Skip to main content

Mathathi Headlines 2012 Sapporo International Half Marathon Elite Field

By Brett Larner

The organizers of the 2012 Sapporo International Half Marathon have released the elite invited field of eight men and eight women for this year's 55th running, scheduled for July 1.  The 1:30 p.m. start time in recent years has meant slower times, but Sapporo remains Japan's deepest summer road race and always delivers.

At the top of the men's field is Kenyan great Martin Mathathi (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC), who set a searing course record of 58.56 on the aided Great North Run course last fall.  Sapporo will be Mathathi's next step along a course to a planned marathon debut at this December's Fukuoka International Marathon.  Alongside him are 2011 Fukuoka winner Josphat Ndambiri (Kenya/Team Komori Corp.), national record holder Atsushi Sato (Team Chugoku Denryoku), and London Olympic marathoners Arata Fujiwara (Miki House) and Ryo Yamamoto (Team Sagawa Express), both of whom set half marathon bests at February's Marugame International Half Marathon.

London Olympics women's marathon alternate Yukiko Akaba (Team Hokuren) tops the women's list, where she will face the likes of 2012 National University Half Marathon champion Ayame Takagi (Meijo Univ.), 2012 Sendai International Half Marathon winner Asami Kato (Team Panasonic) and 2011 Ichinoseki International Half Marathon winner Eri Okubo (Second Wind AC).

Look for additional noteworthy names to surface unexpectedly in both the men's and women's general elite field, typically not announced prior to the race.  Check back closer to race date for more information on live coverage of this year's Sapporo International Half Marathon.

55th Sapporo International Half Marathon
Sapporo, Hokkaido, 7/1/12

Men
Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 58:56a (Great North Run 2011)
Atsushi Sato (Team Chugoku Denryoku) - 1:00:25 (World Half 2007)
Josphat Ndambiri (Kenya/Team Komori Corp.) - 1:01:07 (Ras Al Khaimah 2010)
Arata Fujiwara (Miki House) - 1:01:34 (Marugame 2012)
Yoshinori Oda (Team Toyota) - 1:01:41 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2009)
Ryo Yamamoto (Team Sagawa Express) - 1:01:54 (Marugame 2012)
Yukihiro Kitaoka (Team NTN) - 1:02:17 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2009)
Takashi Horiguchi (Team Honda) - 1:02:32 (Marugame 2002)

Women
Yukiko Akaba (Team Hokuren) - 1:08:11 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2008)
Yoko Miyauchi (Team Kyocera) - 1:09:23 (Sanyo Women's 2011)
Mai Ito (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) - 1:10:03 (Sanyo Women's  2011)
Rei Ohara (Team Tenmaya) - 1:10:50 (Marugame 2011)
Ayame Takagi (Meijo Univ.) - 1:11:10 (Nat'l Univ. Women's Half 2012)
Asami Kato (Team Panasonic) - 1:11:21 (Sendai 2012)
Eri Okubo (Second Wind AC) - 1:11:22 (Ichinoseki 2011)
Aki Odagiri (Meijo Univ.) - 1:11:43 (Miyazaki Women's 2010)

(c) 2012 Brett Larner
all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Komazawa University One Step Away From Perfect Season With Hakone Ekiden Day One Win

Already the course record-breaker at the Izumo Ekiden and National University Ekiden this season, 2021 Hakone Ekiden champion Komazawa University came one step away from its first-ever triple crown of single-season ekiden wins as it won a highly competitive 2023 Hakone Ekiden Day One over defending champ Aoyama Gakuin University and last year's 6th placer Chuo University . Things got off to an unexpected start when Select Team runner Hayate Nitta of non-qualifier Ikuei University decided to take his one and only Hakone shot and run it up to his ability on the 21.3 km 1st leg even though the rest of the field opted to jog. At one point Nitta had a lead of almost a minute and a half, but as beautiful as it would have been for him to pull it off, Meiji University 's Shunpei Tomita and Komazawa's Kensuke Tsubura still managed to run him down in the final kilometer. Tomita took the stage win in 1:02:44, 1:02:08 half marathon pace vs. his 1:02:10 PB despite the slow s...
4 comments
Read more

Heisei Mountaineering Stops Takigahara SDF Base From Scoring 10-Year Streak at Mount Fuji Ekiden

by Koichi Iwasa of DogsorCaravan On Aug. 2 the 51st Mount Fuji Ekiden took place, starting and finishing in Gotemba, Shizuoka and covering 11 stages up to the peak of Mount Fuji and back down. Teams of 6 runners tackle the tough course, each running handling one uphill and one downhill leg with the 6th runner reaching the peak before turning around to head back to the exchange zone where they started. The Heisei Mountaineering Club team took the overall win in 3:50:39, beating 9-time winner Takigahara SDF Base by 2:07 and stopping them from achieving a 10-year victory streak. The independent team division and SDF team division were separated in 2005, and this was the first time that the winning independent team outran the fastest SDF team to take the overall title. The roster that Heisei Mountaineering put together for this year's race raised eyebrows among everyone familiar with the Japanese trail running scene. Handling the 5th and 7th legs was Ruy Ueda , winner of the Fuji M...
Post a Comment
Read more

Fujisan GX Breaks CR to Win 79th Towada Hachimantai Ekiden

The 79th edition of the Towada Hachimantai Ekiden took place Aug. 1 in Akita. Covering a 5-leg 71.4 km course, the race hosted 14 teams. Yamanashi's Fujisan GX took the overall win in a 3:42:17 course record. The best-placing team from within the prefecture, the Akita T&F Association team made the podium at 6th overall. The women's race was canceled again this year due to lack of participation. 79th Towada Hachimantai Ekiden Akita, 1 Aug. 2026 5 stages, 71.4 km, 14 teams complete results Top Team Results 1. Fujisan GX - 3:42:17 - CR 2. Corporate Select Team - 3:46:24 3. Tokyo Police A - 3:48:00 4. Comodi Iida - 3:48:41 5. Tokyo Police B - 3:50:14 6. Akita T&F Assoc. - 3:57:58 7. Fukushima T&F Assoc. - 4:08:20 Top Individual Stage Results First Stage  (13.0 km) 1. Ryota Seki (Tokyo Police A) - 39:47 2. Takuma Nakayama (Fujisan GX) - 40:01 3. Ryota Sato (Tokyo Police B) - 40:02 Second Stage  (13.0 km) 1. Yuki Seto (Fujisan GX) - 37:03 2. Shunsuke Watanabe (Comodi ...
Post a Comment
Read more