Skip to main content

Inoue Runs Second-Fastest Time Ever at Tamana Half in Tuneup for Boston

While many of the other main contenders for September’s MGC Race, Japan’s new 2020 Olympic trials marathon, were focused on trying to run super fast times at the Tokyo Marathon, 2018 Asian Games gold medalist Hiroto Inoue (MHPS) did his last major tuneup for next month’s Boston Marathon at the 70th edition of Kumamoto’s Kanaguri Hai Tamana Half Marathon.

Throughout the race Inoue went head-to-head with 2018 winner Patrick Muendo Mwaka (Aisan Kogyo) before finally dropping him in the final kilometers. At 1:02:21 Mwaka was more than 30 seconds up on his winning time from last year, but Inoue surged away from him to win in 1:02:12, his best half marathon time in four years and the second-fastest winning time in Tamana’s 70-year history. Only five people had ever broken 63 minutes at Tamana previously, but this year the top eight all did it, 8th-placer Shunsuke Kanbe (Komazawa Univ.) running a PB 1:02:56. Boston-bound Shizuoka Marathon winner Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov’t) was over a minute and a half behind Inoue in 1:03:46 for 11th.

3rd in last month’s National Corporate 10 km Championships, Miku Daido (Iwatani Sangyo) won the women’s 10 km in 33:52 in a photo finish with teammate Nami Aoki and just a step ahead of Minaru Okamoto (Shiseido). Kenyan Victor Kimosop (Fukuoka Daiichi H.S.) won the high school boys’ 10 km in 29:40, with teammates Koki Sato and Hitoshi Yuasa (both Miyazaki Nihon Prep H.S.) 2nd and 3rd in 29:51 and 29:57.

70th Kanaguri Hai Tamana Half Marathon

Tamana, Kumamoto, 3/3/19
complete results

Men’s Half Marathon
1. Hiroto Inoue (MHPS) – 1:02:12
2. Patrick Muendo Mwaka (Aisan Kogyo) – 1:02:21
3. Naoya Takahashi (Yasukawa Denki) – 1:02:42
4. Atsumi Ashiwa (Honda) – 1:02:44
5. Yuki Arimura (Asahi Kasei) – 1:02:44
6. Kento Otsu (Toyota Kyushu) – 1:02:45
7. Yuki Matsumura (Honda) – 1:02:49
8. Shunsuke Kanbe (Komazawa Univ.) – 1:02:56 - PB
9. Shunya Nomura (Yasukawa Denki) – 1:03:23
10. Kiyoshi Koga (Yasukawa Denki) – 1:03:43

Women’s 10 km
1. Miku Daido (Iwatani Sangyo) – 33:52
2. Nanami Aoki (Iwatani Sangyo) – 33:52
3. Minaru Okamoto (Shiseido) – 33:53
4. Shino Hasegawa (Wacoal) – 33:55
5. Wakana Itsuki (Kyudenko) – 34:04

High School Boys’ 10 km
1. Victor Kimosop (Fukuoka Daiichi H.S.) – 29:40
2. Koki Sato (Miyazaki Nihon Prep H.S.) – 29:51
3. Hitoshi Yuasa (Miyazaki Nihon Prep H.S.) – 29:57

© 2019 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

Andrew Armiger said…
Stoked but hope this isn't a sign of peaking too early…
March 5, 2019 at 10:33 AM
Brett Larner said…
They seem to know what they're doing pretty well. This was off the back of some heavy mileage in New Zealand. Between the Asian Games and Boston I think he's taking the smartest approach to getting ready for the Olympics among the main contenders.
March 6, 2019 at 6:41 PM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

'Kobe 2024: Aitchison, Athmani Lead Record-Breaking Thursday'

  https://www.paralympic.org/news/kobe-2024-para-athletics-world-championships-aitchison-athmani-lead-record-breaking-thursday Complete results and daily schedule from the Kobe World Para Athletics Championships are here .
Post a Comment
Read more

Chesang Wins Osaka Women's Marathon in 2:19:31, Yada Drops 2:19:57 Debut NR

This year's Osaka International Women's Marathon was a race run with a high level of methodicalness, starting slower than the planned 3:19/km but ramping up until the lead pack was skimming around the 2:20:15-30 projected finish level. After hitting halfway in 1:10:13 with a group of 6, by 25 km only 4 were left up front, sub-2:19 runners Workenesh Edesa , Stella Chesang and Bedatu Hirpa , and the debuting Mikuni Yada , and when the last 2 pacers stepped off at 30 km it was Yada who went to the front. Despite never have raced longer than the 10.6 km Third Stage at November's Queens Ekiden where she had helped the Edion team score its first-ever national title, Yada was very, very impressive, fearlessly surging from 12 km and never letting up, even laughing and smiling to fans along the course. When she started sustaining a pace around 3:15/km the projected finish dropped under 2:20 and all the way down to 2:19:28 by 35 km, and even when all 3 of the more experienced ru...
2 comments
Read more

Hirayama Breaks Osaka Half CR, Martinez Set Puerto Rican NR

The Osaka Half Marathon took another big step up the domestic half marathon rankings from a mass-participation race run alongside the Osaka International Women's Marathon to one of the country's top-tier races. In the women's race, the debuting Jecinta Nyokabi (Denso) went out fast, only to be run down by veteran Yumi Yoshikawa (Canon AC) by 10 km. Nyokabi faded to 6th in 1:10:41, but Yoshikawa pushed on to a PB 1:09:14 for the win. Rina Shimizu (Noritz), Yuna Takahashi (Shimamura) and Makoto Tsuchiya (Ritsumeikan Univ.) all broke 70 minutes, Tsuchiya taking the Kansai Region collegiate title in 1:09:32 for 4th overall. Everyone in the top 10 who wasn't debuting ran a PB, a mark of how fast the day was even with cold and windy conditions. The men's race went out on sub-61 pace courtesy of Yudai Shimazu (GMO), then got a big injection of speed when Kyuma Yokota (Toyota Kyushu) took off close to 60-flat pace. Yokota opened a 10-second lead by 15 km, but over ...
Post a Comment
Read more