Weekend Overseas Race Results

Two weeks after running 2:32:30 at the Tokyo Marathon and a week after a 2:34:49 in Nagoya, Hiroko Yoshitomi (Memolead) ran Taiwan's Wan Jin Shi Marathon. Hoping to break the 2:34:53 course record, Yoshitomi led the lead pack of six women through most of the first half. But nearing the turnaround point she faded, leaving eventual winner Naomi Jepkosgei Maiyo (Kenya) to claim the win in a new course record time of 2:34:08. Runner-up Meseret Gola Sisay (Ethiopia) was also under the old course record, just, in 2:34:51. Yoshitomi fell off pace to take 6th in 2:48:45. The course record also fell in the men's race, with winner Matthew Kipsaat (Kenya) negative splitting a 2:11:17 for the win. Kipsaat was the only runner to go under the old course record of 2:13:05.

Eriko Kushima (Noritz) was faster than Yoshitomi at the Seoul Marathon, running 2:40:55 for 10th. Kazuki Takeshita (SDF) ran 2:14:14 for 12th in the men's race, the best time by a Japanese man outside Japan so far this year.

Twelve time zones away, Ken Nakayama ran his final race in the Chuo University uniform at the United Airlines NYC Half. Running in the main pack throughout the first half of the race, Nakayama experienced some twinges in his right thigh on the downhill off the Williamsburg Bridge and began to lose touch. In the hills of the final 5 km he felt increasing discomfort in his thigh and slowed to finish 19th in 1:05:48, more than four minutes off his best. Belay Tilahun (Ethiopian) won the race up front, running down early breakaway leader Daniel Mesfun (Eritrea) and favorite Paul Chelimo (U.S.A.) for the win in 1:02:10. Women's world record holder Joyciline Jepkosgei (Kenya) pulled away after a slow first 5 km to win by a minute in 1:10:07.

United Airlines NYC Half

New York, U.S.A., 3/17/19

Women
1. Joyciline Jepkosgei (Kenya) - 1:10:07
2. Mary Ngugi (Kenya) - 1:11:07
3. Buze Diriba (Ethiopia) - 1:11:07
4. Emma Bates (U.S.A.) - 1:11:33
5. Des Linden (U.S.A.) - 1:11:22
6. Birtukan Fente Alemu (Ethiopia) - 1:12:17

Men
1. Belay Tilahun (Ethiopia) - 1:02:10
2. Daniel Mesfun (Eritrea) - 1:02:16
3. Paul Chelimo (U.S.A.) - 1:02:19 - debut
4. Jared Ward (U.S.A.) - 1:02:33
5. Noah Droddy (U.S.A.) - 1:02:39
6. Brogan Austin (U.S.A.) - 1:02:41
-----
20. Ken Nakayama (Japan/Chuo Univ.) - 1:05:48

New Taipei City Wan Jin Shi Marathon

New Taipei City, Taiwan, 3/17/19
complete results

Women
1. Naomi Jepkosgei Maiyo (Kenya) - 2:34:08 - CR
2. Meseret Gola Sisay (Ethiopia) - 2:34:51
3. Ednah Mukhwana (Kenya) - 2:36:01
4. Sorome Negash Amente (Ethiopia) - 2:36:11
5. Nancy Jebet Koech (Kenya) - 2:38:21
6. Hiroko Yoshitomi (Japan/Memolead) - 2:48:45

Men
1. Matthew Kipsaat (Kenya) - 2:11:17 - CR
2. Philip Cheruiyot Kangogo (Kenya) - 2:13:57
3. Alex Chepkwik Saekwo (Kenya) - 2:15:18
4. Abraham Girma Bekele (Ethiopia) - 2:16:12
5. Willy Kiplangat Ngelel (Kenya) - 2:19:37
6. Mike Kiprotich Mutai (Kenya) - 2:25:32

