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Hoshi Breaks Debut NR to Win Osaka Marathon in 2:07:31


Cut back from being a part of the return to mass-participation racing with less than two weeks to go, the Osaka Marathon celebrated its 10th edition with the domestic elite-only field it picked up from the defunct Lake Biwa Marathon with the addition of two dozen female entrants. 2016 Gold Coast Marathon winner Misato Horie (Sysmex) scored another win in the women's race, running her best time since 2019, 2:32:10, to outrun debuting duo Nami Aoki (Iwatani Sangyo) and Rui Aoyama (Univ. Ent.) by over 4 minutes for the top spot on the new Osaka course.

First-timers also played a major role in the men's race, taking 3 of the top 8 places. The pacing team held things relatively steady around low-to-mid 2:07 territory through multiple 180˚ turns and strong winds from the west until just before their departure at 30 km. On the first main climb near 30 km the debuting Yuhei Urano (Fujitsu), CR breaker on the Hakone Ekiden's legendary uphill Fifth Stage, and Kenta Murayama (Asahi Kasei), another Fifth Stage runner, went ahead of the pacers to push them to stay on track.

Murayama was briefly ahead of the lead pack, but the first real move came when Ichitaka Yamashita (Mitsubishi Juko), 2:08:10 in the Miracle at Lake Biwa last year, led the lead group back into contact around 31 km. After running Murayama down Yamashita pushed the hilly section from 30 to 35 km to shake things down to a core of six with Urano, Murayama, the debuting Gaku Hoshi (Konica Minolta), Fumihiro Maruyama (Asahi Kasei) and Masaru Aoki (Kanebo).

By 35 km it was down to just him, Urano and Hoshi, Yamashita and Urano chatting to each other while Hoshi looked to be trying to just hang on. But with 5 km to go Hoshi checked his watch and then took off, quickly opening a lead and holding it all the way to the end. He crossed the finish line in 2:07:31, a new event record and a new debut marathon NR by 11 seconds. Yamashita dropped Urano for 2nd, clearing 2:08 for the first time in 2:07:42, with Urano not far off the old debut NR in 3rd in 2:07:52.

Back from a long time off with injury, Maruyama closed hard but couldn't quite catch Urano, taking 4th in 2:07:55, like Yamashita his first time under 2:08. But the hardest-closing man in the race was 37-year-old Naoki Okamoto (Chugoku Denryoku). Down 20 seconds at 35 km, Okamoto split 6:42 from 40 km to the finish to move up to 5th with a PB of 2:08:04. The last man he ran down was another 37-year-old, the legend who launched the Hakone Ekiden's modern era of popularity, original God of the Mountain Masato Imai (Toyota Kyushu), who was 6th in 2:08:12, his first time sub-2:10 since 2015.

The top six all met the criteria for auto-qualification for the 2024 Olympic trials marathon, and the prospect of seeing old guys Okamoto and Imai in the ring for the fight for Paris was surely enough to bring a few fans across the country to tears. "I wish he'd hung on to 5th, but he got it done," Imai's coach, Barcelona Olympics marathon silver medalist Koichi Morishita, told JRN as Imai crossed the line, trying to suppress a smile.


The next four runners all cleared 2:09, with 7th-placer Kenji Yamamoto (Mazda) narrowly PBing in 2:08:38 and 8th-place Rintaro Takeda (Yakult) debuting in 2:08:48. Four more were under 2:10, with 15th through 19th all clearing 2:11. The last man to clear 2:11, Yuki Takei (Asia Univ.), 19th in 2:10:57, gets a special mention for closing hard in his debut while still in college, 2 minutes down on 18th-placer Daisuke Doi (Kurosaki Harima) at 30 km but picking up his pace progressively from there to the end and finishing just 1 second behind Doi. Despite the winds and the 180˚ turnaround-heavy new course, it was a big day for fast times down to the depths.

Not everyone had a big day, though. Former NR holder Yuta Shitara (Honda) dropped off near halfway again as in Fukuoka in December, but while he was a DNF there he gutted out a 2:13:19 for 31st this time. Fukuoka 3rd-placer James Rungaru (Chuo Hatsujo) did the same, 32nd in 2:13:45. Murayama faded faded badly after 35 km, ultimately finishing 48th in 2:17:51, telling JRN post-race that he'd suffered a pulled muscle in one of his calves after trying to respond to Yamashita's move.

