Skip to main content

Akaba, Maruyama Win Fast National Corporate Half Marathon

by Brett Larner

Course record holder Yukiko Akaba (Team Hokuren) ran 1:08:59 to claim her second National Corporate Half Marathon Championships victory Mar. 17 in Yamaguchi. With the first sub-1:09 by a Japanese woman since her 1:08:11 course record in 2008 Akaba outran ekiden star Hanae Tanaka (Team Daiichi Seimei), who made a solid debut in 1:09:18. Having faltered in recent seasons and missing the London Olympics, Akaba will run next month's London Marathon, the site of her best marathon to date, in a bid to make the Moscow World Championships team.  Riko Matsuzaki (Team Sekisui Kagaku) won the women's 10 km in 32:48 by a margin of 7 seconds.

In the men's race 22-year-old Fumihiro Maruyama (Team Asahi Kasei), 2nd behind Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) at last month's Kumanichi 30 km, won in a PB 1:01:15, outrunning Kenyans Johana Maina (Team Fujitsu) and, in his last run in Japan, Gideon Ngatuny (Team Nissin Shokuhin).  Maruyama's time was good enough to tie the all-time Japanese #8 mark, securing his place among the best of Japan's youngest elite set.

2013 National Corporate Half Marathon Championships
Yamaguchi, 3/17/13
click here for complete results

Men
1. Fumihiro Maruyama (Team Asahi Kasei) - 1:01:15
2. Johana Maina (Kenya/Team Fujitsu) - 1:01:28
3. Gideon Ngatuny (Kenya/Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 1:01:43
4. Minato Oishi (Team Toyota) - 1:02:06
5. Alex Mwangi Kenya/Team YKK) - 1:02:09
6. Muryo Takase (Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 1:02:12
7. Tomohiro Shiiya (Team Toyota Boshoku) - 1:02:15
8. Tomohiro Tanigawa (Team Konica Minolta) - 1:02:19
9. Kazuki Onishi (Team Kanebo) - 1:02:21
10. Akihiko Tsumurai (Team Mazda) - 1:02:27

Women
1. Yukiko Akaba (Team Hokuren) - 1:08:59
2. Hanae Tanaka (Team Daiichi Seimei) - 1:09:18
3. Rei Ohara (Team Tenmaya) - 1:09:45
4. Grace Kimanzi (Kenya/Team Starts) - 1:10:17
5. Yurie Doi (Team Starts) - 1:10:50
6. Yuka Tokuda (Team Starts) - 1:11:00
7. Aya Nagata (Team Toyota Jidoshokki) - 1:11:22
8. Keiko Nogami (Team Juhachi Ginko) - 1:11:46
9. Sakiko Matsumi (Team Daiichi Seimei) - 1:11:47
10. Nanami Matsuura (Team Tenmaya) - 1:11:59

Women's 10 km
1. Riko Matsuzaki (Team Sekisui Kagaku) - 32:48
2. Miho Ihara (Team Shikoku Denryoku) - 32:55
3. Misaki Onishi (Team Sekisui Kagaku) - 32:58
4. Yui Okada (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) - 32:58
5. Yuki Mitsunobu (Team Kyocera) - 33:01

(c) 2013 Brett Larner
all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Japan Announces Complete London Olympics Athletics Team

by Brett Larner Click here for JRN's complete video coverage of the 2012 Japanese Olympic Trials, 27 videos making up nearly three hours of footage. The Japanese Federation and Olympic Committee announced the complete lineup of Japan's team of 48 athletes for this summer's London Olympics track and field events at a press conference on June 11.  The team features 11 national record holders and 18 current national champions and is young overall, with a heavy preponderance of first-time Olympians including a World Junior gold medalist, 13 collegiates and one high schooler.  The Fujitsu corporate team is overwhelmingly the best-represented, boasting 8 Olympic team members, while Chukyo University tops the collegiate list with 3 athletes on the team.  Suzuki, whose Suzuki Hamamatsu AC club team exists outside the corporate league, also has 3 Olympians. No Olympic team selection process is free of controversial decisions, and the omission of women's 10000 m Jr. NR hold
3 comments
Read more

Wanjiru Breaks Own MR, Fuwa and Ishida Return - Kanto Regionals Day 1 Highlights

Japan's best college meet kicked off Thursday at Tokyo's National Stadium at the 103rd Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships . Looking like she was doing a controlled tempo run, 2nd-yr Sarah Wanjiru (Daito Bunka Univ.) lapped the entire field to win the women's 10000 m in a meet record 32:02.87, almost 15 seconds under the record she last year in her debut. 3rd-yr Aoi Takahashi (Josai Univ.) was 2nd in 33:29.22 and 2nd-yr Nana Nagashima (Josai Kokusai Univ.) 3rd in a PB 33:30.28, but the other main news alongside Wanjiru's new record was the return of collegiate 10000 m record holder Seira Fuwa (Takushoku Univ.) in her first 10000 m in 19 months. Fuwa hung at the back of the chase pack for the first half, made a move to lead it in the second half, and ultimately faded to 9th in 33:40.20. Every comeback has to start somewhere. The D1 men's 10000 m had a tight group up front with the top 6 all finishing within 6 seconds and under 28:10. 3rd-yr Jam
1 comment
Read more

Two-Time Olympic Marathon Medalist Erick Wainaina Referred to Prosectors on Suspicion of Assault

  According to investigators, two-time Olympic marathon medalist Erick Wainaina has had his case referred to prosecutors after allegedly injuring a railway employee by striking him in the face at a station in Setagaya, Tokyo. Wainaina, 50, was the bronze medalist in the marathon at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and won silver in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Wainaina is suspected of assaulting a woman in her late teens and a male Tokyu Denentoshi Line employee by hitting them in the face during an altercation at Komazawa University Station in March this year, resulting in minor injuries to the man's face. According to investigators, the incident began on the train between Wainaina and the woman, and after getting off at Komazawa University Station he hit her in the face when she asked him to go to the station office with her to report it. When the male railway employee responded to the situation Wainaina reportedly hit him too. In response to questioning Wainaina is said to have answered,
Post a Comment
Read more