Skip to main content

Tadese, Mathathi and Karoki to Line Up in Gifu

by Brett Larner

The organizers of the Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon have put together one of the best men's fields in a Japanese half in recent memory for the race's fourth running on May 18.  World record holder Zersenay Tadese (Eritrea) returns after running a course record 1:00:31 last year to beat 2011-2012 winner Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC).  Mathathi is also back to go for a third title after sitting out the London Marathon with a minor injury.  The big addition to the mix is Bedan Karoki (Kenya/DeNA RC), who made a successful transition to longer distances with a 59:58 debut to win the 2014 Lisbon Half despite problems in the early going. Mekubo Mogusu (Kenya/Team Nissin Shokuhin) joins them under the hour mark as a top contender on paper, but with a recent best of only 1:01:54 it would take a pretty major return to form for him to compete with the three big names.

Also notable is the debut of 27:13 man Edward Waweru (Kenya/Team NTN).  Top Japanese men include Masato Kihara (Team Kanebo), Arata Fujiwara (Miki House), Yusei Nakao (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) and Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't).

The women's race looks like an easy win for two-time marathon world champion Edna Kiplagat (Kenya), whose best of 1:08:48 puts her about a kilometer ahead of most of the rest of the competition. Hiroko Shoi (Team Denso) and Eri Okubo (Miki House) look like the only Japanese women capable of competing with the foreign chase pack, which includes Katie McGregor (U.S.A.), Visiline Jepkesho (Kenya) and Miranda Boonstra (Netherlands).

4th Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon Elite Field Highlights
Gifu, 5/18/14
click here for complete elite field

Men
Zersenay Tadese (Eritrea) - 58:23 (Lisbon 2010)
Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 58:56a (Great North Run 2011)
Mekubo Mogusu (Kenya/Team Nissin Shokuhin) -59:48 (Marugame 2007)
Bedan Karoki (Kenya/DeNA RC) - 59:58 (Lisbon 2014)
Jacob Wanjuki (Kenya/Team Aichi Seiko) - 1:00:32 (Nagoya 2010)
Abayneh Ayele (Ethiopia/Team Mazda) - 1:00:51 (Delhi Half 2010)
Masato Kihara (Team Kanebo) - 1:01:15 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2012)
Arata Fujiwara (Miki House) - 1:01:34 (Marugame 2012)
Patrick Muendo Muwaka (Kenya/Team Aisan Kogyo) - 1:01:57 (Gifu Seiryu 2013)
Takahiro Yamanaka (Team Honda) - 1:01:57 (Marugame 2012)
Masamichi Shinozaki (Team Hitachi Butsuryu) - 1:01:58 (Marugame 2012)
Yusei Nakao (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 1:02:00 (Sendai 2008)
Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) - 1:02:18 (Marugame 2012)
Edward Waweru (Kenya/Team NTN) - debut - 27:13.94 (Fukuroi 2010)
Macharia Ndirangu (Kenya/Team Aichi Seiko) - debut - 27:59.11 (Fukagawa 2013)

Women
Edna Kiplagat (Kenya) - 1:08:48 (Lisbon 2013)
Kiyoko Shimahara (Second Wind AC) - 1:10:16 (Miyazaki Women's 2006)
Hiroko Shoi (Team Denso) - 1:10:48 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2010)
Eri Okubo (Miki House) - 1:11:22 (Ichinoseki 2011)
Katie McGregor (U.S.A.) - 1:11:45 (Las Vegas 2011)
Visiline Jepkesho (Kenya) - 1:11:50 (Darica 2013)
Miranda Boonstra (Netherlands) - 1:13:04 (Venlo 2010)
Yuki Sakata (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 1:13:14 (Marugame 2013)
Yuko Mizuguchi (Team Denso) - 1:13:27 (Nat'l Univ. Women's Half 2008)
Shoko Shimizu (Team Aichi Denki) - 1:13:43 (Marugame 2013)

(c) 2014 Brett Larner
all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

19-Yr-Old Munakata Breaks Miura's U20 NR to Win Ageo City Half Marathon

The Ageo City Half Marathon is always big, the main race that the coaches of Hakone Ekiden-bound university men's teams use for firming up their entry rosters for the big show. That makes what's basically an idyllic small town race into one of the world's great road races, with depth unmatched anywhere. One of the top-tier people on the start list at 1:02:07, Kodai Miyaoka (Hosei Univ.) took the race out fast, but the entire pack was keying off the fastest man in the race, Reishi Yoshida (Chuo Gakuin Univ.), 1:00:31. Yoshida reeled Miyaoka in before 5 km and kept things steady in the low-1:01 range, wearing down the lead group to around 10 including his CGU teammate Taisei Ichikawa , a quartet from Izumo and National University Ekiden runner-up Komazawa University , 2 runners from local Daito Bunka University , 2:07:54 marathoner Atsumi Ashiwa (Honda), and Australian Ed Goddard . Right after 15 km Komazawa went into action, Yudai Kiyama , Hibiki Murakami and Haru Tanin
Post a Comment
Read more

10000 m NR Attempt In the Works Saturday at Hachioji Long Distance - Streaming and Preview

There are a bunch of other time trial meets this weekend and next, but Saturday's Hachioji Long Distance is the last big meet for Japanese men, 8 heats of Wavelight-paced 10000 m finely graded from target times of 28:50 down to 26:59 for the fastest heat. Heat 6 at 17:55 local time is effectively the B-race, with 35 Japan-based Kenyans targeting 27:10 at the front end, and in a lot of cases a spot on their teams at the New Year Ekiden national championship on Jan. 1. Corporate teams are only allowed to field one non-Japanese athlete in the New Year Ekiden, and only on its shortest stage, and getting to that has a big impact on African athletes' contracts and renewal prospects. Toyota Boshoku , Yasukawa Denki , Chugoku Denryoku , Aisan Kogyo , JR Higashi Nihon , Subaru and 2024 national champion Toyota are all fielding two Kenyans, and Aichi Seiko three. For people like Toyota's Felix Korir and Samuel Kibathi , getting as close to the 27:10 target time as they can and
Post a Comment
Read more

Ageo City Half Marathon Preview and Streaming

This weekend's big race is the Ageo City Half Marathon , the next stop on the collegiate men's circuit. Most of the universities bound for the Jan. 2-3 Hakone Ekiden use Ageo to thin down the list of contenders for their final Hakone rosters, and with JRN's development program that sends the first two Japanese collegiate finishers in Ageo to the United Airlines NYC Half every year a lot of coaches put in some of their A-listers too. That gives Ageo legendary depth and fast front-end speed, with a 1:00:47 course record last year from Kenyan corporate leaguer Paul Kuira (JR Higashi Nihon) and the top 26 all clearing 63 minutes. Since a lot of programs just enter everybody on their rosters you never really know who on the entry list is actually going to show up, but if even a quarter of the people at the top end of this year's list run it'll be a great race, even if conditions are looking likely to be a bit warmer than ideal. Chuo Gakuin University 's Reishi Yoshi
Post a Comment
Read more