But on net it was a fascinating mix of new blood and old side-by-side in a great race. Between the depth shown today and at the Beppu-Oita Marathon three weeks ago, the stage is set for something even bigger next weekend in Tokyo.

10th Osaka Marathon

Osaka, 27 Mar. 2022

Women
1. Misato Horie (Sysmex) - 2:32:10
2. Nami Aoki (Iwatani Sangyo) - 2:36:28 - debut
3. Rui Aoyama (Universal Entertainment) - 2:39:45 - debut
4. Yukie Matsumura (Saitama T&F Assoc.) - 2:42:05
5. Kana Kurosawa (Kasamatsu RC) - 2:47:34
6. Yoshimi Tanaka (Hiratsuka T&F Assoc.) - 2:48:04
7. Mitsuko Ino (Linkstyle) - 2:48:34
8. Rina Aoki (Kasamatsu RC) - 2:49:02
9. Mikiko Ota (Kyoto Sumiyama RC) - 2:52:28
10. Yuko Kusunose (Tokyo T&F Assoc.) - 2:56:31
-----
DNF - Azusa Sumi (Universal Entertainment)

Men
1. Gaku Hoshi (Konica Minolta) - 2:07:31 - CR, Debut NR
2. Ichitaka Yamashita (Mitsubishi Juko) - 2:07:42 - PB
3. Yuhei Urano (Fujitsu) - 2:07:52 - PB
4. Fumihiro Maruyama (Asahi Kasei) - 2:07:55 - debut
5. Naoki Okamoto (Chugoku Denryoku) - 2:08:04 - PB
6. Masato Imai (Toyota Kyushu) - 2:08:12
7. Kenji Yamamoto (Mazda) - 2:08:38 - PB
8. Rintaro Takeda (Yakult) - 2:08:48 - debut
9. Yuki Kawauchi (ANDS) - 2:08:49
10. Kazuki Muramoto (Sumitomo Denko) - 2:08:50
11. Tadashi Isshiki (GMO) - 2:09:32
12. Yuki Matsumura (Honda) - 2:09:57
13. Koshiro Hirata (SG Holdings) - 2:09:57 - PB
14. Masashi Nonaka (Osaka Gas) - 2:09:57 - debut
15. Masaru Aoki (Kanebo) - 2:10:01
16. Hiroto Kanamori (Komori Corp.) - 2:10:16 - PB
17. Kazuya Azegami (Toyota) - 2:10:53 - PB
18. Daisuke Doi (Kurosaki Harima) - 2:10:56
19. Yuki Takei (Asia Univ.) - 2:10:57 - PB
20. Yusei Tsutsumi (JFE Steel) - 2:11:08
21. Jo Fukuda (NN Running Team) - 2:11:29
22. Mizuki Higashi (Aisan Kogyo) - 2:11:32 - debut
23. Akihiro Kaneko (Comodi Iida) - 2:11:39 - PB
24. Yuki Oshikawa (NTN) - 2:11:43 - PB
25. Shota Kai (Nishitetsu) - 2:12:22 - debut
-----
31. Yuta Shitara (Honda) - 2:13:19
32. James Rungaru (Chuo Hatsujo) - 2:13:45
44. Ryo Kiname (Mitsubishi Juko) - 2:17:00
48. Kenta Murayama (Asahi Kasei) - 2:17:51
53. Hiroyuki Yamamoto (Konica Minolta) - 2:18:15
89. Ser-Od Bat-Ochir (Mongolia) - 2:24:27
-----
DNF - Allan Biwott (Mazda)
DNF - Kazuto Kawabata (SG Holdings)
DNF - Yuhi Nakaya (Waseda Univ.)
DNF - Shun Sakuraoka (NTN) 

© 2022 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

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Comments

Andrew Armiger said…
The marathon development train in Japan (shinkansen?) just rolls right along with full momentum! Hoshi was quite the dark horse, with a 1:03 half best (albeit from 3 years ago) and 28:14 10,000 PB from last year he didn't even feature in your pre-race form chart.
March 3, 2022 at 1:01 AM
Brett Larner said…
Yes, there are so many people these days that there are always some unexpected breakthroughs. Mika has been doing work with the Konica Minolta team for several years now and had picked Hoshi to do well here, though, so my bad.
March 3, 2022 at 7:57 PM
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