Skip to main content

Kayoko Fukushi Wins Shibetsu Half Marathon (updated)

by Brett Larner

for photos click here or here

Half marathon national record holder and 2010 double 5000 and 10000 m national champion Kayoko Fukushi (Team Wacoal) quietly returned to the half marathon distance without fanfare after a three and a half year absence with a win at the 24th Shibetsu Half Marathon on July 25 in Shibetsu, Hokkaido. Fukushi ran the race together in a pack of three with defending champion and 2010 World Half Marathon team member Hiroko Miyauchi (Team Kyocera) and marathoner Yukiko Akaba (Team Hokuren). Akaba fell behind after 15 km while Miyauchi managed to hang on until the final 2 km when Fukushi pulled away to the win in 1:12:25, her slowest time ever over the distance and no doubt a minimum-effort victory. Miyauchi, who was 4th behind Fukushi and Akaba in the Nationals 10000 m last month, was 2nd. Akaba, 3rd at Nationals, was again 3rd. Both women joined Fukushi in going under 1:13 on the hot and sunny race day which saw temperatures of 25 degrees at the start climb to 28 degrees.

Nationals 10000 m runner-up Ryoko Kizaki (Team Daihatsu) took the women's 10000 m in 33:40. Hirokatsu Kurosaki (Team Konica Minolta), an alumnus of two-time Hakone Ekiden champion Toyo University, won the men's half marathon in 1:04:58, his first Shibestu win.

Having taken part in Rikuren's spring marathon training camp in New Zealand and having skipped the summer track season following her pair of national titles in early June, Fukushi's result suggests a serious marathon effort may be in the works for the upcoming winter season following her appearance on the track at November's Asian Games in Guangzhou, China.

2010 Shibetsu Half Marathon - Top Results
Women's Half Marathon
1. Kayoko Fukushi (Team Wacoal) - 1:12:25
2. Hiroko Miyauchi (Team Kyocera) - 1:12:29
3. Yukiko Akaba (Team Hokuren) - 1:12:57
4. Tomo Morimoto (Team Tenmaya) - 1:14:57
5. Sayuri Baba - 1:15:38

Men's Half Marathon
1. Hirokatsu Kurosaki (Team Konica Minolta) - 1:04:58
2. Tetsuo Nishimura - 1:05:16
3. Sota Hoshi - 1:05:54

Women's 10 km
1. Ryoko Kizaki (Team Daihatsu) - 33:40
2. Remi Nakazato - 33:43
3. Mai Ito - 33:44
4. Ai Igarashi - 33:51
5. Seika Iwamura - 33:55

(c) 2010 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Ngetich Breaks CR, Murayama and Sasaki Make U.S. Debut at New York Mini 10k

WR holder Agnes Ngetich  soloed a fast one at the 54th edition of the Mastercard New York Mini 10k, leading inside the first mile and pulling away the rest of the race to run a 30:07 CR for the win, the fastest time ever on U.S. soil albeit on a slightly net downhill course. On a warm day that saw over 10,000 women finish  Tsigie Gebreselama  was on her own most of the way too, a distant 2nd in 30:53 and 17 seconds up on past champ Hellen Obiri . Further back, 2026 World University Cross Country bronze medalist Amisa Murayama  and 2025 Morinomiyako Ekiden 3rd leg CR breaker Nazuki Sasaki  from 2025 National University Women's Ekiden runner-up Tohoku Fukushi University  made their U.S. debuts. Murayama was targeting the fastest-ever Japanese time at the Mini, 32:37, but struggled on the hills just before 5 km and late in the race, fading to finish 23rd in 34:08. Sasaki, recovering from a stress reaction in her upper back a few months ago, ran a conservative ...

Federation Tells World Championships Marathoner Horibata To Go On Diet

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/news/20110307-OHT1T00258.htm translated by Brett Larner Having made the 2011 World Championships marathon team by running a PB of 2:09:25 to come in 3rd overall and as the top Japanese finisher at the Mar. 6 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, Hiroyuki Horibata (24, Team Asahi Kasei), talked to the media at Osaka Airport on Mar. 7. Following Sunday's race Rikuren director Keisuke Sawaki , 67, told Horibata, "Let's cut things down a bit until the World Championships," directing him to go on a diet. The 189 cm Horibata weighs 72 kg [~6'3", 160 lbs]. When he joined Team Asahi Kasei in 2005 at age 18 he weighed 65 kg, and this weight is still generally listed on his profile at races and in the media. "For some reason it never changes," he said with a grin. His coach Takeshi Soh , 58, commented, "If he was hungrier for glory his world would change completely," slapping the 'heavyweight division runner...

Australian YouTuber Handed Lifetime Ban by Ageo City Half Marathon After Running 1:06 with Another Runner's Bib (updated)

After discussion with their race's chief JAAF referee, on Nov. 27 the organizers of the Ageo City Half Marathon handed down a lifetime ban from their event against 36-year-old Australian Matt Inglis Fox  for running the Nov. 15 race wearing the bib number of another JAAF-registered runner. The incident came to light after Fox posted on his personal Instagram account that he had run a PB of 1:06:33 and finished 203rd in Ageo with a 10 km split of 31:03, along with photos and video of himself in the race wearing a bib number beginning with 11. Fox did not appear in the results by name or in that time or place, the closest match being a 1:06:54 gross, 1:06:50 net finish time with a 31:21 10 km split for 18th place in the JAAF-registered division and 209th overall by bib number 1129, registered to a non-Japanese Tokyo-resident club runner. The club runner, Harrisson Uk , readily confirmed that he had given his bib to Fox, saying, "I gave my number to Matt. It wasn't me."...