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Weekend Japanese Road Results

by Brett Larner

The biggest domestic road action of the weekend took place in Shizuoka at the Yaizu Minato Half Marathon where Yoshiki Koizumi of 2013 Hakone Ekiden winner Nittai University battled last year's winner Tomoyasu Matsui (Meiji Univ.) from start to finish, both breaking the course record as Koizumi claimed the win in 1:03:26. 2013 National University Men's Ekiden champion Komazawa University had the next two men across the line, both Kohei Futaoka and Shoya Kurokawa timed at 1:03:48.  Komazawa took the win in Yaizu's University Pair Marathon team scoring based on the combined times of its top two finishers, setting a new record of 2:07:36. Nittai was just a second behind, likewise clearing the old record in 2:07:37.  The top non-collegiate runner was Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't), 9th overall in 1:04:19 a week after his latest marathon course record win in Saga.  Almost simultaneously, his youngest brother Koki Kawauchi (Takasaki Keizai Univ.) won the Guam Marathon in 2:38:09.

Elsewhere internationally, London Olympics marathoner Ryo Yamamoto (Team SGH Group Sagawa) had a decent run in the Vienna City Marathon, 6th in 2:10:59 for the fastest time overseas so far this year by a Japanese man.  Ethiopian Getu Feleke set a quality course record of 2:05:41, bound to be the weekend's most overlooked performance.  World Championships marathoner Mai Ito (Team Otsuka Seiyaku), who ran 2:28:36 at February's Tokyo Marathon, ran a disappointing 2:35:15 for 7th in a race won in 2:28:59 by Germany's Anna Hahner.  Bunta Kuroki (Team Yasukawa Denki), a training partner of Yamamoto's Olympic teammate Kentaro Nakamoto, was 11th in the Warsawa Marathon in 2:14:27.  Across the channel at the London Marathon, track and ekiden star Yuko Shimizu (Team Sekisui Kagaku) made her marathon debut, outrunning Ito's Vienna time in 2:32:00 but finishing 11th.

Vienna City Marathon
Vienna, Austria, 4/13/14
click here for complete results

Men
1. Getu Feleke (Ethiopia) - 2:05:41 - CR
2. Alfred Kering (Kenya) - 2:08:28
3. Philip Sanga (Kenya) - 2:08:58
4. Duncan Koech (Kenya) - 2:09:17
5. Oleksadr Sitkovskyy (Ukraine) - 2:10:44
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6. Ryo Yamamoto (Japan/Team SGH Group Sagawa) - 2:10:59

Women
1. Anna Hahner (Germany) - 2:28:59
2. Caroline Chepkwony (Kenya) - 2:29:18
3. Marta Lema (Ethiopia) - 2:31:10
4. Alice Chelangat (Kenya) - 2:32:46
5. Olga Glok (Russia) - 2:33:23
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7. Mai Ito (Japan/Team Otsuka Seiyaku) - 2:35:15

London Marathon
London, U.K., 4/13/14
click here for complete results

Women
1. Edna Kiplagat (Kenya) - 2:20:21
2. Florence Kiplagat (Kenya) - 2:20:24
3. Tirunesh Dibaba (Ethiopia) - 2:20:35 - debut
4. Feyse Tadese (Ethiopia) - 2:21:42
5. Aberu Kebede (Ethiopia) - 2:23:21
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11. Yuko Shimizu (Japan/Team Sekisui Kagaku) - 2:32:00 - debut

Yaizu Minato Half Marathon
Yaizu, Shizuoka, 4/13/14
complete results coming shortly

 Men
1. Yoshiki Koizumi (Nittai Univ.) - 1:03:26 - CR, PB
2. Tomoyasu Matsui (Meiji Univ.) - 1:03:34 - PB
3. Kohei Futaoka (Komazawa Univ.) - 1:03:48 - PB
4. Shoya Kurokawa (Komazawa Univ.) - 1:03:48 - PB
5. Hajime Sakamoto (Nittai Univ.) - 1:04:01
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9. Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) - 1:04:19

(c) 2014 Brett Larner
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