Skip to main content

Hokkaido Marathon Brings Back Elite Field for 2013 Edition

by Brett Larner

After cutting its elite program in 2012, the Hokkaido Marathon returns to the top of Japan's summer circuit this year with a solid silver label-quality men's and women's fields sure to be wasted in the heat of its 27th running on August 25th.  Highlights of the men's and women's entry lists are below.

Men
Gezahegne Abera (Ethiopia) - 2:10:17 (Barcelona 2013)
Satoshi Yoshii (Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki) - 2:10:45 (Biwako 2011)
Ryosuke Fukuyama (Team Honda) - 2:10:59 (Biwako 2013)
Mekubo Mogusu (Kenya/Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 2:11:02 (Tokyo 2013)
Kazuya Ishida (Team Nishitetsu) - 2:11:57 (Nobeoka 2012)
Masaki Shimoju (Team Konica Minolta) - 2:12:18 (Nobeoka 2010)
Tatsunari Hirayama (Team Yasukawa Denki) - 2:12:38 (Nobeoka 2013)
Dickson Marwa (Tanzania) - 2:12:53 (Gold Coast 2003)
Masanori Ishida (Team Sagawa Express) - 2:13:07 (Beppu-Oita 2013)
Sho Matsumoto (Nikkei Business AC) - 2:13:38 (Nobeoka 2013)
Takehiro Arakawa (Team Asahi Kasei) - 2:13:39 (Beppu-Oita 2012)
Kenzo Kawabata (Team Aisan Kogyo) - 2:13:40 (Biwako 2011)

Women
Risa Shigetomo (Team Tenmaya) - 2:23:23 (Osaka Women's 2012)
Yukiko Akaba (Team Hokuren) - 2:24:09 (London 2011)
Mai Ito (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) - 2:25:26 (Nagoya Women's 2012)
Yuko Watanabe (Team Edion) - 2:25:56 (Osaka Women's 2013)
Mika Okunaga (Hammock AC) - 2:27:16 (Osaka Women's 2009)
Sumiko Suzuki (Team Hokuren) - 2:29:25 (Tokyo 2012)
Hiroko Miyauchi (Team Kyocera) - 2:32:20 (Yokohama Women's 2009)
Roman Gebregessese (Ethiopia) - 2:32:28 (Barcelona 2010)
Seika Iwamura (Team Higo Ginko) - 2:33:15 (Osaka Women's 2010)
Abebech Tsegaye (Ethiopia) - 2:35:45 (Luxembourg 2011)

(c) 2013 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Asian Games Preview - Entries, Timetable and Live Results

Back in Japan for the first time in 32 years and representing 60% of the world's population, with more athletes competing across all sports than at the Olympics, the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games are already underway. Athletics competition starts tomorrow and runs through Tuesday the 29th. Some of the biggest names on the entry list include: Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage (SRI) - men's javelin throw - 2026 World Ultimate Championships gold and 2026 Diamond League champion Haruka Kitaguchi (JPN) - women's javelin throw - 2026 World Ultimate Championships and 2024 Paris Olympics gold Birhanu Balew (BRN) - men's 5000 m/10000 m - 2026 Diamond League 5000 m champion Sanghyeok Woo (KOR) - men's high jump - 2025 Tokyo World Championships silver Hayato Katsuki (JPN) - men's marathon race walk - 2025 Tokyo World Championships bronze Abderrahman Samba (QAT) - men's 400 mH - 2025 Tokyo World Championships bronze Jiale Zhang (CHN) - women's hammer throw - 2025 Tokyo W...

Endo, Nishikawa and Yamakawa Announce Corporate Team Changes

The SG Holdings men's corporate team announced on Oct. 1 that long-distance athletes Hyuga Endo and Yuichiro Nishikawa have joined its roster after leaving the Sumitomo Denko team. Endo, 28, won the Junior Olympics 3000 m while at Koriyama Nishi J.H.S. before going on to Gakuho Ishikawa H.S. where he was the the top Japanese placer in the 5000 m at the National High School Championships 2 years in a row. After graduating from Gakuho Ishikawa he joined the Sumitomo Denko team, winning the National Championships 5000 m in 2021. He won gold at the 2023 Asian Championships and represented Japan at the 2022 and 2023 World Championships. "I will give everything I have as part of the team and work hard toward helping it win the New Year Ekiden," he said of his new environment. Of his personal goals he said, "I want to focus on the 5000 m and reach new levels to compete internationally." Nishikawa, 28, was a member of Tokai University 's winning teams at the H...

2 Athletes Provisionally Suspended After Positive Drug Tests at Asian Games

The International Testing Agency announced on Oct. 2 that provisional suspensions have been imposed on two athletes, Kazakhstan's Aiana Bolatbekkyzy in track and field, and Tajikistan's Issamjon Sharifov in tennis, after they tested positive for prohibited substances at the Asian Games in Nagoya, Aichi. Bolatbekkyzy, 19, tested positive for the steroid drostanolone in a sample collected during an in-competition test at the Games. A diuretic drug was found in the sample collected from Sharifov, 23. source article: https://www.sanspo.com/article/20261002-X4FJLT5MMZKFND6WXPOESAKETQ/ translated by Brett Larner