Skip to main content

Mathathi, Karoki, Kebede, Kipkoech, Baysa and Kirwa Lead Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon Field

by Brett Larner

Course record holder Bedan Karoki (Kenya/DeNA RC), past champion Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) and Fukuoka International Marathon course record holder Tsegaye Kebede (Ethiopia) lead the men's field for the 5th edition of the Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon on May 17, an event that has quickly surpassed the Sendai International Half Marathon as Japan's premier late-spring half marathon.  Former Toyota runner James Rungaru (Kenya) is back and with a 1:00:12 best looks like another contender up front, and Australian 10000 m national record holder Ben St. Lawrence is also in the field.  Japanese entries include sub-1:02 men Kenji Yamamoto (Team Mazda), Kenta Matsumoto (Team Toyota) and Masamichi Shinozaki (Team Hitachi Butsuryu), plus 2014 Asian Games marathon bronze medalist Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't).

On the women's side, Asian Games marathon gold medalist Eunice Kirwa (Bahrain) returns to Japan after winning March's Nagoya Women's Marathon, facing serious competition from sub-1:08 women Paskalia Kipkoech (Kenya) and Atsede Baysa (Ethiopia).  Other internationals including Brianne Nelson (U.S.A.), Rene Kalmer (South Africa) and the newly Japan-based Malika Mejdoub (Morocco/Team Edion) are better positioned as competition for the relatively weak Japanese women's field headed by Hiroko Shoi (Team Denso) and Yuko Mizuguchi (Team Denso).

5th Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon Entry List Highlights
Gifu, 5/17/15
click here for complete elite field listing

Men
Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 58:56a / 59:48
Bedan Karoki (Kenya/DeNA RC) - 59:21
Tsegaye Kebede (Ethiopia) - 59:35
James Rungaru (Kenya) - 1:00:12
Jacob Wanjuki (Kenya/Aichi Seiko) - 1:00:32
Cyrus Njui (Kenya/Arata Project) - 1:01:03
Josephat Boit (U.S.A.) - 1:01:33
Shadrack Biwott (U.S.A.) - 1:01:40
Kenji Yamamoto (Japan/Mazda) - 1:01:47
Kenta Matsumoto (Japan/Toyota) - 1:01:55
Patrick Mwaka (Kenya/Aisan Kogyo) - 1:01:56
Masamichi Shinozaki (Japan/Hitachi Butsuryu) - 1:01:58
Yusei Nakao (Japan/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 1:02:00
Yoshihiro Yamamoto (Japan/NTN) - 1:02:03
Yuki Kawauchi (Japan/Saitama Pref. Gov't) - 1:02:18
Dishon Karukuwa Maina (Kenya/Omokawa Lumber) - 1:02:20
Ismail Juma (Tanzania) - 1:02:42
Ben St. Lawrence (Australia) - 1:02:51
Agato Yasin Hassan (Ethiopia/Chuo Hatsujo) - debut - 27:46.35

Women
Paskalia Kipkoech (Kenya) - 1:07:17
Atsede Baysa (Ethiopia) - 1:07:34
Eunice Kirwa (Bahrain) - 1:08:31
Brianne Nelson (U.S.A.) - 1:10:16
Kiyoko Shimahara (Japan/Second Wind AC) - 1:10:16
Marta Tigabea (Ethiopia) - 1:10:32
Rene Kalmer (South Africa) - 1:10:37
Hiroko Shoi (Japan/Denso) - 1:10:48
Azusa Nojiri (Japan/Hiratsuka Lease) - 1:10:53
Yuko Mizuguchi (Japan/Denso) - 1:11:03
Eri Okubo (Japan/Miki House) - 1:11:22
Malika Mejdoub (Morocco/Edion) - 1:11:33

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Ninja Runner Yuka Ando Leads Japanese Women's Marathon Team in London: "I Want to Go For It"

Her form has been dubbed "ninja running." Both arms held straight down with almost no movement. That idiosyncratic style carried Yuka Ando , 23, to the fastest-ever marathon debut by a Japanese woman, 2:21:36, at March's Nagoya Women's Marathon to land at #4 on the all-time Japanese lists. All at once Ando found herself catapulted to the top level of women's marathoning, a candidate for Japan's next great marathoner. When she was younger Ando ran moving her arms like other runners, but she had a bad habit of moving robotically, her upper body and lower body not working in sync. The turning point came in 2014 when she joined Suzuki Hamamatsu AC . Working there with coach Masayuki Satouchi to eliminate the faults in her form, the pair arrived at the ninja running style that let her run relaxed. "Other people keep asking me, "Isn't it hard to run like that?" but for me it's comfortable," she said. The efficient form helped her mai

Yamaguchi 10th at United Airlines NYC Half - Weekend Overseas Results

2024 national cross-country champion Tomonori Yamaguchi was the top Japanese finisher in the men's race at the United Airlines NYC Half , taking 10th in 1:04:36. A 2nd-year at Waseda University , Yamaguchi was one of three collegiate runners running New York in the 11th year of JRN's development program collaboration between the Ageo City Half Marathon and the New York Road Runners, a program that has seen people like future half marathon and marathon NR breaker Yuta Shitara and Paris Olympic team member Akira Akasaki make their international debuts. Yamaguchi's Waseda teammate Taishi Ito started fast, going with the leaders through 5 km in 14:29 before losing touch. Hosei University senior Rei Matsunaga went through in 14:42 in his last race before joining the JR Higashi Nihon corporate team in April. Yamaguchi, who caught COVID after winning last month's National Cross-Country Championships, started more conservatively with a 15:11 first 5km. But where both Ito

Rui Aoki Wins National University Men's Half Marathon - Weekend Results

Yuka Ando 's win at the Nagoya Women's Marathon was the big news of the weekend, but there were other high-level races happening, even in Nagoya. Held in parallel with the marathon, the Nagoya City Half Marathon saw Australians Natalie Rule and Ed Goddard take easy wins by about 2.5 minutes each, Rule in 1:13:57 and Goddard in 1:04:01. The new Biwako Marathon also had a non-Japanese winner, China's Yousheng Guan scoring 1st in 2:14:58 with Japan's Hirohito Sugai next in 2:16:40. Mikiko Ota won the women's race in 2:50:44. The Shizuoka Marathon returned for its first running in five years, with club runner Shumpei Oda leading the top 7 men under 2:20 in 2:15:36. Women's winner Remi Tanaka ran 2:41:23, beating runner-up Ayumi Sano by exactly 7 minutes. And in Tokyo, Rui Aoki continued what has been a great season so far for Koku Gakuin University with a win at the National University Men's Half Marathon . Aoki and Hiro Konda of Chuo Gakuin Unive