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Showing posts with the label Great Manchester Run

Ishikawa and Fujiwara Crack Top Ten in Manchester

by Brett Larner

Running in their first road race since clocking 2:08:51 and 2:09:10 at March's Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, teammates Suehiro Ishikawa and Masakazu Fujiwara of the Honda corporate team both cleared the top eight at the May 26 Great Manchester Run, Ishikawa improving on his 8th-place finish at last year's race with a 28:56 clocking for 6th but Fujiwara, a member of Japan's marathon squad for August's World Championships, running 29:32 for 8th after coming down with a cough on race morning.  Double Commonwealth Games gold medalist Moses Kipsiro (Uganda) won in 27:52 in a tight sprint finish over London Olympics marathon bronze medalist Wilson Kipsang (Kenya) and multi-world record-holder Haile Gebrselassie (Ethiopia), who set a 40+ world record of 28:00.  Unusually for a gold label race, athletes from nine different countries placed in the top ten.

Tirunesh Dibaba (Ethiopia) soloed a course record of 30:49 in the women's race, running a stunning 15:40/1…

Fujiwara and Ishikawa Face Gebrselassie and Kipsang at Sunday's Great Manchester Run

by Brett Larner

Moscow World Championships men's marathon squad member Masakazu Fujiwara and his Honda teammate Suehiro Ishikawa will make a return to the roads at Sunday's Bupa Great Manchester Run 10 km for the first time since running 2:08:51 and 2:09:10 at March's Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon.  Appearing through the support of JRN, the two Japanese athletes will face a field including former marathon world record holder and four-time defending champion Haile Gebrselassie (Ethiopia), London Olympics marathon bronze medalist Wilson Kipsang (Kenya) and more.  The great Tirunesh Dibaba (Ethiopia) leads the women's field along with home-soil tops Helen Clitheroe (Great Britain) and Gemma Steel (Great Britain) and marathoners Jelena Procopcuka (Latvia) and Christelle Daunay (France).

Fujiwara, the Japanese debut marathon and collegiate marathon national record holder at 2:08:12, will be making his debut on U.K. soil, while Ishikawa will be seeking to improve on his 28:47 …

'Gebrselassie Takes Another Strong 10k Victory in Manchester'

Haile Gebrselassie leads Tsegaye Kebede and Ayele Abshero in front of Manchester United's home ground Old Trafford.

http://www.iaaf.org/Mini/LRR12/News/NewsDetail.aspx?id=65030

Translator's note: Ishikawa's Honda teammate Takahiro Yamanaka finished 16th at the Great Manchester Run in 29:54.  2008 Osaka International Women's Marathon winner Mara Yamauchi (GBR) was 6th in the women's race in 32:28.  Elsewhere overseas, national champion Team Nissin Shokuhin's Manabu Itayama was 7th at the Jakarta International 10 km road race in 31:33 while sub-2:10 man Tomoya Shimizu (Team Sagawa Express) ran 2:16:57 to take 2nd at the Riga Marathon, his teammate Masanori Ishida 6th in 2:23:00.

Men's marathon world record holder Patrick Makau watches the start of the City Games Manchester men's 150 m.

photos (c) 2012 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Another Big Weekend on the Track and Roads

by Brett Larner

A second-straight weekend of regional track and field championship meets takes place across Japan this weekend.

The highlight is the second half of Japan's most competitive university meet, the Kanto Regional University Track & Field Championships, featuring the men's and women's 5000 m and men's half-marathon.  Kanto is relatively weak for women's running, but four women entered in the 5000 m have bests under 16 minutes and another half-dozen are close so look for a quality race between defending champion Mai Shinozuka (Chuo Univ.), Nanaka Izawa (Juntendo Univ.), Azusa Kurusu (Juntendo Univ.), twins Haruka and Moe Kyuma (Tsukuba Univ.),   Narumi Shirataki (Hakuoh Univ.) and more.

Having already won the Division 1 1500 m and 10000 m titles last weekend, Kenyan 1st-yr Enoch Omwamba (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) will be looking to complete the triple crown in the D1 5000 m where he will face the likes of sub-28 10000 m men Akinobu Murasawa (Tokai Univ…