Skip to main content

Kaori Yoshida Sub-2:30 PB at Chicago Marathon (updated with photos)

by Brett Larner
photos by Dr. Helmut Winter


After years of near-misses, former Second Wind AC and Team Shiseido runner Kaori Yoshida (Amino Vital AC) finally broke through the 2:30 barrier, barely, with a 2:29:45 PB for 8th place at the 2010 Chicago Marathon. After a solid buildup which included wins at July's Gold Coast Marathon and last month's Hakodate Half Marathon, both in times just off her PBs, Yoshida hit Chicago hard with a 1:13:06 first half, just seconds off her winning time in Hakodate. Largely ignored on the Japanese television broadcast which concentrated on cursed Tenmaya runner Naoko Sakamoto's attempt to make a comeback, Yoshida faded in the final kilometers but rallied to just clear her target and mark the best Chicago finish by a Japanese woman since her former Shiseido and Second Wind teammate Kiyoko Shimahara's 3rd-place showing two years ago.

Half-marathon specialist Yuko Machida (Team Nihon ChemiCon) had a middling day, 14th in 2:33:21, while Sakamoto, holder of a 2:21:51 debut, continued her unfortunate slide from the professional level, 29th in 2:44:47.

Japanese coverage of Chicago also included an exclusive interview in Japanese with men's winner Samuel Wanjiru (Kenya), who talked about the importance of gaman, the capacity of calm endurance he learned during his years living in Japan, and wrote the kanji for the word and his Japanized name on a banner for the Japanese TV audience. He also said that his ultimate goal is to defend his Olympic medal in London.

2010 Chicago Marathon - Top Results
click here for complete results
Women
1. Liliya Shobukhova (RUS) - 2:20:25 - NR
2. Atsede Baysa (ETH) - 2:23:40
3. Maria Konovalova (RUS) - 2:23:50 - PB
4. Desiree Davila (U.S.A.) - 2:26:20 - PB
5. Irina Mikitenko (GER) - 2:26:40
6. Mamitu Daska (ETH) - 2:28:29
7. Magdalena Lewy-Boulet (U.S.A.) - 2:28:44
8. Kaori Yoshida (Amino Vital AC) - 2:29:45 - PB
9. Jia Chaofeng (CHN) - 2:30:35
10. Tera Moody (U.S.A.) - 2:30:53 - PB
-----
14. Yuko Machida (Team Nihon ChemiCon) - 2:33:21
29. Naoko Sakamoto (Team Tenmaya) - 2:44:47

Men
1. Samuel Wanjiru (KEN) - 2:06:24
2. Tsegaye Kebede (ETH) - 2:06:43
3. Feyisa Lilesa (ETH) - 2:08:10
4. Wesley Korir (KEN) - 2:08:44
5. Vincent Kipruto (KEN) - 2:09:08
6. Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot (KEN) - 2:09:28
7. Laban Moiben (KEN) - 2:10:48
8. Jason Hartmann (U.S.A.) - 2:11:06 - PB
9. Ridouane Harroufi (MAR) - 2:13:01
10. Mike Sayenko (U.S.A.) - 2:14:27

(c) 2010 Brett Larner
all rights reserved
photos (c) 2010 Dr. Helmut Winter
all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

VavahF said…
does dr. helmut winter have a site where he posts his pics? i'd like to see more wanjiru pics if there any available.
October 13, 2010 at 12:42 PM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Saku Chosei H.S. Makes It 2 In a Row - National High School Ekiden Boys' Race

While the girls' race was a blowout by 2022 champ Nagano Higashi H.S. , the boys' race at Sunday's National High School Ekiden was a tense battle of turnover that saw all of the final top four teams take a stab at leading. 2023 3rd-placer Yachiyo Shoin H.S. handled the first 2 of the 7 stages in the 42.195 km race, with lead runner Rui Suzuki delivering a bold run on the 10.0 km First Stage that produced the fastest-ever time by a Japanese runner on the stage, 28:43, and put Yachiyo Shoin 29 seconds out front. Last year's Fifth Stage CR breaker Tetsu Suzuki ran Yachiyo Shoin down to put 2023 champ Saku Chosei H.S. into 1st on the 8.1075 km Third Stage, but Genta Sugano of last year's 8th-placer Sendai Ikuei H.S. had other plans and took the lead on the 8.0875 km Fourth Stage. Smiling and fist pumping to the crowd almost the entire way, Taketo Tsukada of last year's 6th-placer Omuta H.S. moved up from 3rd to 1st by 2 seconds over Saku Chosei on the 3.0 k...
Post a Comment
Read more

Japan Post Holds Off Sekisui Kagaku to Win Queens Ekiden National Title

  Japan Post  was back on top at the Queens Ekiden corporate women's national championships Sunday in Sendai, holding off last year's winner Sekisui Kagaku  over the second half of a race that came as close as 1 second to take 1st with a final margin of victory of 27 seconds. Sekisui Kagaku was out fast with a win on the 7.0 km opening leg by Erika Tanoura  and a new CR for the 12:56 second leg by Yuma Yamamoto , 17 seconds better than her own CR from last year. Last year's 4th-placer Shiseido  briefly led on the 10.6 km third leg with an excellent 33:17 stage win from Rino Goshima , but behind her Japan Post's Ririka Hironaka  returned from her latest injury problems to pass Sekisui Kagaku's Sayaka Sato  and hand off 6 seconds ahead. New recruit Caroline Kariba  ran Shiseido down on the 3.6 km fourth leg and put Japan Post 22 seconds ahead of Sekisui Kagaku, but a duel of marathoners between JP's  Ayuko Suzuki  and Sekisui's Hitomi Niiy...
1 comment
Read more

Nagano Higashi Girls Lead Start to Finish to Win National High School Ekiden

2022 National High School Ekiden girls' champion Nagano Higashi H.S. was back in force after a 5th-place finish last year, leading start to finish to win this year's national title Sunday in Kyoto. Lead runner Airi Mashiba kicked it off with a 19:30 stage win on the 6.0 km opening leg, something that head coach Fumio Yokouchi said later that he hadn't been expecting. That ended up being Nagano Higashi's only individual stage win in the 5-leg, 21.0975 km race, but the rest of its team ran well enough to hold a lead that was never less than 11 seconds but never more than 21. Last year's 4th-placer Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S. spent most of the race in 2nd, but over the second half of the race Sendai Ikuei H.S. , 2nd last year by just 1 second, came from further back to run Kunei down on the anchor stage thanks in big part to a critical stage win on the 4th leg by Tsubomi Tezuka that put anchor Aoi Hosokawa in position to catch Kunei's Mizuki Oda . Nagano Higashi ...
Post a Comment
Read more