Skip to main content

Mathathi Wins Sixth Kumamoto Kosa 10-Miler

http://kumanichi.com/news/local/main/20111204005.shtml

translated by Brett Larner

At the Rikuren-certified 36th annual Kumamoto Kosa 10 Mile Road Race on Dec. 4, 2009 World Championships 10000 m runner Yuki Iwai (Team Asahi Kasei) ran 47:08 to win for the second time, five years after his first win.  In the international division, Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) won his third-straight and sixth-total Kosa title in 46:20.

With the international division starting together with the general division for the first time, Mathathi picked up the pace at the halfway mark.  Iwai went with him, leaving all over Japanese runners behind.  He slowed dramatically near the end but still held off 2nd-place Kenichi Shiraishi (Team Asahi Kasei) by 9 seconds.  Kohei Matsumura (Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki) was 3rd.

Daegu World Championships marathoner Hiroyuki Horibata (Team Asahi Kasei) started off in the lead pack, but he fell behind after only 3 km and finished 19th in 47:45.  His World Championships teammate Yukihiro Kitaoka (Team NTN) was only 93rd.  Yoshikazu Kawazoe (Team Asahi Kasei), 7th in 47:21, was the top finisher from Kumamoto.

In the high school boys' 10 km race, Kazuma Kubota (Kyushu Gakuin H.S.) won in 29:35.  Yohei Sakai (Hondo J.H.S.) won the junior high school boys' 5 km in 15:47, while Ai Ishida (Izumi Chuo H.S.) ran 16:57 to win her second-straight women's 5 km title.  Conditions at the start were sunny, 15.5 degrees, with 4 km/hr NNE winds and 48% humidity.

Translator's note: The title of the original article was, "Iwai Wins After 5 Years - Kosa 10-Mile Road Race"  Iwai was actually 3rd  behind Mathathi and Alex Mwangi (Kenya/Team YKK) who were scored in the separate "International Division."

2011 Kumamoto Kosa 10-Mile Road Race
Kumamoto, 12/4/11
click here for complete results

Men's 10-Miler
1. Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 46:20
2. Alex Mwangi (Kenya/Team YKK) - 47:05
3. Yuki Iwai (Team Asahi Kasei) - 47:08
4. Kenichi Shiraishi (Team Asahi Kasei) - 47:17
5. Kohei Matsumura (Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki) - 47:17
6. Kazuharu Takai (Team Kyudenko) - 47:18
7. Kohei Ogino (Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 47:21
8. Satoru Sasaki (Team Asahi Kasei) - 47:21
9. Yoshikazu Kawazoe (Team Asahi Kasei) - 47:21
10. Yuki Oshikawa (Team Toyota Kyushu) - 47:22

High School Boys' 10 km
1. Kazuma Kubota (Kyushu Gakuin H.S.) - 29:35
2. Shogo Higashijima (Tosu Kogyo H.S.) - 29:44
3. Kentaro Inoue (Tosu Kogyo H.S.) - 29:56

Women's 5 km
1. Ai Ishida (Izumi Chuo H.S.) - 16:57

Junior High School Boys' 5 km
1. Yohei Sakai (Hondo H.S.) - 15:47

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Arao Becomes 1st Man in 40 Years to Score Back-to-Back Ome Road Race Wins

30 km is an under-appreciated distance, and both of Japan's big races at that distance happened Sunday. At the Ome Road Race in western Tokyo's mountains, Sydney Marathon 6th-placer Masato Arao (ND Software) became the first man since the great Kunimitsu Ito in 1985-1986 to win back-to-back years. Arao, who finished 39th of 40 on his leg at the New Year Ekiden last month, stayed in the pack through 20 km before going on the attack, putting over a minute on New Year Ekiden Sixth Stage CR breaker Yudai Shimazu (GMO). Sub-1:31 winning times are rare on the tough and hilly Ome course, but Arao's 1:30:54 almost equaled his 1:30:50 from last year, making him the first Japanese man ever to do it twice and second only to CR holder Ezekiel Cheboitibin . Next up Arao races the Tokyo Marathon, where he is targeting sub-2:06. Shimazu was 2nd in 1:31:58 and Yuta Nakayama (JR Higashi Nihon) 3rd in 1:32:07. Cheboitibin was only 9th, running almost 8 minutes off his CR in 1:36:42. Shi...

'Kobe 2024: Aitchison, Athmani Lead Record-Breaking Thursday'

  https://www.paralympic.org/news/kobe-2024-para-athletics-world-championships-aitchison-athmani-lead-record-breaking-thursday Complete results and daily schedule from the Kobe World Para Athletics Championships are here .

Nagoya Women's Marathon Elite Field

Last year's top 3 Sheila Chepkirui , Sayaka Sato and Eunice Chebichii Chumba are back for this year's Nagoya Women's Marathon on Mar. 8, but things are being set up more for it to be a race between Chepkirui, 2:17:49 in Berlin 2023, Aynalem Desta , 2:17:37 in Amsterdam last fall, and Japanese NR holder Honami Maeda , 2:18:59 at the Osaka International Women's Marathon in 2024. Aynalem has the freshest sub-2:20 of the 3, with neither Chepkirui nor Maeda having done it in 2 years. Maeda's only recent result is a 1:10:07 from Houston last month, but when she ran her NR she didn't have any kind of tuneup race to indicate her fitness so it's probably best not to read too much into that. If it goes out as a 2:18 race those are the only 3 who can probably hang with it. If it turns out to be more of a 2:20 race like when Chepkirui won in 2:20:40 last year then there's a group of 7 at the 2:20-2:22 level who will be in the picture, including Chumba, Selly Chep...