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Showing posts with the label Haruka Yamaguchi

Laqouahi and Yamaguchi Take Beppu-Oita, Futaoka Leads Three Japanese Men Sub-2:10 for First Time

The Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon is known for its winds, but at today's 68th running they held off until almost the end of the race, setting the stage for Beppu-Oita's deepest-ever field to go hard from the start. A lead pack of around 40 hit 5 km in 15:00, 2:06:36 pace, backing off a bit from there but staying on high-2:07 to low-2:08 pace until the final pacer stepped off at 30 km. As in Osaka last week and Marugame earlier today, one of the favorites fell early in the race and had to drop out, in this case 2018 Hokkaido Marathon winner Naoki Okamoto (Chugoku Denryoku), already qualified for the 2020 Olympic trials but in great shape and going for a fast time. Okamoto broke his left elbow in the fall, which will reportedly take two months to completely heal.

Qualification for the trials event, September's MGC Race, weighed heavily on the minds of the Japanese men, dozens of whom stayed with the pace as long as they could. A short way back 2:16-level American Andrew Eppe…
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Mokgobu and Sonoda Return to Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon (updated)

After an exciting head-to-head last year that saw them race each other to sub-2:10 PBs, Desmond Mokgobu (South Africa) and Hayato Sonoda (Kurosaki Harima) return to the Feb. 3 Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon. The pair face not only each other but recent sub-2:10 men Hicham Laqouahi (Morocco), Abdela Godana (Ethiopia), Hiroyuki Yamamoto (Konica Minolta), Daisuke Uekado (Japan/Otsuka Seiyaku), Justus Kiprotich (Kenya), Takuya Fukatsu (Asahi Kasei) Kohei Ogino (Japan/Fujitsu) and Yihunilign Adane (Ethiopia) and sub-62 half marathoners Keijiro Mogi (Asahi Kasei), Charles Ndirangu (JFE Steel) and Shuho Dairokuno (Asahi Kasei), setting up a better-than-average pack by Beppu-Oita standards.

For the Japanese men Beppu-Oita counts toward qualification for the MGC Race, Japan's 2020 Olympic Trials. Sonoda and Uekado have already made it along with fellow entrants Naoki Okamoto (Chugoku Denryoku) and Tomohiro Tanigawa (Konica Minolta), but for Ogino and others it will be just about their last …
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Sakamoto 7th in Xiamen, Mwangi Breaks Hong Kong All-Comers Record - Weekend Overseas Road Race Results

The year's international road racing circuit kicked off Sunday with two races in Asia featuring top-level Japanese athletes. At the C&D Xiamen Marathon in China, ten Japanese athletes ranked in the women's and men's Asian top 100 ran with support from JRN as part of Xiamen's bid to become the first race worldwide to qualify for the IAAF's new platinum road race label.

2016 Osaka Marathon winner and mother of three Yoshiko Sakamoto (Y.W.C.) placed highest among them, taking 7th in 2:39:00 with 2018 Osaka runner-up Haruka Yamaguchi (AC Kita)  9th in 2:42:39, 2017 Osaka winner Yumiko Kinoshita (Tokyo T&F Assoc.) 10th in 2:43:56, and 2018 Geneva Marathon runner-up Hisae Yoshimatsu (Shunan City Hall) 12th in 2:45:32.

Running just two days after Josai University had a disappointing 20th-place finish at the Hakone Ekiden, its assistant coach Shingo Igarashi was the top-placing Japanese man at 15th in 2:20:45. Dejene Debele (Ethiopia) won the men's race for th…
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Kanbouchia Breaks Osaka Marathon Course Record

Moroccan Soud Kanbouchia took the top spot in Japan's second-biggest marathon Sunday, breaking the Osaka Marathon women's course record to win in 2:31:19.

In the early going Kanbouchia had company from minor team corporate leaguers Hiroko Yoshitomi (Memolead) and Kasumi Yoshida (Nitori) on mid-2:27 pace, but with a surge at halfway she was on her own and stayed that way until the finish. Yoshitomi, this year's Boston Marathon 10th-place finisher who set a PB and CR of 2:30:09 two weeks ago at the Fukuoka Marathon and, incredibly, won the Ohtwara Marathon on Friday in 2:37:22, dropped off after 10 km to settle into mid-2:30s pace. Yoshida lasted longer but slowed dramatically after 25 km and was quickly retaken by Yoshitomi.

But from the main pack of amateur women behind them club runner Haruka Yamaguchi (AC Kita) emerged to run both down, running almost even splits to take 2nd in 2:34:12, a PB by over 4 minutes. Yoshitomi hung on 3rd in 2:34:39, almost 3 minutes faster th…
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Cheboitibin, Kiprono and Sonoda Top Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon Elite Entries

With just over two weeks to go the organizers of the Feb. 4 Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon have released their elite field for this year's race. With its history as an elite men-only race Beppu-Oita's women's field is still tiny given its status as an IAAF silver label race, but this year promises a good race between two local 2:32 women, 2016 winner Hiroko Yoshitomi (Memolead) and Yuka Takemoto (Canon AC Kyushu), that should see the 2:39:57 course record fall. Defending champ Haruka Yamaguchi (AC Kita) also returns with a 2:38:43 PB from last fall that puts her range of the course record as well.

