Skip to main content

Ishikawa and Fujiwara Crack Top Ten in Manchester

by Brett Larner

Running in their first road race since clocking 2:08:51 and 2:09:10 at March's Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, teammates Suehiro Ishikawa and Masakazu Fujiwara of the Honda corporate team both cleared the top eight at the May 26 Great Manchester Run, Ishikawa improving on his 8th-place finish at last year's race with a 28:56 clocking for 6th but Fujiwara, a member of Japan's marathon squad for August's World Championships, running 29:32 for 8th after coming down with a cough on race morning.  Double Commonwealth Games gold medalist Moses Kipsiro (Uganda) won in 27:52 in a tight sprint finish over London Olympics marathon bronze medalist Wilson Kipsang (Kenya) and multi-world record-holder Haile Gebrselassie (Ethiopia), who set a 40+ world record of 28:00.  Unusually for a gold label race, athletes from nine different countries placed in the top ten.

Tirunesh Dibaba (Ethiopia) soloed a course record of 30:49 in the women's race, running a stunning 15:40/15:09 negative split to clear the rest of the field by over a minute and a half.  2003 Honolulu Marathon winner Eri Hayakawa (Team Toto) took 8th in 34:12.

2013 Great Manchester Run
Manchester, U.K., 5/26/13
click here for complete results

Men
1. Moses Kipsiro (Uganda) - 27:52
2. Wilson Kipsang (Kenya) - 27:53
3. Haile Gebrselassie (Ethiopia) - 28:00
4. Stephen Mokoka (South Africa) - 28:12
5. Sergiy Lebid (Ukraine) - 28:28
6. Suehiro Ishikawa (Team Honda/Japan) - 28:56
7. Jonny Mellor (England) - 29:21
8. Masakazu Fujiwara (Team Honda/Japan) - 29:32
9. Stephen Scullion (Ireland) - 29:48
10. Meles Okbazghi (Eritrea) - 29:48

Women
1. Tirunesh Dibaba (Ethiopia) - 30:49 - CR
2. Jelena Prokopcuka (Latvia) - 32:21
3. Christelly Daunay (France) - 32:33
4. Gemma Steel (England) - 33:02
5. Alessandra Aguilar (Spain) - 33:03
6. Helen Clitheroe (England) - 33:14
7. Katie Brough (England) - 34:03
8. Eri Hayakawa (Team Toto/Japan) - 34:12
9. Susan Partridge (England) - 34:20
10. Amanda Crook (England) - 34:23

(c) 2013 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Labels

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Tokyo Marathon Top Japanese Man Tsubasa Ichiyama Works 4 Days a Week, Walked On in College

38,000 people ran the 2025 Tokyo Marathon . Every runner had their own story, but one of the most special was Tsubasa Ichiyama (Sunbelx). Despite being on almost nobody's radar, he outran some of the best in the country to finish as the top Japanese man. Ichiyama ran most of the race in the 3rd pace group, going through halfway in 1:02:44 and 30 km in 1:29:13. When the pacers stopped, he showed what he could really do. "I'm not good at downhills, so in the first part it was hard to run smoothly," he said at the post-race press conference. "But after the downhill part ended I got into my rhythm, and I think that helped me over the 2nd half." After dropping Asian Games gold medalist Hiroto Inoue (Mitsubishi Juko) and others, he quickly bore down on the Japanese athletes who had gone out faster in the 2nd pace group. Overtaking Paris Olympics 6th placer Akira Akasaki (Kyudenko) and Yuhei Urano (Fujitsu), at 39.8 km he caught all-time Japanese #2 man Yohei I...
Post a Comment
Read more

Chepkirui Wins Nagoya Women's Marathon

Heavy-duty favorite Sheila Chepkirui took the win at Sunday's Nagoya Women's Marathon , pulling away after 30 km to cruise in for 1st in 2:20:40. Erratic pacing early saw the first and second groups only seconds apart for much of the first half of the race, the top group slower than planned and the 2nd group a bit ahead of schedule. At halfway in 1:10:37 the front group included Chepkirui, #2-ranked Ruti Aga and last year's runner-up Eunice Chumba , and Japanese contingent Sayaka Sato , Rika Kaseda , Natsuki Omori and Mao Uesugi . Omori was the first to drop, then Uesugi, then Aga, who ultimately dropped out before 30 km. When the pacers stopped at 30 km Chepkirui made a move that dropped Kaseda and strung out Chumba and Sato behind her, but all four came back together once before another surge put Kaseda away for good. As Chepkirui inched away Sato and Chumba passed each other repeatedly, and Chumba could only watch as the top Japanese runner got away from her again thi...
1 comment
Read more

Who's Running Tokyo Worlds?

The Japanese marathon teams will be the most prestigious ones to be on for September's Tokyo World Championships, and with Sunday's Nagoya Women's Marathon the window for Japanese athletes to get onto the JAAF's shortlist closed. Who's on it? The final decision won't be made until Mar. 26, but let's look through the selection criteria and see who's guaranteed, who's pretty likely, and who has a chance. 1. Marathon medalists at the Paris Olympics - There weren't any, so nobody makes the team this way. Akira Akasaki (Kyudenko) and Yuka Suzuki (Daiichi Seimei) were the top placers, both of them running PBs in the Olympics to finish 6th. You'd think that would count for something a year later, but you'd think wrong. 2. JMC Series IV Champions - The top point scorers in the Japan Marathon Championship Series IV, which ran from April, 2023 to March, 2025, earn places on the marathon teams along with cash prizes. For women that's Yuka ...
1 comment
Read more