Ichiyama Breaks Into Japanese Women's All-Time Top 10 With 1:08:49 Win at Hakodate Half

MGC Race finalist Mao Ichiyama (22, Wacoal) took 22 seconds off her PB to win the Hakodate Half Marathon in 1:08:49, moving up to all-Japanese #8 in the record books. Also MGC Race-bound, her teammate Yuka Ando, 25, was 2nd in 1:09:47 to give the Wacoal team a 1-2 finish. Men's MGC Race finalist Ryu Takaku (26, Yakult) was the top Japanese man overall at 2nd in 1:02:43.

The Wacoal team seems to thrive at northern latitudes. Ichiyama secured her place at the MGC Race at April's London Marathon. "I've been feeling better and better since London and I want to keep taking chunks off my time," Ichiyama said. Ando was cool and professional after having been beaten by her younger teammate by 58 seconds. In June she had suffered a bit from overtraining, but, she said, "I'm doing the workouts in our training camp and bit by bit things are getting more responsive."

Along with Ichiyama and Ando, the Wacoal team also has veteran half marathon national record holder Kayoko Fukushi, 37, in the MGC Race. Completely different from one another, all three are working hard toward the Sept. 15 race and absorbing the benefits of having each other around. Head coach Tatsuhiko Nagayama expects them to act as catalysts for one another, saying, "I can't wait to see the mini-battle between the three of them."

Translator's note: The original article doesn't mention that Japan-based Kenyan Daniel Kayiok (Obirin Univ.) won the men's half marathon outright in 1:02:19.

Hakodate Half Marathon and Marathon

Hakodate, Hokkaido, 7/7/19
complete half marathon results
complete marathon results

Women's Half Marathon
1. Mao Ichiyama (Wacoal) - 1:08:49 - CR
2. Yuka Ando (Wacoal) - 1:09:47
3. Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) - 1:10:23
4. Yuka Hori (Panasonic) - 1:11:30
5. Mizuki Tanimoto (Tenmaya) - 1:11:38
6. Miyuki Uehara (Daiich Seimei) - 1:12:07
7. Ayano Ikemitsu (Kagoshima Ginko) - 1:12:21
8. Ayano Ikeuchi (Denso) - 1:12:47
9. Madoka Nakano (Noritz) - 1:13:32
10. Mirai Waku (Univ. Ent.) - 1:13:53

Men's Half Marathon
1. Daniel Kayiok (Obirin Univ.) - 1:02:19
2. Ryu Takaku (Yakult) - 1:02:43
3. Yuichi Yasui (Toyota) - 1:02:47
4. Tsubasa Ichiyama (Saitama Ika Univ. Group) - 1:02:50
5. Yuki Oshkawa (NTN) - 1:02:51
6. Ryo Matsumoto (Toyota) - 1:02:55
7. Noriyasu Ikeda (Press Kogyo) - 1:02:59
8. Gen Hachisuka (Konica Minolta) - 1:03:08
9. Wataru Ueno (Honda) - 1:03:12
10. Yuya Yamashita (Sunbelx) - 1:03:14
-----
12. Chihiro Miyawaki (Toyota) - 1:03:31
16. Tomohiro Tanigawa (Konica Minolta) - 1:03:58
20. Kentaro Nakamoto (Yasukawa Denki) - 1:04:32

Women's Marathon
1. Mai Fujisawa (Excel AC) - 2:48:34
2. Hiromi Masaki (Tokyo T&F Assoc.) - 3:04:01
3. Mioko Ikeda (Chbariyo RC) - 3:06:03

Men's Marathon
1. Takuma Shibata (Komori Corp.) - 2:19:04
2. Kazuki Muramoto (Sumitomo Denko) - 2:21:26
3. Kinya Hashira (Tokyo Police Dep't) - 2:21:48

source article:
https://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2019/07/08/kiji/20190708s00057000006000c.html
translated by Brett Larner

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