Skip to main content

With Hokkaido Marathon Wins Murasawa and Maeda Become First to Qualify for 2020 Olympic Trials Race

Akinobu Murasawa (Nissin Shokuhin) and Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) became the first athletes to qualify for the new MGC Race 2020 Olympic trials event, clearing the JAAF's hoops with PB runs in heat to win the 2017 Hokkaido Marathon.

One of the most popular runners to come out of the current boom in university men's ekiden running, Murasawa had an unsuccessful marathon debut at Lake Biwa in March, up front until late but fading to 28th in 2:17:51. This time he stayed in the front pack through the slow opening going, ignoring a move by Shingo Igarahi (Josai Univ. Coaching Staff) and Kenichi Jiromaru (Raffine Coaching Staff) around the halfway point that put them over 30 seconds ahead.

Part of a group of five who set off in pursuit at 30 km, Murasawa moved into the top spot just before 40 km and held it all the way to the finish to win in 2:14:48. As the first race at which Japanese men could qualify for the JAAF's new single-trial 2020 Olympic selection event Hokkaido's winner had to go sub-2:15:00 to earn his place, and with Murasawa clearing that standard his place in the winter 2019-20 MGC trials race is assured.


The women's race saw a pack of four head out together just under 2:28:00 pace, well clear of the 2:32:00 time standard for the winner to make the MGC Race qualifying cut. Just past 25 km Keiko Nogami (Juhachi Ginko) make a break for it, opening a lead of over 20 seconds by 30 km, but it was a little too  much too soon. Maeda, like Murasawa running her second marathon after a so-so debut earlier this year, quickly reeled her in and took over, opening a 20-second-plus lead of her own by 35 km and never looking back.

With a 2:28:48 PB for the win, a rare sub-2:30 clocking in Hokkaido, Maeda easily cleared the MGC Race qualifying standard, joining Murasawa as the first to enter the ranks of what is expected to be a small field of 10~20 men and women each in the official trials race for what is bound to be one of the toughest and highest pressure teams to make at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.


31st Hokkaido Marathon

Sapporo, Hokkaido, 8/27/17

Women
1. Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) - 2:28:48 - PB
2. Keiko Nogami (Juhachi Ginko) - 2:30:11
3. Hanae Tanaka (Daiichi Seimei) - 2:32:16
4. Yuko Mizuguchi (Denso) - 2:34:04
5. Kaho Tanaka (Daiichi Seimei) - 2:34:45 - debut
6. Yurie Doi (Fujitsu) - 2:36:28 - PB
7. Mami Onuki (Sysmex) - 2:37:15 - debut
8. Chika Ihara (Higo Ginko) - 2:38:47 - debut
9. Mai Nagaoka (Sysmex) - 2:41:15 - PB
10. Sakie Arai (Higo Ginko) - 2:42:31
-----
DNF - Miharu Shimokado (Nitori)

Men
1. Akinobu Murasawa (Nissin Shokuhin) - 2:14:48 - PB
2. Taiki Yoshimura (Asahi Kasei) - 2:15:04
3. Jo Fukuda (Nishitetsu) - 2:15:11 - PB
4. Fumihiro Maruyama (Asahi Kasei) - 2:15:21
5. Shingo Igarashi (Josai Univ Coaching Staff) - 2:15:41
6. Tatsunori Hamasaki (Nanjo City Hall) - 2:16:18
7. Masanori Sakai (Kyudenko) - 2:16:26
8. Kenta Kitazawa (Yachiyo Kogyo) - 2:16:52 - PB
9. Kansuke Morihashi (Raffine) - 2:17:35
10.  Masaharu Amano (NTN) - 2:17:48 - debut

© 2017 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

World Championships Medalist Racewalking Coach Mizuho Sakai Recognized With Highest Coaching Honor

The 2023 Mizuno Sports Mentor Awards recognizing excellence in coaching were held Apr. 23 in Tokyo. Toyo University assistant coach and race walking coach Mizuho Sakai was given a gold award, the program's highest honor, and expressed her thanks and joy in a speech at the award ceremony. The coach of 2023 Budapest World Championships men's 35 km race walk bronze medalist Masatora Kawano , Sakai said, "This is an incredible honor and I'm truly grateful. As a child I wanted to be in the sporting world and I've spent my life in that world. My end goal was always to play a supporting role for other athletes, so I'm honored to be recognized in this way." Sakai's husband Toshiyuki Sakai , head coach of Toyo's three-time Hakone Ekiden champion team, attended the awards gala with her and was also introduced to the audience. After bowing he took a seat in front of her and watched with warmth as she received recognition for her outstanding work. The Mizun
Post a Comment
Read more

The Ivy League at the Izumo Ekiden in Review

Last week I was contacted by Will Geiken , who I'd met years ago when he was a part of the Ivy League Select Team at the Izumo Ekiden . He was looking for historical results from Izumo and lists of past team members, and I was able to put together a pretty much complete history, only missing the alternates from 1998 to 2010 and a little shaky on the reverse transliterations of some of the names from katakana back into the Western alphabet for the same years. Feel free to send corrections or additions to alternate lists. It's interesting to go back and see some names that went on to be familiar, to see the people who made an impact like Princeton's Paul Morrison , Cornell's Max King , Stanford's Brendan Gregg in one of the years the team opened up beyond the Ivy League, Cornell's Ben de Haan , Princeton's Matt McDonald , and Harvard's Hugo Milner last year, and some of the people who struggled with the format. 1998 Team: 15th of 21 overall, 2:14:10 (43
Post a Comment
Read more

Hirabayashi Runs PB at Shanghai Half, WR Holder Nakata Dominates Fuji Five Lakes - Weekend Road Roundup

Returning to the roads after his 2:06:18 win at February's Osaka Marathon, Kiyoto Hirabayashi (Koku Gakuin University) took 5th at Sunday's Shanghai Half Marathon in a PB 1:01:23, just under a minute behind winner Roncer Kipkorir Konga (Kenya) who clocked a CR 1:00:29. After inexplicably running the equivalent of a sub-59 half marathon to win the Hakone Ekiden's Third Stage, Aoi Ota (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) was back to running performances consistent with his other PBs with a 1:02:30 for 8th. His AGU teammate Kyosuke Hiramatsu was 10th in 1:04:00. Women's winner Magdalena Shauri (Tanzania) also set a new CR in 1:09:57. Aoyama Gakuin runners took the top four spots in the men's half marathon at the Aomori Sakura Marathon , with Hakone alternate Kosei Shiraishi getting the win in 1:04:32 and B-team members Shunto Hamakawa and Kei Kitamura 2nd and 3rd in 1:04:45 and 1:04:48. Club runners took the other division titles, Hina Shinozaki winning the women's half
Post a Comment
Read more