Tulu, Kawauchi and Koitile Headline Sanlam Cape Town Marathon Men's Race

by Brett Larner

With 30 days to go until South Africa's Sanlam Cape Town Marathon the organizers have announced the men's elite field for a race the hope will elevate Cape Town from IAAF silver label status to become the first gold label race in Africa. Defending champion and course record holder Willy Kibor Koitile (Kenya) returns to face 2013 Dusseldorf Marathon winner Dereje Debele Tulu (Ethiopia), 2014 Hofu Marathon winner Yuki Kawauchi (Japan) appearing with support from JRN, 2013 Prague Marathon winner Nicholas Kipngeno Kemboi (Qatar), 2013 Castellón Marathon winner Andualem Belay Shiferaw (Ethiopia) and more. Also in the field is South African great Hendrick Ramaala competing in the masters' division. With course changes this year to take out some of the hills Koitile's 2:10:45 course record should be in range of a field featuring eight men who have run faster than that within the last three years.

Making his South African debut, Kawauchi will be hoping for a return to form after a 2015 mostly lost to serial injuries stemming from a sprained ankle shortly after his Hofu win last December, where Koitile finished 3rd almost four minutes behind him. The duo's rivalry extends to Australia's Sydney Marathon, where Kawauchi's 2:11:52 winning time was almost two minutes faster than Koitile's a year later.

JRN will be on-site to cover the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon live.

Sanlam Cape Town Marathon Elite Field
Cape Town, South Africa, 9/20/15
complete women's field T.B.A.
times listed are 2013-2015 best times

Men
Dereje Debele Tulu (Ethiopia) - 2:07:48
Yuki Kawauchi (Japan) - 2:08:14
Abraham Girma Bekele (Ethiopia) - 2:08:20
Haile Haja Gemeda (Ethiopia) - 2:08:35
Nicholas Kipngeno Kemboi (Qatar) - 2:08:51
Peter Lotogor Kamais (Kenya) - 2:09:53
Willy Kibor Koitile (Kenya) - 2:09:58
Andualem Belay Shiferaw (Ethiopia) - 2:09:59
David Kemboi Kiyeng (Kenya) - 2:11:17
Xolisa Tyali (South Africa) - 2:16:03
Gladwin Mzazi (South Africa) - 2:17:43
Leswene Mailola (South Africa) - 2:17:58
Hendrick Ramaala (South Africa) - 2:21:40

(c) 2015 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Comments

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

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

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

japan running news

Search This Blog