Kenyans Karukuwa, Waroru Take Course Records at Tamana Half Marathon

by Brett Larner

click here for photos of the race

With ideal weather across most of the country, Kenyans Dishon Karukuwa (Team Aisan Kogyo) and Titus Waroru (Chinzei Gakuin H.S.) ran through light rain to take down the course records in the men's half marathon and high school boys' 10 km divisions at the 62nd running of the Kanaguri Hai Tamana Half Marathon Mar. 6 in Tamana, Kumamoto. Back on the roads after running January's Osaka International Women's Marathon, last year's runner-up Hiroko Miyauchi (Team Kyocera), one of the nine Japanese women training in Christchurch, New Zealand at the time of the recent major earthquake, took the women's 10 km by a wide margin.

The 19 year-old Karukuwa ran 1:02:20 to break the standing half marathon course record by 18 seconds. He was the first Kenyan winner in Tamana history and only the third non-Japanese to ever take the title. Runner-up Yukinobu Nakazaki (Team Toyota Kyushu) ran a strong 1:03:09, fast enough to have won all but three Tamana runnings but nearly a minute behind Karukuwa. Karukuwa reports having returned from altitude training in Kenya last week and plans to run next week's Jitsugyodan Half Marathon Championships as well as to debut at the marathon later this year.

Waroru, last year's high school 10 km runner-up and Karukuwa's successor at Chinzei, posted even bigger gains with an outstanding 28:07 mark, taking 44 seconds off the course record set last year by Steven Njeri (Kenya) to make it three three straight years of Kenyan victory. Local runner-up Kazuma Kubota (Kyushu Gakuin H.S.) was a distant 29:41 but led teammates Kyosuke Yoshida and Kazuma Watanabe under 30 minutes along with rival Shohei Otsuka (Oita Tomei H.S.).

Miyauchi, who won in 2009 in 32:33 and finished 2nd behind multiple national record holder Kayoko Fukushi (Team Wacoal) last year in 32:43, became the first woman to win Tamana three times, clocking 32:53. Fukushi, scheduled to defend the title, sat out as she deals with post-traumatic stress from being caught in the Christchurch earthquake. Kamimura Gakuen H.S. teammates Misuzu Nakahara and Nozomi Nishiyama were a distant 2-3 in 33:38 and 33:44.

2011 Kanaguri Hai Tamana Half Marathon

click division header for complete results

Men's Half Marathon

1. Dishon Karukuwa (Kenya/Team Aisan Kogyo) - 1:02:20 - CR

2. Yukinobu Nakazaki (Team Toyota Kyushu) - 1:03:09

3. Takehiro Arakawa (Team Asahi Kasei) - 1:03:17

4. Takahiro Gunji (Komazawa Univ.) - 1:04:33

5. Koji Inagaki (Team Sanyo Tokushu Seiko) - 1:04:41

Women's 10 km

1. Hiroko Miyauchi (Team Kyocera) - 32:53

2. Misuzu Nakahara (Kamimura Gakuen H.S.) - 33:38

3. Nozomi Nishiyama (Kamimura Gakuen H.S.) - 33:44

4. Rina Hidaki (Fukuoka Univ.) - 33:45

5. Akane Sueyoshi (Team Kyocera) - 33:46

High School Boys' 10 km

1. Titus Waroru (Chinzei Gakuin H.S.) - 28:07 - CR

2. Kazuma Kubota (Kyushu Gakuin H.S.) - 29:41

3. Kyosuke Yoshida (Kyushu Gakuin H.S.) - 29:42

4. Kazuma Watanabe (Kyushu Gakuin H.S.) - 29:43

5. Shohei Otsuka (Oita Tomei H.S.) - 29:50

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...

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 ...

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

japan running news

Search This Blog