Skip to main content

Higashino, Makishima, Watanabe, Ichida Twins Win on Roads in Kyushu

http://www.oita-press.co.jp/localNews/2012_132608542166.html
http://www.373news.com/modules/pickup/index.php?storyid=37548
http://www.nagasaki-np.co.jp/kiji/20120110/05.shtml

translated and edited by Brett Larner

Japan's southernmost main island Kyushu was the site of most of the long weekend's road action.

The 49th South Japan Long Distance Meet took place Jan. 8 in Kagoshima on a road loop course inside Kagoshima Sports Park.  A track 10000 m until last year, the open men's 10 km division saw  Takashi Ichida (Daito Bunka Univ., formerly of 2010 national champion Kagoshima Jitsugyo H.S.) take the win in 29:35.  His identical twin brother Hiroshi Ichida (also Daito Bunka Univ. / Kagoshima Jitsugyo H.S.) was close behind in 2nd in 29:38 with Chihiro Suzuhigashi (Kokubu SDF Base) also cracking 30 minutes as he took 3rd in 29:59.  Click here for top results.

A record 951 people competed in the Oita City Half Marathon on Jan. 9 on a course starting and finishing at the Oita Civic Track and Field Grounds.  In the men's half-marathon division Kenji Higashino (Team Asahi Kasei) won a close three-way sprint finish to take 1st in 1:05:19.  His teammate Ryoichi Matsuo (Team Asahi Kasei) was just behind in 2nd in 1:05:21 with amateur Hiroki Nonaka (Usuki Fire Dep't) 3rd in 1:05:23.  Saori Makishima (Canon AC Kyushu) won the women's division in 1:15:19.  Three local high schoolers broke 30 minutes in the men's 10 km, led by Shuhei Kondo (Oita Tomei H.S.) in 29:47.  Sayaka Kuribayashi (Uwa H.S.) likewise won the women's 10 km, clocking 36:22.  The half-marathon started at 10:00 a.m., with the 10 km getting underway at 10:08.  772 people finished the half-marathon, 179 people the 10 km.  The runners travelled along Oita's waterfront highway and took in many of the sights of downtown Oita on a course conducive to fast times.  Click here for complete results.

Further west in Nagasaki at the 41st Unsen Obama Half-Marathon, Masahiko Watanabe (Team Sumco) took his first win in the men's open division in 1:05:54.  A total of 1046 people from elementary school students to adults took part in the different divisions.  Tomoya Oda (Isahaya H.S.) won the high school boys' 10 km in 30:58, while Kana Matsuzoe (Nagasaki Shogyo H.S.) won the high school girls' 5 km in 17:12.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Ngetich and Mutiso Take Down Tokyo Legacy Half CR

In its 5th edition the Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon scored 2 new course records via Kenyans from the Ikaika agency, with 10 km WR holder Agnes Ngetich blasting 3 minutes off the old record to win by over 4 in 1:04:23, and Alexander Mutiso skimming just 1 second under the CR for the win by 5 seconds in 59:51. The 2 races played out completely differently, even if the paydays were the same for the winners. Surrounded by an envelope of male runners all the way to the final 100 m, Ngetich was out hard on the downhill in the first 5 km, hitting it on sub-64 pace in 15:08 before leveling out on the flat middle 10 km. Her next 2 splits projected to 1:04:09 and 1:04:17, and even with the uphill back to the stadium in the last 5 km she didn't fall far off from that, winning in 1:04:23. Runner-up Tabitha Njeri Kamau was nearly a mile back in 1:08:28, with Kamau's Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo teammate Kazuna Kanetomo dropping a 1:10:17 PB for 3rd. Now an independent, track Olympian Kaede Ha...
2 comments
Read more

Waseda Leads Top 7 Teams Under Izumo Ekiden CR, Ivy League Best-Ever 3rd (updated)

3rd last year, Waseda University scored its first Izumo Ekiden win since 2010, taking almost 2 minutes off the CR and leading the top 7 teams under the old record of 2:07:51 for the complete 6-stage, 45.1 km course. Waseda was 16 seconds back in 7th after the First Stage, but its 2nd runner Ojiro Honda made that up easily and put them 6 seconds out front. A massive 22:56 CR for the 8.5 km Third Stage by Shadrack Kipkemei (Nihon Univ.) dropped Waseda back to 2nd even though its runner Ryuki Suzuki broke the old CR too, but back-to-back CR on the next 2 stages by 1st-year Haruki Niizuma and Shunpei Yamaguchi put anchor Shinsaku Kudo out of reach of the rest of the field. Kudo duly won the 10.2 km anchor stage in 29:00, bypassing a 2:06 time entirely for a new 2:05:56 CR, just under 2:48/km average pace for the complete course. Defending champ Koku Gakuin University struggled a bit in the first half of the race but came on strong in the longer second half with 4th and 5th runners...
8 comments
Read more

Route Inn Hotels Win National Corporate Women's Ekiden Qualifier for First Time

After Saturday's Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai qualifying race in Tokyo, 2nd-tier corporate women's teams were in Fukuoka for their own national championships qualifying race, the Princess Ekiden . With Queens Ekiden 19-placer Otsuka Seiyaku a DNS, 30 teams lined up for the 6-stage, 42.195 km race where the top 16 would go on to join the top 8 from last year's Queens Ekiden at next month's national race. Coming right in the middle of the international fall marathon season several teams had people still tired from Berlin and Chicago, with Daihatsu fielding Rika Kaseda and Natsuki Omori from Berlin, Tokyo Metro sending out its own Berlin duo of Mao Uesugi and Ayumi Morita , and Kraftia not playing its top member Yuka Akasaki after her solid run in Chicago last week. After a fast start from eventual 9th-placer Denso 's Rio Matsutani , Daihatsu took over on the Second Stage and held it until the Fifth, where a tired Omori dropped to 3rd. Mayuka Fujita from Route Inn H...
2 comments
Read more