Toyo University Wins Yaizu Minato Half Marathon Overall and Team Titles

Runners returned to the city of Yaizu on Sunday for the 37th Yaizu Minato Half Marathon, its first running since 2019 after two years in a row of pandemic cancelations. In addition to the event's Pair Marathon university team competition, 5389 people were entered in the mass-participation race, which was limited to residents of Shizuoka Prefecture. The first hot day of the year saw them traversing Yaizu's roads, with Toyo University 4th-year Daichi Kimoto leading them home in a course record-tying 1:03:42.

The Pair Marathon scored each of the 19 competing universities on the combined times of its top two registered finishers. Along with 2nd-year teammate Shu Yoshida, 4th in 1:04:29, Kimoto also helped Toyo win the team scoring competition in 2:08:11, a course record and Toyo's first win in 16 years. Post-race Kimoto smiled as he said, "We came here to get the overall and team wins."

At January's Hakone Ekiden Kimoto was only 19th out of 21 teams on the 4th Stage, and afterward he struggled to regroup and recover. "There were days when I could barely even jog," he said. "I'm still not completely back to normal." Temperatures in Yaizu reached 23˚ on race day with piercing sunshine, but, he said, "Heat doesn't bother me." Kimoto broke free of the competition after 17 km, ultimately opening 24 seconds on 2nd place.

Yoshida, one of Toyo's alternates at Hakone, also ran aggressively to finish 4th. "Kimoto has experience and talent, but that didn't mean I was just going to let him beat me," he said. He learned a lot from watching his teammates move up from 9th at the end of Hakone Day One to 4th overall. "It takes inner strength to perform on the big stage," he said.

As a special prize for winning the Pair Marathon in record time, the Toyo athletes received an entire southern maguro tuna from the local fishing port association. Laughing and smiling on the podium as they received the prize, they said, "We'll share this with everyone back in the dorm." Next month both plan to run in the Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships, and with maguro power in their veins you can be sure they'll be aiming higher than ever.

37th Yaizu Minato Half Marathon

Yaizu, Shizuoka, 10 Apr. 2022

Men

1. Daichi Kimoto (Toyo Univ.) - 1:03:42 - CR tie

2. Masahiro Mekata (Aoyama Gakuin Univ. - 1:04:06

3. Ryuji Uruta (Toka Univ.) - 1:04:17

4. Shu Yoshida (Toyo Univ.) - 1:04:29

5. Takato Azechi (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:04:40

6. Kenta Shimura (Soka Univ.) - 1:04:45

7. Yusuke Akutsu (Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 1:04:57

8. Ryo Fujimoto (Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 1:05:08

9. Mitsuhiro Kurihara (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) - 1:05:27

10. Atsushi Maeda (Chuo Gakuin Univ.) - 1:05:41

Pair Marathon

1. Toyo University (Kimoto/Yoshida) - 2:08:11 - CR

2. Aoyama Gakuin University (Mekata/Azechi) - 2:08:46

3. Koku Gakuin University (Akutsu/Fujimoto) - 2:10:05

4. Tokai University (Uruta/Sato) - 2:11:06

5. Chuo Gakuin University (Maeda/Hada) - 2:11:32

source article:

https://hochi.news/articles/20220411-OHT1T51057.html?page=1

translated by Brett Larner

Chesang and Kipkoech Win Hot Gifu Half

Hot conditions held back fast times at the Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon Sunday, where Ugandan Stella Chesang and Kenya Hillary Kipkoech took the top spots over last year's winners Dolphine Nyaboke Omare and Amos Kurgat . In the women's race Chesang, Omare and Kenyan-born Bahraini Eunice Chebichii Chumba went out as a trio, Japan-based Hellen Ekarare with them initially but eventually dropping out. After a 15:39 opening 5 km Chumba started to slip off, and by 15 km Chesang was on her own. Chesang won in 1:07:59, solid given the conditions, with Omare 2nd in 1:08:31 and Chumba 3rd in 1:09:10. Rinka Hida was the first Japanese woman, 5th overall in 1:12:06 behind Australian Genevieve Gregson . A lead men's pack of 11 went through 5 km in 14:31, but by 10 km it was down to Kipkoech, Kurgat, , Timothy Kiplagat , Ugandan Stephen Kissa and Japan-based Kenyans Patrick Mathenge Wambui and Anthony Maina . At 15 km in 43:40 only Kurgat and Kipkoech were left, and over the last 5

10000 m National Championships Preview

Less than five months since the 2023 10000 m National Championships went down at the 2021 Olympic stadium in Tokyo, the 2024 edition happens Friday at Shizuoka's Ecopa Stadium, with NHK broadcasting it live starting at 19:25 local time. Doubling up on Nationals like this lets Japanese athletes double dip on placing points to try to get into the Paris Olympics on rankings. But between the number of people who've hit the 30:40.00 women's standard and 27:00.00 men's standard and the lopsided eight spots given away to top placers at World XC, there are only four women's spots and three men's available via rankings. Of those, three of the four women's spots and two of the three men's spots are currently occupied by top placers at December's 2023 Nationals, Ririka Hironaka , Haruka Kokai and Rino Goshima for women and Ren Tazawa and Tomoki Ota for men. The 2023 Nationals did get close to the standards, with Hironaka leading the top four women under

Drury and Mashiko Lead Four Japanese Golds - U20 Asian Championships Day 4

The closing day of the Dubai U20 Asian Athletics Championships saw Japan go out big, with four gold medals led by dominant runs by Sherry Drury (Tsuyama H.S.) and Yota Mashiko (Gakuho Ishikawa H.S.). Making her international debut, the 16-year-old Drury led start to finish in the women's 1500 m final, grinding down the rest of the field and putting over 4 seconds on runner-up Sandilea Vinod of India over the last 300 m to win in 4:21.41. Drury's splits: 1:11-2:24-(3:19)-3:35-4:21. There's still a long way for Drury to go, but in terms of form and confidence this was the best she has looked since her legendary breakthrough CR at last year's National Women's Ekiden, and you could see more than a glimmer of what everyone is hoping is really there. Mashiko was even more dominant in the men's 3000 m. Coming out on the front end of some pushing and shoving in the first 50 m, Mashiko led the entire way. By 300 m he had a measurable gap that never got smaller, and af

japan running news

Search This Blog