Skip to main content

Ota and Tominaga Take Ichinoseki International Half Marathon Wins

http://www.iwate-np.co.jp/cgi-bin/topnews.cgi?20080929_P
http://www.iwate-np.co.jp/sports/2008sports/m09/spo0809291.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

The 27th Ichinoseki International Half Marathon took place Sept. 28 in Ichinoseki, Iwate Prefecture, starting outside Ichinoseki city hall and covering a 21.0975 km course. Komazawa University senior Yukinori Ota won the men's race in 1:04:26 after breaking from the lead pack with 4 km to go in the race. Komazawa alumnus Akira Fujii, now of Team Aisan, was 2nd in 1:04:52. Kyoko Fukunaga of Amino Vital AC won the women's race in 1:17:15.

Leading a pack of four at the 16 km mark, Fujii launched a spurt to break away. Ota commented afterwards that at this point he had thought, "If I fall behind now it's over." He picked up his pace in response to Fujii's move, increasing from 3 min/km to 2:50/km and taking the lead at 17 km. Fujii could not match his speed and finished 26 seconds behind.

Ota, who anchored the Komazawa team's winning run at this year's Hakone Ekiden, was 3rd at last year's Ichinoseki Half after fading in the later stages of the race and missing 2nd place by 10 seconds. In his first year at Komazawa he also ran on the school's Hakone team together with Fujii. Of the Ichinoseki Half Ota said, "Your placing at this race means more than the time. It was sweet to win and I'm really satisfied that I was able to keep control of my pace all the way to the end."

1306 runners from 25 prefectures participated in Ichinoseki's half marathon, 10 km and 5 km races along with entrants from America and South Korea. Temperatures along the course averaged 18 degrees.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Nagoya Asian Games Test Event Canceled After Insulation Falls From Venue Ceiling

A section of insulation material fell from the ceiling of Nagoya Kinjo Futo Arena, the official venue for squash competition at September's Nagoya Asian Games. There were no injuries, but the city suspended use of the arena until its safety could be guaranteed, resulting in the cancelation of the Asian Games squash test event which was scheduled to have begun on May 14. It is not yet clear whether the arena will be usable for the Asian Games as planned. According to city officials, arena staff found that the insulation material had fallen onto a work walkway 13 m above the ground on the night of May 11. The fallen material was 3.6 m long, 50 cm wide and 2.5 km thick, and was found to be waterlogged. The cause of the accident is unknown, but it is possible that it was caused by rainwater leaking in from the roof. The same insulation material is installed across the entire ceiling, and the city plans to check for the extent of the possible flooding. Asked whether the arena will be re...
1 comment
Read more

Hakone Ekiden Qualifying Race Entry Roster Sizes Increased from 14 to 16

Hakone Ekiden organizers KGRR have announced details for the qualifying half marathon for next year's 103rd Hakone Ekiden. The Yosenkai qualifying race will be held Oct. 17 in Tachikawa, Tokyo. The combined times of the 10 fastest finishers from each participating team will be used for team scoring, with the 10 fastest teams going on the the main event next January and top-placing individuals from teams that do not qualify being names to the Kanto Region Student Alliance select team. One change from previous years is that the number of runners each school can enter has been increased from 14 to 16. Teams will still only be allowed to have from 10 to 12 athletes on the starting line, but the move gives coaches greater flexibility in making the final decision on their starting rosters. No changes have been made to the qualifying times of 34:00 for 10000 m or 1:13:00 for the half marathon, and the new earlier starting time of 8:30 a.m. introduced last year in an effort to mitigate ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Nomura and Odagiri Go 3-4 at Zevenheuvelenloop 15 km

2010 Zevenheuvelenloop 15 km Nijmegen, Netherlands, 11/21/10 Women click here for complete women's results 1. Genet Getaneh (Ethiopia) - 47:53 2. Florence Kiplagat (Kenya) - 48:07 3. Sayo Nomura (Meijo Univ.) - 49:43 4. Aki Odagiri (Meijo Univ.) - 51:37 5. Benita Willis (Australia) - 51:51 Men click here for complete men's results 1. Leonard Patrick Komon (Kenya) - 41:13 - WR 2. Abera Kuma (Ethiopia) - 42:01 3. Ayele Abshiro (Ethiopia) - 42:01 4. Abraham Kiplimo (Uganda) - 43:03 5. Berhanu Delale (Ethiopia) - 43:08 ----- 14. Kazuya Watanabe (Team Sanyo Tokushu Seiko) - 45:31
Post a Comment
Read more