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22 Men Sub-2:10, 102 Sub-2:20 -- Osaka Marathon Elite Field (updated)


The list of entries has been updated with withdrawals announced Feb. 25.

So it looks like the Osaka Marathon is going to happen. The Osaka International Women's Marathon and mass-participation Osaka Half Marathon just happened the weekend before last, and even as most of the spring's Japanese road races continue to cancel, with less than three weeks to go they've announced the elite fields for the mass-participation Osaka Marathon on Feb. 27. 

On the men's side, Osaka is taking the place of the historic Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon on the calendar. There are a few Japan-based internationals, but with the borders still mostly closed it's another super-deep domestic field. Beppu-Oita just happened yesterday and Tokyo looks like it's also likely to happen, but even so the entry list has ten current 2:07 guys, eight at the 2:08 level, four at 2:09, eight at 2:10, and seven at 2:11. And one guy debuting with a 1:30:38 best for 30km, two debuting sub-61 half marathoners, five 61-minute guys, and Waseda University star senior Yuhi Nakaya, with a 27:54.06 best for 10000 m.

Before we get too excited, a lot of them are also entered in Tokyo or just ran Beppu-Oita, so it's pretty safe to assume that they're just entered here as a backup in case something cancels. But still, it's a deep list, with 102 people on it who've broken 2:20 in the last 3 years. Some notable names include 2020 Fukuoka International Marathon winner Yuya Yoshida (GMO), who will almost definitely be in Tokyo instead, former national record holder Yuta Shitara (Honda), who said on Sunday that he's running Osaka, 2018 Lake Biwa winner Joseph Macharia Ndirangu (Aichi Seiko), and 2021 Fukuoka runner-up James Rungaru (Chuo Hatsujo). 

Osaka is aiming for a platinum label, but without internationals its women's field is disproportionately tiny, probably in deference to Osaka International and March's Nagoya Women's Marathon. Only three women on the list, veterans Misato Horie (Sysmex), Mai Ito (Otsuka Seiyaku) and Mitsuko Ino (Linkstyle) have broken 2:40, but there are two high-potential debuts from Universal Entertainment teammates Azusa Sumi and Rui Aoyama. Sumi has struggled to handle longer distances off the track, making Aoyama the likely favorite.

JRN will be on-site in Osaka throughout race weekend. Check back closer to race date for more on following the race live.

10th Osaka Marathon

Elite Field Highlights
Osaka, 27 Feb., 2022
times listed are best in last three years except where noted

Men
Yuya Yoshida (GMO) - 2:07:05 (Fukuoka Int'l 2020) - withdrawal
Shuho Dairokuno (Asahi Kasei) - 2:07:12 (Lake Biwa 2021) - withdrawal
Yuta Shimoda (GMO) - 2:07:27 (Tokyo 2020) - withdrawal
Yuki Kawauchi (ADHS) - 2:07:27 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Kazuki Muramoto (Sumitomo Denko) - 2:07:36 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Tadashi Isshiki (GMO) - 2:07:39 (Tokyo 2020)
Masaru Aoki (Kanebo) - 2:07:40 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Yuta Shitara (Honda) - 2:07:45 (Tokyo 2020)
Joseph Macharia Ndirangu (Kenya/Aichi Seiko) - 2:07:53 (Lake Biwa 2018) - withdrawal
Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Asahi Kasei) - 2:07:55 (Beppu-Oita 2022) - withdrawal
Natsuki Terada (JR Higashi Nihon) - 2:08:03 (Fukuoka Int'l 2020) - withdrawal
Ichitaka Yamashita (Mitsubishi Juko) - 2:08:10 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Daisuke Doi (Kurosaki Harima) - 2:08:13 (Lake Biwa 2021)
James Rungaru (Kenya/Chuo Hatsujo) - 2:08:25 (Fukuoka Int'l 2021)
Naoki Okamoto (Chugoku Denryoku) - 2:08:37 (Tokyo 2020)
Kenji Yamamoto (Mazda) - 2:08:42 (Lake Biwa 2019)
Keisuke Hayashi (GMO) - 2:08:52 (Lake Biwa 2021) - withdrawal
Kenta Murayama (Asahi Kasei) - 2:08:56 (Berlin 2019)
Yuki Matsumura (Honda) - 2:09:01 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Madoka Tanihara (Osaka Police) - 2:09:15 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Ser-Od Bat-Ochir (Mongolia) - 2:09:26 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Yoshiki Takenouchi (NTT Nishi Nihon) - 2:09:31 (Fukuoka Int'l 2020)
Yuichi Yasui (Toyota) - 2:10:19 (Beppu-Oita 2020)
Masato Imai (Toyota Kyushu) - 2:10:30 (Tokyo 2019)
Jo Fukuda (NN Running Team) - 2:10:32 (Beppu-Oita 2020)
Hiroyuki Yamamoto (Konica Minolta) - 2:10:33 (Lake Biwa 2019)
Yoshihiro Nishizawa (Komori Corp.) - 2:10:37 (Hofu 2020)
Takuma Kumagai (Sumitomo Denko) - 2:10:41 (Fukuoka Int'l 2021)
Yuki Nakamura (Sumitomo Denko) - 2:10:47 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Koshiro Hirata (SGH Group) - 2:10:50 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Asuka Tanaka (Runlife) - 2:11:07 (Fukuoka Int'l 2020) - withdrawal
Yusei Tsutsumi (JFE Steel) - 2:11:07 (Tokyo 2020)
Taiki Yoshimura (Asahi Kasei) - 2:11:13 (Hofu 2019) - withdrawal
Kazuya Azegami (Toyota) - 2:11:15 (Hofu 2020)
Toshinori Watanabe (GMO) - 2:11:17 (Katsuta 2020) - withdrawal
Ryoma Takeuchi (Hitachi Butsuryu) - 2:11:20 (Beppu-Oita 2019) - withdrawal
Fumihiro Maruyama (Asahi Kasei) - 2:11:36 (Kanazawa 2019)

Debut / Do-Over
Kazuto Kawabata (SGH Group) - 1:30:38 (Kumanichi 30 km 2020)
Jun Nobuto (Mazda) - 1:00:56 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2020)
Masashi Nonaka (Osaka Gas) - 1:00:58 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2020)
Shun Yuzawa (SGH Group) - 1:01:19 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2021)
Akito Terui (Subaru) - 1:01:45 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2019)
Masao Kizu (Kanebo) - 1:01:45 (Marugame Half 2019)
Kazuki Uemura (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 1:01:51 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2020)
Shuji Yamamoto (Asahi Kasei) - 1:01:51 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2020) - withdrawal
Yuhi Nakaya (Waseda University) - 27:54.06 (Osaka Nat'l Championships 2020)

Women
Misato Horie (Sysmex) - 2:32:01 (Nagoya 2019)
Mai Ito (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 2:38:07 (Nagoya 2021) - withdrawal
Mitsuko Ino (Linkstyle) - 2:39:04 (Osaka 2019)
Tomomi Nakajima (GRlab) - 2:42:09 (Tokyo 2020)
Mikiko Ota (Kyoto Sumiyama RC) - 2:44:53 (Osaka Int'l 2021)

Debut / Do-Over
Azusa Sumi (Universal Entertainment) - 1:09:21 (Sanyo Ladies Half 2017)
Rui Aoyama (Universal Entertainment) - 1:10:04 (Sanyo Ladies Half 2019)
Nanami Aoki (Iwatani Sangyo) - 1:11:54 (Matsue Ladies Half 2019)

© 2022 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

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Andrew Armiger said…
Intriguing fields here!
February 11, 2022 at 10:34 PM
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