Skip to main content

Uchida 4th at Chevron Houston Marathon

Making his international debut with support from JRN, Kenta Uchida (SID Group) took 4th in the Chevron Houston Marathon in a tight pack race to the end. The debuting Frank Lara (U.S.A.) did most of the work throughout the race, leading the front group through halfway in 1:05:30 before things slowed to mid-2:12 territory. When another first-timer, Luke Caldwell (Great Britain) caught up just after 25 km and went right by into the lead the pace picked up, but at 40 km it was still a group of 6 all right together.

James Ngandu (Kenya), yet another runner doing his first marathon, had the strongest kick, finishing in 2:11:03 to run almost even splits. 2nd placer Abdi Abdo (Bahrain) was 8 seconds behind by the end, but just 9 seconds separated him from 5th. Elisha Barno (Kenya) edged Uchida for 3rd by 3 seconds 2:11:16 to 2:11:19, with 2020 winner Kelkile Gezahegn (Ethiopia) another second behind Uchida. Both Lara and Caldwell cleared 2:12 in 6th and 7th.

"For his first time racing overseas this was pretty good," said Uchida's coach Junichi Shibata. "He was right there until the end and didn't drop off or go too early. I'm happy with how he did." "I'm happy with how I did," said Shibata, "but more than happy I'm just really tired." Shibata's result moved him up to 5th in the Japan Marathon Championship rankings, where a top-8 ranking at the end of March qualifies the athletes for the 2024 MGC Olympic marathon trials.

In the women's race Keira D'Amato (U.S.A.) soloed a male-paced 2:19:12 national record, winning by almost 10 minutes over runner-up Alice Wright (Great Britain) and exactly tying Olympic gold medalist Mizuki Noguchi's Japanese national record. The American record also fell in the accompanying half-marathon where Sara Hall ran 1:07:15 for 2nd behind Vicoty Chepngeno (Kenya), who set an American all-comers record of 1:05:03. Milkelsa Tolosa (Ethiopia) won the men's race in 1:00:24 by 3 seconds over John Korir (Kenya). 8th-placer Rory Linkletter set a Canadian national record of 1:01:08.

50th Chevron Houston Marathon

Houston, Texas, U.S.A., 16 Jan., 2022

Men
1. James Ngandu (Kenya) - 2:11:03 - debut
2. Abdi Abdo (Bahrain) - 2:11:11
3. Elisha Barno (Kenya) - 2:11:16
4. Kenta Uchida (Japan/SID Group) - 2:11:19
5. Kelkile Gezahegn (Ethiopia) - 2:11:20
6. Frank Lara (U.S.A.) - 2:11:32 - debut
7. Luke Caldwell (Great Britain) - 2:11:33 - debut
8. Josh Izewski (U.S.A.) - 2:12:45 - PB
9. Augustus Maiyo (U.S.A.) - 2:13:17
10. Rodgers Ondati Gesabwa (U.S.A.) - 2:14:46

Women
1. Keira D'Amato (U.S.A.) - 2:19:12 - NR, CR
2. Alice Wright (Great Britain) - 2:29:08
3. Maggie Montoya (U.S.A.) - 2:29:08
4. Roberta Groner (U.S.A.) - 2:32:02
5. Atsede Tesema (Ethiopia) - 2:32:38
6. Brittney Feivor (U.S.A.) - 2:32:39
7. Kathya Mirell Garcia Barrios (Mexico) - 2:32:54
8. Christina Welsh (U.S.A.) - 2:33:00
9. Molly Bookmyer (U.S.A.) - 2:33:19
10. Andrea Pomaranski (U.S.A.) - 2:33:35

Men's Half Marathon
1. Milkelsa Tolosa (Ethiopia) - 1:00:24
2. John Korir (Kenya) - 1:00:27
3. Wilfred Kimitei (Kenya) - 1:00:44
4. Kirubel Erassa (U.S.A.) - 1:00:44
5. Shadrack Kimining (Kenya) - 1:00:53
6. Patrick Tiernan (Australia) - 1:00:55
7. Biya Simbassa (U.S.A.) - 1:01:03
8. Rory Linkletter (Canada) - 1:01:08 - NR
9. Sydney Gidabuday (U.S.A.) - 1:01:09
10. Scott Fauble (U.S.A.) - 1:01:11

Women's Half Marathon
1. Vicoty Chepngeno (Kenya) - 1:05:03 - ACR
2. Sara Hall (U.S.A.) - 1:07:15 - NR
3. Dominique Scott (South Africa) - 1:07:32
4. Fiona O'Keefe (U.S.A.) - 1:07:42
5. Jessica Judd (Great Britain) - 1:07:52
6. Emily Durgin (U.S.A.) - 1:07:54
7. Caren Maiyo (Kenya) - 1:08:41
8. Dakotah Lindwurm (U.S.A.) - 1:09:36
9. Nell Rojas (U.S.A.) - 1:09:42
10. Annie Frisbie (U.S.A.) - 1:10:27

© 2022 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee

Comments

Most-Read This Week

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

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

Takeuchi Wins Niigata Half in Boston Tune-Up

Running in cold, windy and rainy conditions, Ryoma Takeuchi (ND Software) warmed up for April's Boston Marathon with a win at Wednesday's Niigata Half Marathon . Takeuchi sat behind Nittai University duo Susumu Yamazaki and Ryuga Ishikawa in the early stages, then made a series of pushes to pick up the pace. Each time he tucked in behind whoever went to the front, while behind them others dropped off. Before 15 km only Yamazaki and Riki Koike of Soka University were left, and when Takeuchi went to the front the last time after 15 km only Koike followed. By 16 he was gone too, leaving Takeuchi to solo it in to the win in 1:03:13 with a 17-second negative split. "This was my last fitness check before the Boston Marathon next month, and my time was right on-target," he said post-race. "Everything went as planned. I'm looking forward to racing some of the world's best in Boston, and my goal there is to place in the single digits." Just back from tr