Skip to main content

Kiprop and Hunde Win Nagano Marathon



Ugandan Jackson Kiprop and Ethiopian Meskerem Hunde won Sunday's 21st edition of the Nagano Marathon. Running a steady and well-paced race that went out near 2:10:30 pace and sped up slightly to a 1:04:58 halfway split, Kiprop wore down the competition until there were only four left at 30 km. Ethiopian Deresa Geleta stayed with him until the very end, but Kiprop had the finish in him to open 3 seconds on Geleta to become Nagano's first-ever Ugandan winner in 2:10:39.

Geleta's 2:10:42 was good for a PB, with Japan's Naoya Sakuda (JR Higashi Nihon) also dropping a big PB of 2:11:21 for 3rd over Kenyan Alfred Kering. #1-ranked Asuka Tanaka (Hiramatsu Byoin) was one of the first to drop off Kiprop's early pace but rallied late in the race to take 5th in 2:14:35, his best performance since a stress fracture following his breakthrough in Tokyo last year.

Hunde pulled off an equally evenly-paced run to win the women's race, projected to run 2:33:44 after 5 km and ending up with a 2:33:32. With every 5 km that passed another competitor dropped off the lead group until only fellow Ethiopian Kebene Chala was left at 40 km. Not waiting as late as Kiprop, Hunde went for a long surge to drop Chala, opening 14 seconds by the time she crossed the finish line.

Pre-race favorite Valentine Kipketer was 3rd in 2:35:03 nearly a minute ahead of another Kenyan, Pauline Wangui. In the absence of #1-ranked Japanese woman Hiroko Yoshitomi (Memolead), the unsponsored Yumiko Kinoshita took the top Japanese spot at 5th in 2:36:28.

21st Nagano Marathon

Nagano, 4/21/19

Men
1. Jackson Kiprop (Uganda) - 2:10:39
2. Derese Geleta (Ethiopia) - 2:10:42 - PB
3. Naoya Sakuda (Japan/JR Higashi Nihon) - 2:11:21 - PB
4. Alfred Kering (Kenya) - 2:12:45
5. Asuka Tanaka (Japan/Hiramatsu Byoin) - 2:14:35
6. Daniel Muiva Kitonyi (Kenya/Kanebo) - 2:14:41 - debut
7. Tadashi Suzuki (Japan/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 2:14:49
8. Hiromasa Fukushima (Japan/Press Kogyo) - 2:14:56
9. Ezekiel Jafary (Tanzania) - 2:15:13
10. Yuta Inage (Japan/Press Kogyo) - 2:15:24

Women
1. Meskerem Hunde (Ethiopia) - 2:33:32 - PB
2. Kebene Chala (Ethiopia) - 2:33:46
3. Valentine Kipketer (Kenya) - 2:35:03
4. Pauline Wangui (Kenya) - 2:36:02
5. Yumiko Kinoshita (Japan) - 2:36:28
6. Kasumi Yoshida (Japan/Nitori) - 2:37:14
7. Honoka Yuzawa (Japan) - 2:39:05
8. Aki Odagiri (Japan) - 2:39:49
9. Seika Iwamura (Japan) - 2:51:13
10. Tizita Terecha (Ethiopia) - 2:52:58

© 2019 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

j said…
Incredibly, this means out of Fukuoka, Saitama, Osaka, Beppu-Oita, Tokyo (men and women), Nagoya, Lake Biwa, and Nagano (men and women), none of the winners of the most recent edition of these races are Kenyan
April 21, 2019 at 3:35 PM
Brett Larner said…
Hmmn, that is surprising. Also Hokkaido last year. The only exceptions would be Kobe, which had a Kenyan women's winner, and the Osaka Marathon, which had a Kenyan male winner.
April 21, 2019 at 5:06 PM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Chien Breaks TPE NR, Iwata Betters ID-Class WR - Weekend Track Roundup

The last weekend of the academic and fiscal year saw at least 5 meets with good results domestically and abroad. Kicking things off Friday was the Maurie Plant Meet in Melbourne, where Tomohiro Shinno and Naoto Hasegawa took 1st and 3rd in the men's high jump, both of them only clearing 2.18 m along with 2nd-placer Roman Anastasios . 12 other Japanese athletes were in action on the second day of the meet on Saturday, where 3000 mSC NR holder Ryuji Miura ran 3:42.84 for 6th in the men's 1500 m. Nagiya Mori had a better one in the men's 3000 m with a 7:45.40 for 4th. Both Yota Mashiko and Rui Suzuki cleared 8:00 too, Mashiko's 7:53.84 the 2nd-fastest ever by a Japanese-born high schooler. Abigail Fuka Ido and Nagisa Takahashi both placed 3rd in their events, Ido going 23.85 (-0.9) in the women's 200 m and Takahashi clearing 1.82 m in the women's high jump. 8 Japanese men were at The TEN in California to run 10000 m. In the B-heat won by Edward Marks in ...
2 comments
Read more

JAAF Announces World Road Running Championships Half Marathon Team

The JAAF announced the men's and women's half marathon teams today for this fall's World Road Running Championships in Copenhagen: Women Yumi Yoshikawa (Canon) - 1:09:14 (1st, 2026 Osaka Half) Wakana Kabasawa (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 1:09:20 (1st, 2026 Nat'l Corp. Half) Rina Shimizu (Noritz) - 1:09:22 (2nd, 2026 Osaka Half) Yuna Takahashi (Shimamura) - 1:09:23 (3rd, 2026 Osaka Half) Men Tomoya Ogikubo (Hiramatsu Byoin) - 1:00:22 (4th, 2026 Marugame Half) Yuma Nishizawa (Toyota Boshoku) - 1:00:26 (5th, 2026 Marugame Half) Neo Namiki (Subaru) - 1:00:29 (6th, 2026 Marugame Half) Daisuke Sato (Chuo Univ.) - 1:00:40 (7th, 2026 Marugame Half) Mile and 5 km teams, if any, will be decided after June's National Track and Field Championships. © 2026 Brett Larner , all rights reserved
Post a Comment
Read more

Updates on Transfers

April 1 is the start of Japan's new academic and fiscal year, and there's always a wave of transfer announcements to go with it. Some notable ones yesterday: 800 m NR holder Rin Kubo skipped university to go straight to 2023 Queens Ekiden national champion Sekisui Kagaku after her graduation from Higashi Osaka Keiai H.S. Multiple NR holder Nozomi Tanaka rejoined the Toyota Jidoshokki women's team after having left it to pursue a solo pro career as a New Balance athlete. Already on the team for this fall's Nagoya Asian Games in the 10000 m, Ririka Hironaka announced a switch from her longtime home at Japan Post to the Uniqlo women's team. Collegiate marathon record holder Asahi Kuroda joined the 2026 national champion GMO corporate team after graduating from 2026 Hakone Ekiden champ Aoyama Gakuin University last week. Hakone Ekdien First Stage CR holder Rui Aoki joins the Sumitomo Denko corporate team after running his final race for 2025 Izumo Ekiden w...
Post a Comment
Read more