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Showing posts with the label Kikuyo Tsuzaki

Kuira Breaks Shibetsu Half Course Record

Kenyan Paul Kuira (Konica Minolta) outran teammate Tomohiro Tanigawa and defending champ Tsubasa Hayakawa (Toyota) to win the 32nd Suffolkland Shibetsu Half Marathon in the midst of hot and sunny conditions. All three went under the previous course record, with Kuira getting away in the final kilometer to win in 1:03:10. Hayakawa was next in 1:03:15, with Tanigawa just back in 1:03:18.

In the women's half marathon Kotomi Tsubokura won by over 30 seconds in 1:15:42. Natsuki Omori (Daihatsu) won the women's 10 km in 34:08, beating Rio Olympian Mai Ito (Otsuka Seiyaku) by 8 seconds. Newcomer Junna Suzuki (Iwatani Sangyo) was 3rd a step behind Ito in 34:17.
32nd Shibetsu Half MarathonShibetsu, Hokkaido, 7/22/18

Men
1. Paul Kuira (Konica Minolta) - 1:03:10 - CR
2. Tsubasa Hayakawa (Toyota) - 1:03:15
3. Tomohiro Tanigawa (Konica Minolta) - 1:03:18
4. Ryo Matsumoto (Toyota) - 1:03:44
5. Kenta Iinuma (SGH Group) - 1:04:21

Women
1. Kotomi Tsubokura (Wacoal) - 1:15:42
2. Ayaka Inoue (Ots…
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Weekend Overseas Road Race Results

2nd in the women's race at last year's Riga Marathon, Kikuyo Tsuzaki (Noritz) returned to take 4th in 2:35:03 in this year's record-breaking edition, three and a half minutes slower than her solid run last year but still good enough to be the second-fastest time run outside Japan this year by a Japanese woman. More on the men's and women's races here.

At Sweden's Goteborgsvarvet Half Marathon, 2015 National University Half Marathon champion and 2015 World University Games half marathon silver medalist Tadashi Isshiki and his GMO teammate Hiroki Yamagishi were ineffectual, Isshiki five minutes off the win in 1:06:37 for 17th and Yamagishi 23rd in only 1:08:20.

© 2018 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

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Three Wins In One Day - Japanese Overseas Road Race Results

by Brett Larner

Japanese athletes scored three overseas road race wins Sunday.  In Australia, Tomohiro Tanigawa (Team Konica Minolta) and Kei Katanashi (Komazawa Univ.) doubled at the Sydney Marathon, Tanigawa outlasting the field in the men's marathon to score a second-straight win for Japanese men and Katanishi soloing his way to the half marathon title.  At Portugal's Sport Zone Porto Half Marathon, Nao Isaka (Team Hitachi) followed up with a win in the women's race, running down #1-ranked Martha Akeno (Kenya) to win in 1:12:12.  Hiroshi Ichida (Team Asahi Kasei) was the top Japanese man in Porto, 9th overall in 1:04:01, while Yusei Nakao (Smiley Angel AC) was a DNF after coming down with a fever during his flight to Porto.  At the Czech Republic's Usti Nad Labem Half Marathon, last year's Sydney Half women's winner Kikuyo Tsuzaki (Team Noritz) equalled Ichida's performance, 9th in 1:13:26 with teammate Misato Horie 39 seconds back in 11th.

Sydney Maratho…
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Sakamoto 2nd in Volksbank Muenster Marathon - Japanese Overseas Results

by Brett Larner

Japanese athletes raced in three European road races in three different countries on Sunday, 2015 Zurich Marathon winner Yoshiko Sakamoto (Y.W.C.) leading the way at Germany's Volksbank Muenster Marathon.  Starting off at a conservative pace that left her 20 seconds behind the lead group at 5 km and over a minute and a half behind by 15 km, over the second half she overtook three women, Ethiopian Belaynesh Yigezu, then Kenyans Janet Cheruiyot and Salina Jebet, to move into 2nd.  2015 Nairobi Marathon winner Elizabeth Rumokol of Kenya, the only woman in the field to have broken 2:30, took 1st in 2:33:01, Sakamoto next in 2:38:46 and Jebet 3rd in 2:42:27.  "I wanted to try to run with the lead group, but they went out too fast," Sakamoto said post-race.  "I was hoping for a faster time but I'm really, really happy to have gotten 2nd.  This was the first time I've ever enjoyed myself while racing seriously."

In the Muesnter men's race 2…
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Takenaka Runs Faster Than 10 Mile National Record, Kitajima, Tsuzaki and Hashira Win in Sydney - Weekend International Road Race Results

by Brett Larner

Japanese athletes were in action abroad on three continents over the weekend.  The biggest result came at the Netherlands' Dam tot Damloop 10-Miler, where Risa Takenaka (Team Shiseido), winner of July's Gold Coast Airport Marathon, ran 52:56 on the point-to-point course to finish 12 seconds ahead of the national record set 8 1/2 years ago by Mai Endo (Team Nihon ChemiCon) in Kasumigaura.

