Skip to main content

Kiyoko Shimahara

Born Dec. 22, 1976 in Yamaguchi. Graduated from Kokushikan University and joined the Shiseido corporate team. Left Shiseido in 2007 with head coach Manabu Kawagoe and three teammates to form the independent Second Wind AC. Hot-weather specialist.

After a good marathon debut off the beaten path at the 2003 Katsuta Marathon, Shimahara had a remarkably consistent run of 2:26 performances from 2004 to 2006. The streak ended with her silver medal performance at the hot 2006 Asian Games, and for the next three years she was more consistently in the 2:30-2:31 range. In August, 2009 Shimahara ran a PB of 2:25:10 at the Hokkaido Marathon, her first sub-2:30 in three years, a new course record, and faster than the winning time at the previous week's World Championships in tougher conditions. In just over 100 days following Hokkaido Shimahara went on to break 2:30 twice more, both in warm weather.

In part one of her interview with JRN Shimahara talked about that fall season, what went right, and the consistent years of training that got her there. In part two she discussed the challenges facing Japan's young women distance runners and what these problems mean for the future.

Personal Bests

5000 m: 15:54.09 (2003) 10000 m: 32:54.03 (2004) half-marathon: 1:10:16 (2006) marathon: 2:25:10 (2009)

Marathon History

2016 Himeji Castle Marathon: 3:03:51, 8th
2015 Osaka International Women's Marathon: DNF
2014 Yokohama International Women's Marathon: 2:51:18, 17th
2014 Nagano Marathon: 2:42:50, 7th
2014 Wan Jin Shi Marathon: 2:46:59, 8th
2013 Osaka Marathon: 2:44:37, 3rd
2012 Osaka International Women's Marathon: 2:29:51, 4th
2011 Osaka Marathon: 2:33:36, 2nd
2011 Hokkaido Marathon: 2:34:26, 2nd
2011 Tokyo Marathon: 2:42:19, 15th
2010 Guangzhou Asian Games Marathon: 2:32:11, 5th
2010 Nagano Marathon: 2:34:46, 4th
2009 Honolulu Marathon: 2:29:53, 2nd
2009 Yokohama International Women's Marathon: 2:28:51, 1st
2009 Hokkaido Marathon: 2:25:10, 1st - CR, PB
2009 Tokyo Marathon: 2:31:57, 6th
2008 Honolulu Marathon: 2:32:36, 1st
2008 Chicago Marathon: 2:30:19, 3rd
2008 Nagoya International Women's Marathon: 2:30:30, 11th
2007 Shanghai Marathon: 2:35:41, 2nd
2007 Osaka World Championships Marathon: 2:31:40, 6th
2007 London Marathon: DNF
2006 Doha Asian Games Marathon: 2:30:34, 2nd
2006 Boston Marathon: 2:26:52, 5th
2006 Osaka International Women's Marathon: 2:26:47, 3rd
2005 Hokkaido Marathon: 2:26:14, 2nd
2004 Tokyo International Women's Marathon: 2:26:43, 2nd
2003 Tokyo International Women's Marathon: 2:31:10, 3rd
2003 Katsuta Marathon: 2:28:17, 1st - CR, debut

Other Major Results

2009 Osaka Half Marathon: 1st
2000 Shanghai International Half Marathon: 1st

Hobbies

shopping

Interests

nature

© 2010 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee

Comments

Most-Read This Week

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

The Ivy League at the Izumo Ekiden in Review

Last week I was contacted by Will Geiken , who I'd met years ago when he was a part of the Ivy League Select Team at the Izumo Ekiden . He was looking for historical results from Izumo and lists of past team members, and I was able to put together a pretty much complete history, only missing the alternates from 1998 to 2010 and a little shaky on the reverse transliterations of some of the names from katakana back into the Western alphabet for the same years. Feel free to send corrections or additions to alternate lists. It's interesting to go back and see some names that went on to be familiar, to see the people who made an impact like Princeton's Paul Morrison , Cornell's Max King , Stanford's Brendan Gregg in one of the years the team opened up beyond the Ivy League, Cornell's Ben de Haan , Princeton's Matt McDonald , and Harvard's Hugo Milner last year, and some of the people who struggled with the format. 1998 Team: 15th of 21 overall, 2:14:10 (43