Skip to main content

Fukui Runs PB in European Marathon Debut at Muenster Marathon

text and photos by Brett Larner

Makoto Fukui (Team Fujitsu) and Ryosuke Fukuyama (Team Honda) in the early going at the 2012 Muenster Marathon

Unseasonably hot temperatures kept the field at the 2012 Muenster Marathon from approaching the course record of 2:10:25, but despite the heat the front end of the men's race was the deepest and most international in the race's 11-year history. The two men with 2:10 bests went 1-2 as Moroccan Ahmed Nasef took the win by five seconds over Kenyan Paul Kimaiyo Kimugul, 2:12:21 to 2:12:26 after breaking away near 35 km.  Kimugul challenged Nasef's win, saying that Nasef had received unfair aid from a cyclist giving him water in the final 7 km, but the protest was dismissed after judges investigated the claims and could find no supporting evidence or witnesses.

                                     The Muenster Marathon finish

Defending champion Elijah Kimaiyo Kimugul ran only one second slower than his winning time last year but was nearly a minute back in 2:13:11.  Martin Kiprugut (Kenya) and Makoto Fukui (Team Fujitsu) closed hard after falling off the pace after 30 km, both running 2:13 PBs to take 4th and 5th.  Ryosuke Fukuyama (Team Honda) rounded out the top six, running a disappointing 2:15:48 after colliding with a Kenyan competitor at the 15 km drink station and injuring his back.  Both Fukui and Fukuyama made their European debuts in Muenster with support from JRN.

The women's race started slow on the twisting cobblestoned streets of the race's initial 10 km, running just over 19 minutes for the first 5 km split.  Kenyans Joan Rotich and Caroline Kwambai worked together to break Ethiopian pair Abiyot Eshetu Deme and Desso Dunkane Kebo, the Kenyans going a close 1-2 in 2:38:12 and 2:38:26, three minutes ahead of Deme in 3rd.

2012 Volksbank Muenster Marathon
Muenster, Germany, 9/9/12
click here for complete results

Men
1. Ahmed Nasef (Morocco) - 2:12:21
2. Paul Kimaiyo Kimugul (Kenya) - 2:12:26
3. Elijah Kipkemoi Yator (Kenya) - 2:13:11
4. Martin Kiprugut (Kenya) - 2:13:35 - PB
5. Makoto Fukui (Team Fujitsu) - 2:13:57 - PB
6. Ryosuke Fukuyama (Team Honda) - 2:15:48
7. Pharis Kimani (Kenya) - 2:17:21
8. Hailemariam Atsebha Kahsay (Ethiopia) - 2:17:51

Women
1. Joan Rotich (Kenya) - 2:38:12
2. Caroline Kwambai (Kenya) - 2:38:26
3. Abiyot Eshetu Deme (Ethiopia) - 2:41:26
4. Desso Dunkane Kebo (Ethiopia) - 2:43:56
5. Lilian Koech (Kenya) - 2:47:31

(c) 2012 Brett Larner
all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

CHN and JPN National Records Go Down - Weekend Track Update

There weren't any Japanese athletes in action at the Rabat Diamond League meet Sunday, but 2 lower-tier domestic meets produced new national records. At the Nittai University Time Trials meet in Yokohama, Samuel Kibathi (Toyota) led the top 5 in the men's 10000 m under 28 minutes in 27:39.97. In 3rd, China's Wenjie Wang took just over a second off his own NR from the same meet last year, setting a new record of 27:47.53. His teammate Haoran Tang was 6th in a 28:27.44 PB, with the top Japanese time in the race being a 28:33.39 for 8th from Jin Yuasa (Toyota). Amazingly, Wang and Tang were back the next day on day 2 of the Nittai meet, Wang running a PB of 13:35.58 for 4th in the A-heat and Tang winning the B-heat in a PB of 13:38.80. Isaac Ndiema took the A-heat in 13:26.49, with the fastest Japanese time going to Yuhei Urano (Fujitsu) with a 13:35.94 for 5th behind Wang. Other Nittai highlights: Deborah Chemutai (Univ. Ent.) won a photo finish against Yua Nagamori ...
1 comment
Read more

Australian YouTuber Handed Lifetime Ban by Ageo City Half Marathon After Running 1:06 with Another Runner's Bib (updated)

After discussion with their race's chief JAAF referee, on Nov. 27 the organizers of the Ageo City Half Marathon handed down a lifetime ban from their event against 36-year-old Australian Matt Inglis Fox  for running the Nov. 15 race wearing the bib number of another JAAF-registered runner. The incident came to light after Fox posted on his personal Instagram account that he had run a PB of 1:06:33 and finished 203rd in Ageo with a 10 km split of 31:03, along with photos and video of himself in the race wearing a bib number beginning with 11. Fox did not appear in the results by name or in that time or place, the closest match being a 1:06:54 gross, 1:06:50 net finish time with a 31:21 10 km split for 18th place in the JAAF-registered division and 209th overall by bib number 1129, registered to a non-Japanese Tokyo-resident club runner. The club runner, Harrisson Uk , readily confirmed that he had given his bib to Fox, saying, "I gave my number to Matt. It wasn't me."...
82 comments
Read more

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...
Post a Comment
Read more