Skip to main content

Njoroge, Morimoto Take First Hokkaido Marathon Titles

by Brett Larner

With a noon start time and temperatures peaking at 34 degrees the 2011 Hokkaido Marathon was a brutal race of attrition.  In the men's race Ibaraki-based Kenyan Harun Njoroge (Team Komori Corp.) broke away from the large pack at 30 km with veteran Seiji Kobayashi (Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki) and the young Chiharu Takada (Team JR Higashi Nihon) in tow to form a trio which stuck together to maintain pace until 38 km.  Njoroge then surged again to pull away for the win in 2:14:10.  Defending champion Cyrus Njui (Kenya/Team Hitachi Cable) could not stay with the lead trio late in the race and finished only 7th in 2:19:14.

In the women's race 2006 winner Kaori Yoshida (Amino Vital AC) frontran at PB pace against a field which included course record holder Kiyoko Shimahara (Second Wind AC), former national record holder Yoko Shibui (Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) and, returning from injury, 2006 Vienna Marathon winner Tomo Morimoto (Team Tenmaya).  Splitting as fast as 3:23/km Yoshida built up a lead of over 3 minutes, but the heat took its toll and by 37 km she was running with a pronounced limp.  By 39 km her pace was down to 4:14/km as Morimoto rolled up from far behind at 3:32/km.  Morimoto took the lead at 39.6 km and continued on to the win in 2:33:45.  Shimahara and Shibui overtook Yoshida in the final km to round out the top three, Yoshida staggering across the line in 4th in 2:35:49.

2011 Hokkaido Marathon
Sapporo, Hokkaido, 8/28/11
click here for complete results

Men
1. Harun Njoroge (Kenya/Team Komori Corp.) - 2:14:10
2. Seiji Kobayashi (Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki) - 2:14:22
3. Chiharu Takada (Team JR Higashi Nihon) - 2:14.39
4. Kensuke Takahashi (Team Toyota) - 2:16:29
5. Ryo Matsumoto (Team Sagawa Express) - 2:16:49
6. Takeshi Kumamoto (Team Toyota) - 2:18:41
7. Cyrus Njui (Kenya/Team Hitachi Cable) - 2:19:14
8. Kenichiro Setoguchi (Team Asahi Kasei) - 2:19:20
9. Kenzo Kawabata (Team Aisan Kogyo) - 2:19:56
10. Yuko Matsumiya (Team Konica Minolta) - 2:20:33

Women
1. Tomo Morimoto (Team Tenmaya) - 2:33:45
2. Kiyoko Shimahara (Second Wind AC) - 2:34:26
3. Yoko Shibui (Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki) - 2:35:10
4. Kaori Yoshida (Amino Vital AC) - 2:35:49
5. Emi Ikeda (Team Sekisui Kagaku) - 2:36:35
6. Asami Furuse (Team Kyocera) - 2:36:55 - debut
7. Sayuri Baba (Team Sekisui Kagaku) - 2:40:49
8. Sumiko Suzuki (Team Hokuren) - 2:41:29
9. Chinami Fukaminato (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) - 2:43:52
10. Chihiro Tanaka (AthleC RC) - 2:45:51

(c) 2011 Brett Larner
all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

TokyoRacer said…
Good run in the heat by Shibui, who looked a bit plump...compared to the usual Japanese woman runner.
August 31, 2011 at 4:03 PM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

On the Loss of the ARRS Database

At some point in the last few months I discovered that both versions of the ARRS database, the static one and the searchable version , are gone. Last week David Monti posted a link to the ARRS history of an event he covered in Race Results Weekly, I guess copying and pasting a link from last year without looking at it, and that reminded me to write something about the loss of the database. The Association of Road Racing Statisticians was basically a one-man show operated from the remote Northern California shores by Ken Young . When the site existed its intro read: The Association of Road Racing Statisticians (ARRS) is an independent, non-profit organization that collects, analyses and publishes results and statistics regarding elite distance running at distances 3000m and longer...The data of ARRS is stored in the ARRS database, which has more than 1.3 million performances from more than 240,000 races by more than 95,000 elite and sub-elite distance runners worldwide...This website ...
1 comment
Read more

Multiple National Records This Weekend

Olympic and World champion Haruka Kitaguchi got the biggest headlines among Japanese athletes this weekend, overcoming a rough last year and a half that included injury and a coaching change to break her own javelin throw NR by over a meter and a half to win the inaugural WA Ultimate Championship in Budapest. U20 WR and Asian AR holder Ziyi Yan opened with a big 68.05, 0.67 m further than Kitaguchi's best-ever from back in 2023. That could have been the end, but Kitaguchi came back from a 61.15 m first attempt to throw a massive 68.92 m NR on her next one, ultimately enough for the win. She still has a long way to go to match the 18-year-old Yan's 71.74 m from May, but it was a clear statement that Kitaguchi is back. Back home at the National Corporate Track and Field Championships in Kyoto, women's pole vault NR holder Misaki Morota continued a solid comeback season of her own, bettering her NR from May by 1 cm with a 4.51 m on her first attempt. Morota took another 3...
Post a Comment
Read more

Japan's Team Lineup in Copenhagen

Re-upping an earlier post on Japan's team lineup for this weekend's  Copenhagen World Road Running Championships . The JAAF chose not to name any women to the team in the mile. Women 5 km Kana Mizumoto (Edion) - 15:06.98 Rina Kusu (Sekisui Kagaku) - 15:10.91 Half Marathon Yumi Yoshikawa (Canon) - 1:09:14 Wakana Kabasawa (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 1:09:20 Rina Shimizu (Noritz) - 1:09:22 Yuna Takahashi (Shimamura) - 1:09:23 Men Mile Ojiro Honda (Waseda Univ.) - 3:37.53 (1500 m) Tomoki Nakano (Toenec) - 3:37.92 (1500 m) 5 km Yota Mashiko (Waseda Univ.) - 13:20.35 Rui Suzuki (Waseda Univ.) - 13:20.64 Half Marathon Tomoya Ogikubo (Hiramatsu Byoin) - 1:00:22 Yuma Nishizawa (Toyota Boshoku) - 1:00:26 Neo Namiki (Subaru) - 1:00:29 Daisuke Sato (Chuo Univ.) - 1:00:40 © 2026 Brett Larner , all rights reserved
2 comments
Read more