Skip to main content

1:00:53 Man Chihiro Miyawaki Leads Kumanichi 30 km Field

http://kumanichi.com/fsports/marathon/2013/kiji/20130117001.xhtml

translated by Brett Larner

On Jan. 16 the organizers of the Feb. 17 Kumamoto-jo Marathon released the names of the 15 invited athletes for the 57th running of the event's accompanying elite-level Kumanichi 30 km Road Race.

The most-watched athlete is bound to be civil servant runner Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref.), who will be running Kumanichi as a tuneup for the Mar. 3 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, the final domestic selection race for the Japanese national team for this summer's Moscow World Championships.  Kawauchi's main competition will come from 21-year-old Chihiro Miyawaki (Team Toyota), whose win on the First Stage of this year's New Year Ekiden and 2012 bests of 27:41.57 and 1:00:53 rank him as the #1 man in the country right now in a class of speed that Kawauchi cannot hope to match.  Kenyan Daniel Gitau (Team Fujitsu) also outranks Kawauchi on pure speed.

Two runners from 2013 Hakone Ekiden 2nd-place Toyo University will make their 30 km debuts at Kumanichi, ace Second Stage 3rd-placer Keita Shitara and Kumamoto native Kento Otsu, who placed 7th on Hakone's Eighth Stage this year.  Instrumental in securing overall 3rd-place Komazawa University's Hakone Ekiden Day Two win, Tenth Stage winner Kensuke Gotoda will also line up.

With a new course last year starting along with the inaugural Kumamoto-jo Marathon, Komazawa alum Tsuyoshi Ugachi (Team Konica Minolta) won last year's race in 1:30:01. A total of 60 athletes, 55 men and 5 women, are entered in the elite 30 km.  With a difficult course full of ups and downs the question will be whether any of them is up to the challenge of beating Ugachi's time.  The race begins at 9:00 a.m.

2013 Kumanichi 30 km Road Race Elite Field
Kumamoto, 2/3/13
times listed are half-marathon bests

Men
2. Chihiro Miyawaki (Team Toyota) - 1:00:53
4. Daniel Gitau (Kenya/Team Fujitsu) - 1:01:02
9. Keita Shitara (Toyo Univ.) - 1:01:45
1. Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref.) - 1:02:18
12. Yudai Yamakawa (Teikyo Univ.) - 1:02:36
10. Kento Otsu (Toyo Univ.) - 1:02:43
8. Kyohei Nishi (Team Kyudenko) - 1:02:59
3. Kazuki Tomaru (Team Toyota) - 1:03:15
6. Fumihiro Maruyama (Team Asahi Kasei) - 1:03:29
11. Kensuke Gotoda (Komazawa Univ.) - 1:03:49
13. Shun Suzuki (Kanagawa Univ.) - 1:03:51
7. Kentaro Masuda (Team NTT Nishi Nihon) - 1:04:12
5. Ryota Matoba (Team Komori Corp.) - 1:04:49

Women
301. Yuko Mizuguchi (Team Denso) - 32:30.33 (10000 m)
302. Risa Takemura (Team Kyudenko) - 33:46 (10 km)

Comments

Most-Read This Week

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...

Ngetich Breaks CR, Murayama and Sasaki Make U.S. Debut at New York Mini 10k

WR holder Agnes Ngetich  soloed a fast one at the 54th edition of the Mastercard New York Mini 10k, leading inside the first mile and pulling away the rest of the race to run a 30:07 CR for the win, the fastest time ever on U.S. soil albeit on a slightly net downhill course. On a warm day that saw over 10,000 women finish  Tsigie Gebreselama  was on her own most of the way too, a distant 2nd in 30:53 and 17 seconds up on past champ Hellen Obiri . Further back, 2026 World University Cross Country bronze medalist Amisa Murayama  and 2025 Morinomiyako Ekiden 3rd leg CR breaker Nazuki Sasaki  from 2025 National University Women's Ekiden runner-up Tohoku Fukushi University  made their U.S. debuts. Murayama was targeting the fastest-ever Japanese time at the Mini, 32:37, but struggled on the hills just before 5 km and late in the race, fading to finish 23rd in 34:08. Sasaki, recovering from a stress reaction in her upper back a few months ago, ran a conservative ...

National Track and Field Championships Entry List Highlights

Entry lists are out for next week's National Track and Field Championships in Nagoya, the main selection event for Japan's teams for September's Nagoya Asian Games and Copenhagen World Road Running Championships. Top entries in each event with best time in 2025-26. Asterisks indicate 2025 national champions. Men Men's 100 m *Yoshihide Kiryu (Nihon Seimei) - 9.99 Sorato Shimizu (Seiryu H.S.) - 10.00 Yuhi Mori (Watanabe Pipe) - 10.00 Yuki Koike (Sumitomo Denko) - 10.06 Fukuto Komuro (Chuo Univ.) - 10.08 Ryota Yamagata (Seiko) - 10.08 Shuhei Tada (Sumitomo Denko) - 10.10 Ryota Suzuki (Suzuki) - 10.11 Naoki Inoue (Osaka Gas) - 10.12 Rikuto Higuchi (Suzuki) - 10.12 Men's 200 m Shota Iizuka (Mizuno) - 20.45 Aoto Suzuki (Sumitomo Denko) - 20.49 Kota Uematsu (Chuo Univ.) - 20.50 Yuji Michael Orisa (GK Line) - 20.51 Soshi Mizukubo (Miyazaki T&F) - 20.51 Mitsuhiro Numata (Legalis) - 20.58 Seisho Sasaki (Iwate Univ.) - 20.60 Sota Miwa (Koizumi) - 20.61 Naoki Uemoto (Lega...