Skip to main content

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
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Rui Aoki and Shunsuke Kuwata Making U.S. Debut at United Airlines NYC Half

When the National University Half Marathon was canceled in 2011 after the massive earthquake and tsunami struck northeastern Japan 2 days before the race, JRN talked to the New York Road Runners about bringing 2 collegiate runners to the United Airlines NYC Half Marathon the next weekend as a show of support. It wasn't possible to pull it together in the immediate aftermath of the disasters, but a year later we brought 2 young 2nd-years from Hakone Ekiden CR breaker Toyo University , Kento Otsu and Yuta Shitara , who had been the top 2 Japanese collegiate finishers at the Ageo City Half Marathon in November before Hakone. Shitara ran 1:01:48, at the time the fastest-ever by a Japanese man on U.S. soil, with Otsu running a solid 1:03:15. Thanks to that great start the Ageo-NYC partnership became a regular thing, and except for the pandemic it's continued every year since, expanding this year to June's New York Mini 10 km when 2 runners from Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden runne...
2 comments
Read more

Kuwata Runs Fastest-Ever Half Marathon by Japanese Man Outside Japan at United Airlines NYC Half

When the NYRR changed the United Airlines NYC Half course back in 2018 to more or less its current Boston-style hilly one-way version it seemed like it had been repurposed from a fast course to something more tactical. That went out the window last year with new course records of 59:09 and 1:07:04 from Abel Kipchumba and Sharon Lokedi , and this year's results backed that up. Hellen Obiri ground Lokedi down and took over 30 seconds off her CR, winning in 1:06:33 with Lokedi only 6 seconds off what she ran in 2025 but a distant 2nd in 1:07:10. British road 10 km NR holder Megan Keith rolled up hard late in the race to finish 3rd in 1:07:13 less than 10 seconds off old CR too. The men's race saw a big group of 18 attack the hilly first half on sub-59 pace, American Joe Klecker leading through 5 km in 13:57 and Houston Marathon winner Zouhair Talbi through 10 km in 27:56. Right up in it was Shunsuke Kuwata , a 20-year-old 2nd-year at 2025 National University Ekiden champ Koma...
Post a Comment
Read more

16 Women and 26 Men on the Current Olympic Trials Qualifier List

Last weekend's Nagoya Women's Marathon and the Tokyo Marathon the weekend before brought the main part of the first year of qualification for the Marathon Grand Championship Race, Japan's L.A. Olympics marathon trials to be held in Nagoya in October, 2027, to an end. There are still a few races like the Nagano Marathon and overseas World Athletics platinum label races this season where people might qualify, but for the most part we're not likely to see many new additions until August's Hokkaido Marathon, where the qualifying period opened last year. As of right now 16 women and 26 men have qualified, although the first woman to make the cut, Ai Hosoda , announced that she was retiring after Tokyo earlier this month. Out of the 16 women to have qualified so far, Mikuni Yada is the fastest with her 2:19:57 debut at Osaka Women's in January. Including Hosoda that makes 2 qualifiers for the Edion corporate team, but Daihatsu has the biggest share of the field so ...
1 comment
Read more