Yokohama International Women's Marathon Announces 2012 Elite Field

by Brett Larner

The organizers of the Yokohama International Women's Marathon have announced the elite field for this year's 4th running on Nov. 18. With the Japanese federation dictating a sub-2:24 requirement for Japanese women to be considered for next year's Moscow World Championships marathon squad they have assembled a field with at least three runners potentially in range of that goal.

Kenyan Lydia Cheromei serves as the one to follow for those chasing the Moscow time, her 2:21:30 coming as part of the miracle in Dubai last January. The main contenders to achieve the federation's target time behind her are three of this year's top ten Japanese women, 2011 Osaka International Women's Marathon winner Yukiko Akaba (Team Hokuren), spring 2011 Yokohama runner-up and 2012 Nagoya International Women's Marathon 3rd-placer Remi Nakazato (Team Daihatsu) and Nagoya 5th-placer Mai Ito (Team Otsuka Seiyaku). 2009 Tokyo Marathon winner Mizuho Nasukawa (Team Univ. Ent.) is also in the field, along with three women making their debuts in new colors after having switched clubs, Noriko Matsuoka (Second Wind AC), Eri Hayakawa (Team Toto) and Kaori Yoshida (Puma AC).

In Yokohama Akaba will be reunited with her former Hokuren teammate Philes Ongori (Kenya), while Nakazato will have a rematch against Portugal's Marisa Barros, part of a memorable three-way battle for the win against Nakazato and Yoshimi Ozaki (Team Daiichi Seimei) in Yokohama's second edition. Raising an eyebrow or two given her suspension last year for a positive drug test at the 2010 European Championships is Lithuanian Zivile Balciunaite. Yolanda Caballero (Colombia), Kateryne Stetsenko (Ukraine) and Joanne Pavey (U.K.) round out the invited international field, with Ethiopians Tilahun Alemaz and Alemayhu Selamawit making appearances through the support of a Japanese non-profit organzation.

The Yokohama International Women's Marathon will be broadcast live Nov. 18. Check back closer to race date for more information on live coverage.

2012 Yokohama International Women's Marathon Elite Field
Yokohama, 11/18/2012
click here for complete field listing

1. Lydia Cheromei (Kenya) - 2:21:30
11. Yukiko Akaba (Team Hokuren) - 2:24:09
2. Philes Ongori (Kenya) - 2:24:20
12. Remi Nakazato (Team Daihatsu) - 2:24:28
3. Marisa Barros (Portugal) - 2:25:04
4. Zivile Balciunaite (Lithuania) - 2:25:15
13. Mai Ito (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) - 2:25:26
16. Mizuho Nasukawa (Team Univ. Ent.) - 2:25:38
5. Yolanda Caballero (Colombia) - 2:26:17
14. Noriko Matsuoka (Second Wind AC) - 2:26:54
6. Kateryne Stetsenko (Ukraine) - 2:27:51
15. Eri Hayakawa (Team Toto) - 2:28:19
7. Joanne Pavey (U.K.) - 2:28:24
32. Yumi Hirata (Second Wind AC) - 2:29:23
17. Sumiko Suzuki (Team Hokuren) - 2:29:25
19. Mayumi Fujita (Team Juhachi Ginko) - 2:29:36
18. Kaori Yoshida (Puma RC) - 2:29:45
34. Hiroko Miyauchi (Team Kyocera) - 2:32:20
31. Hiroko Yoshitomi (First Dream AC) - 2:32:27
33. Ayumi Sakaida (Team Daihatsu) - 2:36:04
104. Tilahun Alemaz (Ethiopia)
105. Alemayhu Selamawit (Ethiopia)

(c) 2012 Brett Larner
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