The men's race is heavier-duty, with a spot in the MGC Race Tokyo Olympic Trials available to the top Japanese man under 2:11:00 and to up to five others if they clear 2:10. Hayato Sonoda (Kurosaki Harima) and Taiga Ito (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) are the only Japanese men in the field to have run those kinds of times in the last couple of years, and with support from 2:09~2:10 men …
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Kawabata Over Kawauchi at Takashimadaira 20 km

Like a distant echo of the thunder of yesterday's Yosenkai 20 km reverberating across the city, Tokyo's other major 20 km road race took place this morning in the northwestern suburb of Takashimadaira. Narrowly surviving the loss of its main sponsor last year, the Takashimadaira Road Race offers a unique 5 km loop course that delivers fast times. Now in its 42nd year, Takashimadaira is a favorite for upper-tier universities that don't have to run the Yosenkai to requalify for the Hakone Ekiden, for other schools' second-stringers, and for top-level independents and amateurs.

This year's race was fronted by a group of runners from Izumo Ekiden winner Tokai University who didn't make Tokai's final Izumo roster, by London World Championships marathoner Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) and others from yesterday's Yosenkai winner Teikyo University and the Hakone-qualified Juntendo University and Komazawa University. In the same cool and lightly rainy…
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Nakamoto Wins Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon in 2:09:32

by Brett Larner

別府大分毎日マラソン

優勝 中本健太郎選手(安川電機)
2 9 32

妬ましいほど格好良かった(^^;
優勝おめでとうございます🎉 pic.twitter.com/K6JrFL5dm9 — manamin (@kinokonoko0916) February 5, 2017
There's a good case to be made that from 2011 to 2013 Kentaro Nakamoto (Team Yasukawa Denki) was Japan's best marathoner.  9th at the 2011 World Championships, 6th at the 2012 London Olympics, 5th at the 2013 Moscow World Championships, a PB every year from his 2:13:54 debut in 2008 to his 2:08:35 in 2013 and twice under 2:09.  That 2:08:35 came at the 2013 Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon, one of the classic races in Japanese marathon history, a brutal smackdown duel as Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) dropped a very large stone into the tranquil pond of Nakamoto's plans for his first marathon win.  After Moscow Nakamoto looked to be on the decline, with a 2:11:58 for 12th at the 2014 Fukuoka International Marathon marking his first-ever marathon finish outside the top ten, no marathons in 2015, and just a 2:12:06 la…
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Beppu-Oita, Marugame and Kanagawa Lead Weekend Action

by Brett Larner

It's a busy and snowy weekend across Japan with at least three major races leading the way.

On the southernmost main island of Kyushu, defending champion Abraham Kiplimo (Uganda) returns to the 64th running of the Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon as the probable favorite after the withdrawal of top domestic contenderKentaro Nakamoto (Team Yasukawa Denki) with injury earlier this week.  In Nakamoto's absence Kiplimo's main competition is Fekadu Lema (Ethiopia), but with a solid pack of 2:09-2:12 Japanese men there could be a surprise.  Relevant debuts include 1:01:31 half marathoner Yusuke Takabayashi (Team Toyota) and sub-63 Moroccan Abdelmajid El Hissouf.

In the women's race, 2014 100 km World Championships silver medalist Chiyuki Mochizuki (Canon AC Kyushu), a three-time Beppu-Oita winner, returns to face last year's winner Haruka Yamaguchi (Kita AC).  Click here for a complete elite field listing, and follow @JRNLive for live coverage during the race…
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Ngandu Repeats at Takashimadaira 20 km

http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/f-sp-tp0-20141019-1384249.html

translated by Brett Larner

1229 people ran in the 39th edition of the Takashimadaira Nikkan Sports Road Race Oct. 19 on a 5 km loop course in Takashimadaira, Tokyo.  In the men's open division, last year's winner Benjamin Ngandu (23, Team Monteroza) ran solo from the first lap to defend his title in 1:00:01.  His next race is the Dec. 7 Fukuoka Marathon, where he made an unsuccessful debut last year.  "This year I want to break 2:10," he said with conviction.

39th Takashimadaira Nikkan Sports Road Race
Takashimadaira, Tokyo, 10/19/14

Men's 20 km
1. Benjamin Ngandu (Kenya/Team Monteroza) - 1:00:01
2. Shohei Hayakawa (Teikyo Univ.) - 1:00:14
3. Yuta Takahashi (Teikyo Univ.) - 1:00:21
4. Yusei Tsutsumi (Teikyo Univ.) - 1:00:22
5. Takayuki Tsuchiya (Tokai Univ.) - 1:00:29
6. Hiroki Takemoto (Teikyo Univ.) - 1:00:30
7. Kenta Ando (Tokai Univ.) - 1:00:38
8. Kodai Matsushita (Chuo Gakuin Univ.)…
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Kiplimo Over Imai at Foggy Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon

by Brett Larner

Little-known Abraham Kiplimo became the first Ugandan winner in the 63-year history of the Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon, taking four minutes off his best to outrun two of Japan's best marathoners of 2013 for the win in 2:09:23.  Tokyo-area club runner Haruka Yamaguchi (AC Kita) joined him in the books with the women's win in 2:41:56.

In the almost complete absence of Beppu-Oita's usual wind, thick fog blanketed the course for most of the race.  After irregular pacing for the first 10 km things settled down near the mid-2:08 target pace with a large pack of over twenty men up front.  With a 2:08:00 at last year's Tokyo Marathon making him Japan's fastest marathoner last year, Moscow World Championships marathon team member Kazuhiro Maeda (Team Kyudenko) was the favorite, but at 25 km he became the race's first major casualty as he gradually lost touch with the pack.  Top-ranked first-timers Ryo Kiname (Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki) and Ryuji Wat…
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