Chicago and Twin Cities Marathon Results

by Brett Larner
photo by Dr. Helmut Winter

In a superb race led by Fukuoka Marathon course record-holder Tsegaye Kebede's world record-pace second half 2:04:38 course record win, relatively unknown 23-year-old Koji Kobayashi (Team Subaru) was the top Japanese man, 14th in a PB of 2:10:40 in his second marathon. While national record-holder Toshinari Takaoka-coached 2:12 runner Hiroki Kadota (Team Kanebo) started the race off in the first pack and 2:11 man Yuki Moriwaki (Team JFE Steel) struggled from the start, Kobayashi, 2:10 runner Takeshi Kumamoto (Team Toyota) and 2:09:16 veteran Takashi Horiguchi (Team Honda) stuck with top American hopeful Dathan Ritzenhein on low-2:07 pace. Kadota soon dropped back to join the pack, but when Ritzenhein accelerated into high-2:06 territory near halfway the pack splintered. Kobayashi, coached by 2:08 man Wataru Okutani at Subaru, was the last to hang on, losing touch just before 30 km but holding on to 2:08 pace through 40 km. Kobayashi faded badly over the last two kilometers but still managed a good 2:12 PB, his 2:10:40 the fastest time by a Japanese man in Chicago in recent memory and marking him as a name to watch. Kumamoto was next across the line in 2:11:47, with Kadota a ways back in 2:13:39, both men missing their bests by a minute. Horiguchi and Moriwaki struggled, neither breaking 2:20.

2012 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon winner Samuel Ndungu (Kenya/Team Aichi Seiko) and 2012 Tokyo Marathon winner Michael Kipyego (Kenya) were part of the lead pack until late in the race, Ndungu taking 7th in 2:07:26 and Kipyego 13th in 2:10:02. In the women's race, Aomori Yamada H.S. graduate and former Suzuki runner Lucy Wangui Kabuu was 3rd in 2:22:41 behind a close duel between winner Atsede Baysa (Ethiopia) and Rita Jeptoo (Kenya) in 2:22:03 and 2:22:04.

Starting 30 minutes later and quite a few degrees colder, the Twin Cities Marathon was a pack race until late in the game, seven of the top ten negative splitting after a slow 1:08:43 opening half. Making his U.S. marathon debut with assistance from JRN, 2011 Lake Saroma 100 km winner Kiyokatsu Hasegawa fell behind in the late-race surge by eventual winner Christopher Kipyego (Kenya) but pushed on to overtake several runners who went after Kipyego. 7th with just a few km to go, Hasegawa advanced to 4th by the line to finish in 2:15:32, 39 seconds behind Kipyego. American Jeanette Faber won the women's race in 2:32:37.

2012 Chicago Marathon
Chicago, U.S.A., 10/7/12
click here for complete results

Men
1. Tsegaye Kebede (Ethiopia) - 2:04:38 - PB, CR
2. Feyisa Lilesa (Ethiopia) - 2:04:52 - PB
3. Tilahun Regassa (Ethiopia) - 2:05:27 - debut
4. Sammy Kitwara (Kenya) - 2:05:54 - PB
5. Wesley Korir (Kenya) - 2:06:13 - PB
-----
7. Samuel Ndungu (Kenya/Team Aichi Seiko) - 2:07:26
14. Koji Kobayashi (Team Subaru) - 2:10:40 - PB
15. Takeshi Kumamoto (Team Toyota) - 2:11:47
17. Hiroki Kadota (Team Kanebo) - 2:13:39
30. Takashi Horiguchi (Team Honda) - 2:20:32
31. Yuki Moriwaki (Team JFE Steel) - 2:20:49

Women
1. Atsede Baysa (Ethiopia) - 2:22:03
2. Rita Jeptoo (Kenya) - 2:22:04
3. Lucy Wangui Kabuu (Kenya) - 2:22:41
4. Liliya Shobukhova (Russia) - 2:22:59
5. Caroline Rotich (Kenya) - 2:23:22

