukuyama (Team Honda) in the early going at the 2012 Muenster Marathon

Unseasonably hot temperatures kept the field at the 2012 Muenster Marathon from approaching the course record of 2:10:25, but despite the heat the front end of the men's race was the deepest and most international in the race's 11-year history. The two men with 2:10 bests went 1-2 as Moroccan Ahmed Nasef took the win by five seconds over Kenyan Paul Kimaiyo Kimugul, 2:12:21 to 2:12:26 after breaking away near 35 km.  Kimugul challenged Nasef's win, saying that Nasef had received unfair aid from a cyclist giving him water in the final 7 km, but the protest was dismissed after judges investigated the claims and could find no supporting evidence or witnesses.

                                     The Muenster Marathon finish

Defending champion Elijah Kimaiyo Kimugul ran only one second slower than his winning time last year but was nearly a minute back in 2:13:11.  Martin Kiprugut (Kenya) and Makoto Fukui (Team Fujitsu) closed hard after falling off the pace after 30 km, both running 2:13 PBs to take 4th and 5th.  Ryosuke Fukuyama (Team Honda) rounded out the top six, running a disappointing 2:15:48 after colliding with a Kenyan competitor at the 15 km drink station and injuring his back.  Both Fukui and Fukuyama made their European debuts in Muenster with support from JRN.

The women's race started slow on the twisting cobblestoned streets of the race's initial 10 km, running just over 19 minutes for the first 5 km split.  Kenyans Joan Rotich and Caroline Kwambai worked together to break Ethiopian pair Abiyot Eshetu Deme and Desso Dunkane Kebo, the Kenyans going a close 1-2 in 2:38:12 and 2:38:26, three minutes ahead of Deme in 3rd.

2012 Volksbank Muenster Marathon
Muenster, Germany, 9/9/12
click here for complete results

Men
1. Ahmed Nasef (Morocco) - 2:12:21
2. Paul Kimaiyo Kimugul (Kenya) - 2:12:26
3. Elijah Kipkemoi Yator (Kenya) - 2:13:11
4. Martin Kiprugut (Kenya) - 2:13:35 - PB
5. Makoto Fukui (Team Fujitsu) - 2:13:57 - PB
6. Ryosuke Fukuyama (Team Honda) - 2:15:48
7. Pharis Kimani (Kenya) - 2:17:21
8. Hailemariam Atsebha Kahsay (Ethiopia) - 2:17:51

Women
1. Joan Rotich (Kenya) - 2:38:12
2. Caroline Kwambai (Kenya) - 2:38:26
3. Abiyot Eshetu Deme (Ethiopia) - 2:41:26
4. Desso Dunkane Kebo (Ethiopia) - 2:43:56
5. Lilian Koech (Kenya) - 2:47:31

(c) 2012 Brett Larner
all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Japan's Team Performance at World U20 Championships

There wasn't much surprise in the events where Japan did well at the Oregon World U20 Championships , with medals in the men's 110 mH, 400 mH and 3000 m, and top 5 finishes in the women's and men's 5000 m race walks, men's 4x100 m relay, men's pole vault and long jump, men's 200 m, women's 800 m and 3000 m, and women's javelin throw. Jeremy Koga ran a 12.95 (+0.3) Asian U20 AR in the men's 110 mH semifinals, then came back in the final with a 12.97 (+0.7) in the final to take silver behind a brilliant 12.72 U20 WR by American Le'Ezra Brown . Taiju Goto was expected to medal in the men's 400 mH, but after leading the semifinals the best he could do was silver in 49.23, gold going to the Czech Republic's Michal Rada with a 48.59 European U20 AR. Expected to do better in the 1500 m, Ojiro Honda ran a 7:48.49 U20 NR in the men's 3000 m final to score bronze, only to come in near the back of the field in the 1500 m final at 14th in...
2 comments
Read more

Federation Tells World Championships Marathoner Horibata To Go On Diet

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/news/20110307-OHT1T00258.htm translated by Brett Larner Having made the 2011 World Championships marathon team by running a PB of 2:09:25 to come in 3rd overall and as the top Japanese finisher at the Mar. 6 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, Hiroyuki Horibata (24, Team Asahi Kasei), talked to the media at Osaka Airport on Mar. 7. Following Sunday's race Rikuren director Keisuke Sawaki , 67, told Horibata, "Let's cut things down a bit until the World Championships," directing him to go on a diet. The 189 cm Horibata weighs 72 kg [~6'3", 160 lbs]. When he joined Team Asahi Kasei in 2005 at age 18 he weighed 65 kg, and this weight is still generally listed on his profile at races and in the media. "For some reason it never changes," he said with a grin. His coach Takeshi Soh , 58, commented, "If he was hungrier for glory his world would change completely," slapping the 'heavyweight division runner...
Post a Comment
Read more

Some Mid-Season Women's Corporate Team Roster Changes

The Daiichi Life women's corporate team announced last week on its official site that Paris Olympics 10000 m runner Haruka Kokai and teammate Yuka Masubuchi left the organization as of July 31. Kokai was born in 2003. Kokai rose to the national level while at Sendai Ikuei H.S. , winning the first leg at the National High School Ekiden her 2nd year to lead them to the overall national title. After graduating she joined Daiichi Life, then called Daiichi Seimei, in 2021. In March, 2023 she was the gold medalist in the women's 10000 m at the Asian Championships, and in December the same year she took 3rd in the National Championships 10000 m in an all-time Japanese #7 30:57.67 to score a place on the Paris Olympics team. In Paris she placed 19th. In a statement released by Daiichi Life Kokai said, "I want to thank the team, who always put the athletes first as they shared this journey, and all my teammates for so many good times together. There were times I got really disco...
1 comment
Read more