Skip to main content

Mathenge Breaks National Corporate Half Marathon Course Record


Patrick Mathenge Wambui (NTT Nishi Nihon) ran a PB of nearly a minute to win the 2021 National Corporate Half Marathon Championships men's race Sunday in Yamaguchi. Wambui had pressure until almost 20 km from 2016 national cross-country champion Takashi Ichida (Asahi Kasei) before kicking away for the win, crossing the line in a world-leading 1:00:12 to take 6 seconds off the course record. Ichida was next in 1:00:19, a PB by almost two minutes, the fastest Japanese time on the corporate nationals course by 13 seconds, and the fourth-fastest ever by a Japanese man. 

Benard Kimani (Comody Iida) was the only other man under 61 minutes at 1:00:30 for 3rd, with the top 26 all breaking 62 minutes. Further back, 48-year-old Satoshi Emoto (Mitsubishi Okazaki) ran 1:06:28, bettering Martin Reesage 48 world record by 1 second.

Last year's Nagoya Women's Marathon runner-up Yuka Ando (Wacoal) dominated the women's race, running each 5 km split progressively faster to win in 1:09:54. Sakiho Tsutsui (Yamada) was 2nd in 1:10:10 with Ayari Harada (Daiichi Seimei) 3rd in 1:10:17. 14 women broke 71 minutes.

49th National Corporate Half Marathon Championships

Yamaguchi, 14 Feb. 2021

Men
1. Patrick Mathenge Wambui (NTT Nishi Nihon) - 1:00:12 - CR
2. Takashi Ichida (Asahi Kasei) - 1:00:19
3. Benard Kimani (Comody Iida) - 1:00:30
4. Kiyoshi Koga (Yasukawa Denki) - 1:01:13
5. Masashi Nonaka (Osaka Gas) - 1:01:14
6. Kyohei Hosoya (Kurosaki Harima) - 1:01:16
7. Yuki Muta (Hitachi Butsuryu) - 1:01:17
8. Sho Nagato (Hitachi Butsuryu) - 1:01:19
9. Shun Yuzawa (SGH Group) - 1:01:19
10. Wataru Tochigi (Hitach Butsuryu) - 1:01:21
------
25. Yusuke Tamura (Kurosaki Harima) - 1:01:53
50. Yusuke Osumi (JR Higashi Nihon) - 1:02:38
75. Kazuya Yamaguchi (Chugoku Denryoku) - 1:03:15
100. Junpei Kanisawa (Toyota Boshoku) - 1:03:48
125. Ryunosuke Hayashi (SGH Group) - 1:04:41
150. Takuya Kumashiro (Sanyo Tokushu Seiko) - 1:05:33
174. Satoshi Emoto (Mitsubishi Okazaki) - 1:06:28
175. Hideaki Ishii (Fujitsu) - 1:06:32
200. Kazuto Arishige (JR Nishi Nihon) - 1:07:40
-----
DNF - Kota Murayama (Asahi Kasei)
DNF - Biyazen Yeneblo (Yachiyo Kogyo)

Women
1. Yuka Ando (Wacoal) - 1:09:54
2. Sakiho Tsutsui (Yamada) - 1:10:10
3. Ayari Harada (Daiichi Seimei) - 1:10:17
4. Natsumi Matsushita (Tenmaya) - 1:10:18
5. Ikumi Fukura (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 1:10:21
6. Yumi Yoshikawa (Uniqlo) - 1:10:23
7. Wakana Itsuki (Kyudenko) - 1:10:23
8. Kaori Morita (Panasonic) - 1:10:28
9. Saya Nishitani (Route Inn Hotels) - 1:10:38
10. Rei Ohara (Tenmaya) - 1:10:46
-----
25. Hanae Tanaka (Shiseido) - 1:11:50
50. Risa Yokoe (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 1:14:16
75. Kasumi Ogawa (Starts) - 1:19:03
-----
DNF - Miku Daido (Iwatani Sangyo)

© 2021 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Japan's Olympic Marathon Team Meets the Press

With renewed confidence, Japan's Olympic marathon team will face the total 438 m elevation difference hills of Paris this summer. The members of the women's and men's marathon teams for August's Paris Olympics appeared at a press conference in Tokyo on Mar. 25 in conjunction with the Japan Marathon Championship Series III (JMC) awards gala. Women's Olympic trials winner Yuka Suzuki (Daiichi Seimei) said she was riding a wave of motivation in the wake of the new women's national record. When she watched Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) set the record at January's Osaka International Women's Marathon on TV, Suzuki said she was, "absolutely stunned." Her coach Sachiko Yamashita told her afterward, "When someone breaks the NR, things change," and Suzuki found herself saying, "I want to take my shot." After training for a great run in Paris, she said, "I definitely want to break the NR in one of my marathons after that." Mao

Weekend Racing Roundup

  China saw a new men's national record of 2:06:57 from  Jie He  at the Wuxi Marathon Sunday, but in Japan it was a relatively quiet weekend with mostly cold and rainy amateur-level marathons across the country. At the Tokushima Marathon , club runner Yuhi Yamashita  won the men's race by almost 4 1/2 minutes in 2:17:02, the fastest Japanese men's time of the weekend, but oddly took 22 seconds to get across the starting line. The women's race saw a close finish between the top two, with Shiho Iwane  winning in 2:49:33 over Ayaka Furukawa , 2nd in 2:49:46.  At the 41st edition of the Sakura Marathon in Chiba, Yukie Matsumura  (Comodi Iida) ran the fastest Japanese women's time of the weekend, 2:42:45, to take the win. Club runner Yuki Kuroda  won the men's race in 2:20:08.  Chika Yokota  won the Saga Sakura Marathon women's race in 2:49:33.  Yuki Yamada  won the men's race in 2:21:47 after taking the lead in the final 2 km.  Naoki Inoue  won the 16th r

Sprinter Shoji Tomihisa Retires From Athletics at 105

A retirement ceremony for local masters track and field legend Shoji Tomihisa , 105, was held May 13 at his usual training ground at Miyoshi Sports Park Field in Miyoshi, Hiroshima. Tomihisa began competing in athletics at age 97, setting a Japanese national record 16.98 for 60 m in the men's 100~104 age group at the 2017 Chugoku Masters Track and Field meet. Last year Tomihisa was the oldest person in Hiroshima selected to run as a torchbearer in the Tokyo Olympics torch relay. Due to the coronavirus pandemic the relay on public roads was canceled, and while he did take part in related ceremonies his run was ultimately canceled. Tomihisa recently took up the shot put, but in light of his fading physical strength he made the decision to retire from competition. Around 30 members of the Shoji Tomihisa Booster Club attended the retirement ceremony. After receiving a bouquet of flowers from them Tomihisa in turn gave them a colored paper placard on which he had written the characters