2012 Twin Cities Marathon
Minneapolis-St. Paul, U.S.A., 10/7/12
click here for complete results

Men
1. Christopher Kipyego (Kenya) - 2:14:53
2. Berhanu Girma (Ethiopia) - 2:15:04
3. Sean Quigley (U.S.A.) - 2:15:06
4. Kiyokatsu Hasegawa (Team JR Higashi Nihon) - 2:15:32
5. Francis Muendo (Kenya) - 2:15:36

Women
1. Jeannette Faber (U.S.A.) - 2:32:37
2. Hirut Guangul (Ethiopia) - 2:34:02
3. Melissa Johnson-White (U.S.A.) - 2:34:02
4. Weldegebrael Tinbit Gidey (Ethiopia) - 2:34:43
5. Yiihunlish Delelecha (Ethiopia) - 2:35:05

(c) 2012 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

photo (c) 2012 Dr. Helmut Winter
all rights reserved

On the Loss of the ARRS Database

At some point in the last few months I discovered that both versions of the ARRS database, the static one and the searchable version , are gone. Last week David Monti posted a link to the ARRS history of an event he covered in Race Results Weekly, I guess copying and pasting a link from last year without looking at it, and that reminded me to write something about the loss of the database. The Association of Road Racing Statisticians was basically a one-man show operated from the remote Northern California shores by Ken Young . When the site existed its intro read: The Association of Road Racing Statisticians (ARRS) is an independent, non-profit organization that collects, analyses and publishes results and statistics regarding elite distance running at distances 3000m and longer...The data of ARRS is stored in the ARRS database, which has more than 1.3 million performances from more than 240,000 races by more than 95,000 elite and sub-elite distance runners worldwide...This website ...

Multiple National Records This Weekend

Olympic and World champion Haruka Kitaguchi got the biggest headlines among Japanese athletes this weekend, overcoming a rough last year and a half that included injury and a coaching change to break her own javelin throw NR by over a meter and a half to win the inaugural WA Ultimate Championship in Budapest. U20 WR and Asian AR holder Ziyi Yan opened with a big 68.05, 0.67 m further than Kitaguchi's best-ever from back in 2023. That could have been the end, but Kitaguchi came back from a 61.15 m first attempt to throw a massive 68.92 m NR on her next one, ultimately enough for the win. She still has a long way to go to match the 18-year-old Yan's 71.74 m from May, but it was a clear statement that Kitaguchi is back. Back home at the National Corporate Track and Field Championships in Kyoto, women's pole vault NR holder Misaki Morota continued a solid comeback season of her own, bettering her NR from May by 1 cm with a 4.51 m on her first attempt. Morota took another 3...

Japan's Team Lineup in Copenhagen

Re-upping an earlier post on Japan's team lineup for this weekend's Copenhagen World Road Running Championships . The JAAF chose not to name any women to the team in the mile. Women 5 km Kana Mizumoto (Edion) - 15:06.98 Rina Kusu (Sekisui Kagaku) - 15:10.91 Half Marathon Yumi Yoshikawa (Canon) - 1:09:14 Wakana Kabasawa (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 1:09:20 Rina Shimizu (Noritz) - 1:09:22 Yuna Takahashi (Shimamura) - 1:09:23 Men Mile Ojiro Honda (Waseda Univ.) - 3:37.53 (1500 m) Tomoki Nakano (Toenec) - 3:37.92 (1500 m) 5 km Yota Mashiko (Waseda Univ.) - 13:20.35 Rui Suzuki (Waseda Univ.) - 13:20.64 Half Marathon Tomoya Ogikubo (Hiramatsu Byoin) - 1:00:22 Yuma Nishizawa (Toyota Boshoku) - 1:00:26 Neo Namiki (Subaru) - 1:00:29 Daisuke Sato (Chuo Univ.) - 1:00:40 © 2026 Brett Larner , all rights reserved

japan running news

Search This Blog