Skip to main content

10000 m National Champion Sugihara Wins on Roads at Inuyama Half Marathon

by Brett Larner

Alongside the Tokyo Marathon, three important half marathons took place on Feb. 26.

At the oldest of them, the 61st Kashima Yutoku Road Race, talented amateur Hiroko Yoshitomi (First Dream AC) had a breakthrough with a 1:12:35 course record in the women's half marathon.  Daito Bunka University first-year Takashi Ichida had a comfortable 25-second win over Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai runner-up Yusuke Sato (Nihon Univ.), running 1:04:20 to Sato's 1:04:45 in the men's race.  Hakone champ Toyo University's Koshi Watanabe was close behind Sato in 3rd in 1:04:48.

Pro Keita Baba (Team Honda) outkicked Ichida's teammate Junji Katakawa (Daito Bunka Univ.) to win the 6th Fukaya Half Marathon, 1:04:41 to 1:04:46.  Honda runners also took the 3rd and 4th places.  Rina Kurosawa (Tamagawa Univ.) won the women's race in 1:15:30.

The biggest half marathon results of the weekend came at the 34th Yomiuri Inuyama Half Marathon.  Running solo, 10000 m national champion Kayo Sugihara (Team Denso) beat Yoshitomi's Yutoku time with a strong 1:11:59, just off her PB.  In the men's race Shogo Nakamura and Kensuke Gotoda of Hakone Ekiden runner-up Komazawa University took the top two men's spots, running 1:03:26 and 1:03:49.

(c) 2012 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Comments

Most-Read This Week

World Marathon Majors Japanese Entries

We're back from a short summer break. A week and a half out from the first race of the season's four World Marathon Majors races, here's a look at Japanese athletes scheduled to run. Everything right now is about qualifying for the MGC Race, the official trials race for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics to be held in the fall of 2027 in Nagoya. The JAAF makes no mistake about wanting to keep its top people racing domestically where it can get a share of revenue from the TV broadcast and race operations, so anyone who decides to race overseas has to do it in a WA platinum label race and hit either 2:06:30 or 2:23:30, regardless of place, course or weather if they want to make the trials. At the same time concessions are make for domestic races, like for example the late-August Hokkaido Marathon where up to 3 men and 3 women can qualify if they go 2:12:00 or 2:32:00. As a result, you get things like last year where amateur runner Yudai Fukuda made the trials by finishing 3rd Jap...

Nakajima Breaks 100 mH NR Twice, Kitaguchi Returns - August Track Roundup

Catching up on what's been happening in track and field this month during our summer break: Men's 3000 m NR holder Nagiya Mori was just off his 5000 m PB at the IFAM Oordegem meet in Belgium on Aug. 1, taking 16th in 13:15.01. Shota Nakano was 26th of 28 in 13:35.02. This year's national champion Ryoma Aoki ran the 3000 mSC but didn't finish. Naoto Hasegawa was the only Japanese athlete at Mutaz Essa Barshim 's What Gravity Tour stop at the Monaco Athletics Festival meet on Aug. 5. Having cleared 2.30 m for the first time earlier this year Hasegawa only managed 2.18 m in Monaco, taking 7th of 10. There were a lot of good performances at the Fuji Hokuriku World Trial meet in Fujiyoshida on Aug. 9, but the one that got the headlines was a 12.62 (-0.2) NR in the women's 100 mH by Hitomi Nakajima . Nakajima actually did it twice, running 12.62 (+2.0) in the heats before repeating in the final. Masumi Aoki also ran big in the heats, with a 12.68 (+2.0) for al...

Federation Tells World Championships Marathoner Horibata To Go On Diet

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/news/20110307-OHT1T00258.htm translated by Brett Larner Having made the 2011 World Championships marathon team by running a PB of 2:09:25 to come in 3rd overall and as the top Japanese finisher at the Mar. 6 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, Hiroyuki Horibata (24, Team Asahi Kasei), talked to the media at Osaka Airport on Mar. 7. Following Sunday's race Rikuren director Keisuke Sawaki , 67, told Horibata, "Let's cut things down a bit until the World Championships," directing him to go on a diet. The 189 cm Horibata weighs 72 kg [~6'3", 160 lbs]. When he joined Team Asahi Kasei in 2005 at age 18 he weighed 65 kg, and this weight is still generally listed on his profile at races and in the media. "For some reason it never changes," he said with a grin. His coach Takeshi Soh , 58, commented, "If he was hungrier for glory his world would change completely," slapping the 'heavyweight division runner...