Sakamoto 7th in Xiamen, Mwangi Breaks Hong Kong All-Comers Record

Sakamoto 7th in Xiamen, Mwangi Breaks Hong Kong All-Comers Record - Weekend Overseas Road Race Results

The year's international road racing circuit kicked off Sunday with two races in Asia featuring top-level Japanese athletes. At the C&D Xiamen Marathon in China, ten Japanese athletes ranked in the women's and men's Asian top 100 ran with support from JRN as part of Xiamen's bid to become the first race worldwide to qualify for the IAAF's new platinum road race label.

2016 Osaka Marathon winner and mother of three Yoshiko Sakamoto (Y.W.C.) placed highest among them, taking 7th in 2:39:00 with 2018 Osaka runner-up Haruka Yamaguchi (AC Kita) 9th in 2:42:39, 2017 Osaka winner Yumiko Kinoshita (Tokyo T&F Assoc.) 10th in 2:43:56, and 2018 Geneva Marathon runner-up Hisae Yoshimatsu (Shunan City Hall) 12th in 2:45:32.

Running just two days after Josai University had a disappointing 20th-place finish at the Hakone Ekiden, its assistant coach Shingo Igarashi was the top-placing Japanese man at 15th in 2:20:45. Dejene Debele (Ethiopia) won the men's race for the second year in a row in 2:09:26 with Medina Deme Armino (Ethiopia) taking the women's race in 2:27:45.

Just down the coast in Hong Kong, the Lok Wah Runners Club staged the first running of its new Lok Wah 100 Minutes Half Marathon, an event designed to encourage faster times in the upper end of Hong Kong's dedicated running community. Over a three-lap course Joseph Mwangi Ngare (Kenya) outran a field including 2018 Hofu Marathon winner Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't), four other Kenyans and the local best to win in 1:05:56, the fastest time ever on Hong Kong soil. Kawauchi was 2nd in 1:06:07 with Bernard Kiplangat Kibilo (Kenya) 3rd in 1:08:54.

2019 C&D Xiamen Marathon

Xiamen, China, 1/6/19
complete results

Women
1. Medina Deme Armino (Ethiopia) - 2:27:25
2. Shasho Insemu (Ethiopia) - 2:27:42
3. Fantu Eticha (Ethiopia) - 2:29:55
4. He Yinli (China) - 2:33:28
5. Askale Alemayehu (Ethiopia) - 2:33:41
-----
7. Yoshiko Sakamoto (Japan) - 2:39:00
9. Haruka Yamaguchi (Japan) - 2:42:39
10. Yumiko Kinoshita (Japan) - 2:43:56
12. Hisae Yoshimatsu (Japan) - 2:45:32
23. Momoko Tanaka (Japan) - 3:04:23

Men
1. Dejene Debele (Ethiopia) - 2:09:26
2. Atewek Mesfin (Ethiopia) - 2:09:28
3. Birhan Nebebew (Ethiopia) - 2:09:36
4. Chele Dechasa (Ethiopia) - 2:09:43
5. Belachew Amerta (Ethiopia) - 2:09:52
-----
15. Shingo Igarashi (Japan) - 2:20:45
19. Kansuke Morihashi (Japan) - 2:24:29
20. Tatsunori Hamasaki (Japan) - 2:24:29
22. Asuka Tanaka (Japan) - 2:25:58
-----
DNF - Kenichi Jiromaru (Japan)

Lok Wah 100 Minutes Half Marathon

Sha Tin, Hong Kong, 1/6/19
complete results

Men
1. Joseph Mwangi Ngare (Kenya) - 1:05:56 - ACR
2. Yuki Kawauchi (Japan) - 1:06:07
3. Bernard Kiplangat Kibilo (Kenya) - 1:08:54
4. Willy Kipkemoi Rotich (Kenya) - 1:08:54
5. Eliud Kiplimo Lelei (Kenya) - 1:10:15

Women
1. Julie Beatty - 1:25:19
2. Amy Mumford - 1:26:02
3. Mei Yan Wong - 1:27:48
4. Jill Czarnik - 1:30:57
5. Chi Ling Mok - 1:32:33

Xiamen photo ©2019 Mika Tokairin, all rights resetved
text and Lok Wah photo ©2019 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

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

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

Weekend Track Roundup

The two-day Hyogo Relay Carnival was the biggest meet of the weekend on the Japanese calendar. Sarah Wanjiru (Daito Bunka Univ.) kicked off her 2nd academic year with a 31:48.11 win in the GP women's 10000 m, beating Pauline Kamulu (Route Inn Hotels) by 4 seconds. Emmanuel Kiplagat (Mitsubishi Juko) had a tighter win in the GP men's 10000 m, 27:58.01 to 27:58.35 over Jonson Mugeni (Asia Univ.). Kenyans also dominated the men's B and C-heats, Nelson Mandela (Obirin Univ.) taking the B-heat by 0.06 over Stephen Muthini (Soka Univ.) in 28:05.37 and Patrick Wambui (NTT Nishi Nihon) the C-heat in 28:14.83. Top Japanese marks across the four races were 32:24.50 by Sora Shinozakura (Panasonic), 28:11.30 by Yuta Nakayama (JR Higashi Nihon), 28:41.68 by Masashi Nonaka (Toyota), and 28:42.38 by former Rikkyo University head coach Yuichiro Ueno (Hiramatsu Byoin). The GP women's 3000 mSC might have been the best race of the meet, both Miu Saito (Nittai Univ.) and Mana

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