Seoul Marathon

Seoul, South Korea, 3/17/19

Women
1. Desi Jisa Mokonin (Bahrain) - 2:23:44
2. Hirut Tibebu (Ethiopia) - 2:24:05
3. Celestine Chepchirchir (Kenya) - 2:24:48
4. Zinash Mekonnen (Ethiopia) - 2:25:42
5. Mercy Kibarus (Kenya) - 2:27:20
6. Seul-ki Ahn (South Korea) - 2:27:28
-----
10. Eriko Kushima (Noritz) - 2:40:55

Men
1. Thomas Kiplagat (Kenya) - 2:06:00
2. Elisha Rotich (Kenya) - 2:06:12
3. Mike Kiptum (Kenya) - 2:06:22
4. Fikre Bekele (Ethiopia) - 2:06:27
5. Robert Kipkemboi (Kenya) - 2:07:09
6. Tariku Kinfu (Ethiopia) - 2:09:06
-----
12. Kazuki Takeshita (SDF) - 2:14:14
13. Saeki Makino (DNPL) - 2:14:36

© 2019 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Australian YouTuber Handed Lifetime Ban by Ageo City Half Marathon After Running 1:06 with Another Runner's Bib (updated)

After discussion with their race's chief JAAF referee, on Nov. 27 the organizers of the Ageo City Half Marathon handed down a lifetime ban from their event against 36-year-old Australian Matt Inglis Fox for running the Nov. 15 race wearing the bib number of another JAAF-registered runner. The incident came to light after Fox posted on his personal Instagram account that he had run a PB of 1:06:33 and finished 203rd in Ageo with a 10 km split of 31:03, along with photos and video of himself in the race wearing a bib number beginning with 11. Fox did not appear in the results by name or in that time or place, the closest match being a 1:06:54 gross, 1:06:50 net finish time with a 31:21 10 km split for 18th place in the JAAF-registered division and 209th overall by bib number 1129, registered to a non-Japanese Tokyo-resident club runner. The club runner, Harrisson Uk , readily confirmed that he had given his bib to Fox, saying, "I gave my number to Matt. It wasn't me."...

How it Happened

Ancient History I went to Wesleyan University, where the legend of four-time Boston Marathon champ and Wes alum Bill Rodgers hung heavy over the cross-country team. Inspired by Koichi Morishita and Young-Cho Hwang’s duel at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics I ran my first marathon in 1993, qualifying for Boston ’94 where Bill was kind enough to sign a star-struck 20-year-old me’s bib number at the expo. Three years later I moved to Japan for grad school, and through a long string of coincidences I came across a teenaged kid named Yuki Kawauchi down at my neighborhood track. I never imagined he’d become what he is, but right from the start there was just something different about him. After his 2:08:37 breakthrough at the 2011 Tokyo Marathon he called me up and asked me to help him get into races abroad. He’d finished 3rd on the brutal downhill Sixth Stage at the Hakone Ekiden, and given how he’d run the hills in the last 6 km at Tokyo ’11 I thought he’d do well at Boston or New York. “I...

Australian Male Arrested on Drug Smuggling Charges After Entering Japan for Osaka Marathon

On Apr. 9 the Kinki Region Bureau of Health, Labor and Welfare's Drug Control Division arrested Matthew Inglis Fox , 38, an Australian business owner of no known fixed address, on charges of violating the importation regulations of the Narcotics Control Act by smuggling tablets containing marijuana elements from the United States. The suspect had entered Japan in February to run in the Osaka Marathon . The suspect was arrested on suspicion of smuggling approximately 12 pills containing marijuana by sending them from a U.S. airport to Osaka's Kansai Airport using an international courier service on Feb. 19. The Osaka branch of the Customs Service discovered the tablets in arriving cargo and suspected them to be narcotics. Customs contacted the Narcotics Control Division, which then began its investigation of the case. According to the Narcotics Control Division, the suspect denies the charges. Translator's note: Fox, who received a lifetime ban from the Ageo City Half Mara...

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