Skip to main content

Karemi Wins Third-Straight Kumamoto Kosa 10-Miler, Kamino Over Imai and Kashiwabara for 2nd

http://www.daily.co.jp/general/2016/11/28/0009704327.shtml

translated and edited by Brett Larner


The 41st running of the Kumamoto Kosa 10 Mile Road Race took place Nov. 27 on a course starting and finishing in front of Kosa Town Hall.  Two-time winner Jeremiah Karemi Thuku (Team Toyota Kyushu) made it three-straight wins as he braved cold and rainy conditions to break the tape in 46:19.

All three of the Hakone Ekiden uphill Fifth Stage's superstar "Gods of the Mountain" raced, with the most recent of the troika, 2016 Aoyama Gakuin University graduate Daichi Kamino (Team Konica Minolta) outrunning the first runner to bear that title, Masato Imai (Team Toyota Kyushu), by 8 seconds for 2nd.  Toyo University graduate Ryuji Kashiwabara (Team Fujitsu) dropped out partway.

The showdown went to the youngest of the three.  In just his first pro season, Kamino was elated to have beaten the original God of the Mountain Imai, who has gone on to great success in the marathon with a 2:07:39 at last year's Tokyo Marathon.  "Beating Imai is a major confidence booster," Kamino smiled in obvious happiness.

Before the race Kamino had relaxed goals, aiming "just to make top three."  But once he was on the starting line he was itching to race, and what he delivered was unchanged from the aggression he showed in his Hakone uphill heroics in university.  Kamino dueled with Japan-based Kenyans Karemi and Edward Waweru (Team NTN), ultimately taking 2nd.

The day before the race Kamino did his final tuneups near Kumamoto Castle.  "I got a feeling for how much damage there really was in the Kumamoto Earthquake," he said.  "I hope that the affected people can find some inspiration and courage in my running."

Following the Jan. 1 New Year Ekiden national corporate men's championships he will run February's Ome 30 km Road Race with his marathon debut planned next season.  "I'm aiming to be ready to go for the Japanese national record my first time out," he said.

41st Kumamoto Kosa 10 Mile Road Race
Kosa, Kumamoto, 11/27/16
click here for complete results

Men's 10 Miles
1. Jeremiah Karemi Thuku (Toyota Kyushu) - 46:19
2. Daichi Kamino (Konica Minolta) - 46:38
3. Edward Waweru (NTN) - 46:44
4. Masato Imai (Toyota Kyushu) - 46:46
5. Ryo Kiname (Mitsubishi HPS) - 46:47
6. Yuki Oshikawa (Toyota Kyushu) - 46:50
7. Hiroto Inoue (Mitsubishi HPS) - 46:51
8. Kiyoshi Koga (Yasukawa Denki) - 46:51
9. Kazuya Shiojiri (Juntendo Univ.) - 46:55
10. Masaya Taguchi (Honda) - 46:57
-----
25. Yuma Eda (Toyota Kyushu) - 47:21
50. Shuhei Yamaguchi (Asahi Kasei) - 47:56
75. Toshiaki NIshizawa (SGH Group) - 48:43
100. Masahiro Uchida (Press Kogyo) - 49:41
-----
DNF - Ryuji Kashiwabara (Fujitsu)

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Chepkirui Over Sato Again to Win 2nd-Straight Nagoya Women's Marathon, Chen Breaks Malaysian NR (updated)

This year's Nagoya Women's Marathon felt like a changing of the guard, with some the bigger domestic names over the last few years fading early and a lot of newer faces stepping up with quality debuts or second marathons. The front group was set to be paced for 2:20 flat with the 2nd group at 2:23:30 to hit the auto-qualifying time for the 2027 MGC Race, Japan's L.A. Olympics marathon trials race in Nagoya. Up front things went out OK, but after a 33:10 split at 10 km Ayuko Suzuki , 2:21:22 here 2 years ago, lost touch, ultimately finishing 23rd in 2:33:28. Windy conditions started to play with pacers' ability to keep things steady and the pace slowed majorly over the next 10 km, but even with a 34:05 second 10 km there were big-name casualties. 2024 Nagoya winner Yuka Ando was next to drop, ending up 17th in 2:30:32. NR holder Honami Maeda was next, followed quickly by Bahraini Kenyan Eunice Chumba and debuting Wakana Kabasawa . Maeda faded to 21st in 2:31:21, whil...

Nagoya Women's Marathon Preview and Streaming (updated)

Japan's winter marathon season of 6 major races in 7-straight weekends wraps up Sunday with the world's largest women-only marathon, the Nagoya Women's Marathon . The weather is looking pretty good, 6˚ at the start rising to 10˚ by the finish and sunny skies, but a moderate 7 m/s NW wind means a headwind finish that might impact the potential for some fast times. Official streaming kicks off at 9:00 a.m. local time. Live results will be here . Sheila Chepkirui won last year in 2:20:40, breaking away from Sayaka Sato and Eunice Chebichii Chumba at 30 km and hanging on for the win. Sato negative split a 2:20:59 PB for 2nd, Chumba fading to 3rd in 2:21:36. All 3 are back this time, but they have pretty serious competition from Aynalem Desta , 2:17:37 in Amsterdam last fall, and Selly Chepyego Kaptich , 2:20:03 in Barcelona 2023. And of course, Japanese NR holder Honami Maeda . Maeda ran 2:18:59 at the Osaka International Women's Marathon in 2024 to make the Paris Oly...

16 Women and 26 Men on the Current Olympic Trials Qualifier List

Last weekend's Nagoya Women's Marathon and the Tokyo Marathon the weekend before brought the main part of the first year of qualification for the Marathon Grand Championship Race, Japan's L.A. Olympics marathon trials to be held in Nagoya in October, 2027, to an end. There are still a few races like the Nagano Marathon and overseas World Athletics platinum label races this season where people might qualify, but for the most part we're not likely to see many new additions until August's Hokkaido Marathon, where the qualifying period opened last year. As of right now 16 women and 26 men have qualified, although the first woman to make the cut, Ai Hosoda , announced that she was retiring after Tokyo earlier this month. Out of the 16 women to have qualified so far, Mikuni Yada is the fastest with her 2:19:57 debut at Osaka Women's in January. Including Hosoda that makes 2 qualifiers for the Edion corporate team, but Daihatsu has the biggest share of the field so ...