2015 Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon winner Hisanori Kitajima (Team Yasukawa Denki) won again at the Sydney Marathon, outkicking Nobeoka 3rd-placer Hiroki Yamagishi (Team Hitachi Butsuryu) by three seconds for the win in 2:12:44.  Former Hakone Ekiden uphill superstar Ryuji Kashiwabara (Team Fujitsu) made a surprisingly low-key but distinctly lackluster marathon debut in Sydney, running 2:20:44 for 7th just ahead of independent Saeki Makino, an off-and-on training partner of Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) best-known for his frontrunning at the last two Honolulu Marathons…
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Imai Wins Second-Straight Shibetsu Half

by Brett Larner

Continuing a solid 2014 that saw him break 2:10 for the first time at February's Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon, course record holder Masato Imai (Team Toyota Kyushu) returned to successfully defend his title at Sunday's Shibetsu Half Marathon.  Running in sunny and humid conditions with temperatures around 30 degrees, Imai had no trouble dropping main competition Yusuke Ogura (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) and 5000 m and 30 km national record holder Takayuki Matsumiya (Team Konica Minolta) late in the race to take the win in 1:04:07, 43 seconds off his record last year but still the 4th-fastest winning time in Shibetsu's 28-year history.  Ogura, only 14th in 1:05:56 last year, held off Matsumiya for 2nd in 1:04:21, the veteran Matsumiya ten seconds back.  Japan-based since April, 2014 Incheon Asian Games marathon medal contender Ser-Od Bat-Ochir (Mongolia/Team NTN) was 6th in 1:04:57.

The women's field was split between the half marathon and 10 km divisions.  A r…
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Weekend Overseas Road Results

by Brett Larner
photo by Dr. Helmut Winter

Japanese athletes turned up in three large road races in Europe this weekend. Moscow World Championships marathon team hopeful Mai Ito (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) led the way, finishing 3rd at the Berlin Half Marathon in 1:10:00 in a tuneup for the London Marathon in two weeks. Yamanashi Gakuin H.S. graduate and former Team Hokuren runner Philes Ongori (Kenya) was 2nd in 1:08:01.

At the Paris Marathon, a group of third-tier athletes doing Paris after taking top placings at November's Ohtawara Marathon ran well.  2009 World University Games half marathon silver medalist Kikuyo Tsuzaki (Team Noritz) ran a PB 2:36:57 for 12th, while in the men's race both Atsushi Hasegawa (Team Subaru) and Ryoichi Matsuo (Team Asahi Kasei) both broke their PBs with marks of 2:15:25 and 2:16:28.

At Saturday's Prague Half Marathon, Kenta Iinuma (Team Yasukawa Denki) and Azusa Nojiri (Hiratsuka Lease) failed to make much of an impression as both finished far off…
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Asahi Kasei Dominates Final New Year Ekiden Qualifier

http://mainichi.jp/sports/news/20121124k0000m050028000c.html
http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2012/11/24/kiji/K20121124004624680.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

For the third year in a row Team Asahi Kasei won the seven stage, 78.8 km Kyushu Corporate Men's Ekiden, dominating the race's 49th edition on Nov. 23.  With Olympian Ryuji Ono taking the lead on the Third Stage with a stage best run, anchor Takuya Fukatsu setting a new stage record and every team member finishing in the top four on time on their stage, there was little question of the team securing its 42nd win in the event's history.

Team Yasukawa Denki presented a challenge in the early going with Hiroki Kubota running the fastest time on the Second Stage, but anchor Kentaro Nakamoto, the London Olympics marathon 6th placer, faded and could not maintain position.  Team Toyota Kyushu started slow, only getting into the game with a stage best run by ace Masato Imai on the Third Stage and another from …
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Japanese Women Sweep Half Marathon at World University Games (updated)

by Brett Larner

Click photo for full-sized version.

The women's and men's half marathon kicked off the biggest day of long distance action at the 2009 World University Games, and the Japanese women did what they do best. Josai University's Chisato Saito led Kikuyo Tsuzaki and Sayo Nomura of Meijo University to a Japanese sweep of the women's half marathon. The relatively easy pace played into the hands of Tsuzaki and Nomura, the only runners in the field with PB marks under 72 minutes, but for Saito the win required an A-level effort as she ran just 3 seconds off her PB in 1:13:44. "I didn't expect to win at all, so more than happy I'm just surprised," Saito told reporters after the race.

Tsuzaki finished 19 seconds back in 2nd, with Nomura taking 3rd by a margin of 23 seconds over 4th placer Jong-Hyang Kim of North Korea who was more than a minute off the winning time. Asian runners took 9 of the top 11 positions.

The men's race was a more balanced c…
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Mara Yamauchi Defends Matsue Title

by Brett Larner

Beijing Olympics women's marathon 5th place finisher Mara Yamauchi (U.K.) outran Yuri Kano (Second Wind AC) for the second time this year to defend her Matsue Ladies Half Marathon title. Strong winds kept times slow overall, but Yamauchi won by nearly a minute in 1:10:09 with Kano 2nd in 1:11:02. Meijo University runners took 3rd through 5th place to sweep the National University Women's Half Marathon Championships and assure Meijo of solid representation on the national team at July's World Student Games.

The expected three-way battle up front did not take place when 2009 Osaka International Women's Marathon winner Yoko Shibui (Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) felt some discomfort in her left knee and opted to jog the 10 km race as a guest runner. As in February's Kagawa Marugame International Half Marathon Yamauchi went out hard, covering the first 5 km in 16:17 to Kano's 16:36 with a large pack led by Meijo runners Kikuyo Tsuzaki, Sayo Nomura and Se…
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