Skip to main content

Chicago Marathon - Japanese Results

by Brett Larner
photos by Collin Winter and Dr. Helmut Winter

In the distance behind Kenyan winners Dennis Kimetto and Rita Jeptoo, Japanese runners Hiroaki Sano (Team Honda) and Yukiko Akaba (Team Hokuren) each took 7th at the 2013 Chicago Marathon, Sano running almost dead even half splits for a 2:10:29 PB and Akaba fading to 2:27:49 after starting out among the leaders.  Yoshinori Oda (Team Toyota) also sneaked into the men's top ten, dropping dropping American Matt Tegenkamp in the last 3 km to take 9th in 2:11:29.

Oda started out on 2:10-flat pace, with Sano and other 2:12~2:13 Japanese entrants Kenji Higashino (Team Asahi Kasei), Norihide Fujimori (Team Chugoku Denryoku), Hiroki Tanaka (Team Chugoku Denryoku) and Yoshiki Otsuka (Team Aichi Seiko) running in Tegenkamp's group with Alistair Cragg (Ireland) and Michael Shelley (Australia) at 2:11:30 pace.  As the pace gradually increased toward 2:10 first Oda was absorbed, then the group of Japanese men began to fall away.

After a 1:05:13 first half, 2:10:26 pace, only Sano, Oda and Higashino were left when the sextet hit 25 km on 2:10:16 pace.  By 30 km, on 2:10:00 pace, Higashino had been burned off with pacer Cragg soon to follow.  35 km saw the four remaining men back down to 2:10:16 pace, and over the final 5 km Sano showed the same strength he did in winning his marathon debut in February, pulling away to run down a string of casualties from the lead pack including pre-race favorite Moses Mosop (Kenya).

Akaba followed the opposite trajectory.  Starting out with the leaders on track to go just under 2:23 and looking under control, she began to fade between 20 km and the halfway point which she hit in 1:11:20, four seconds back from the top group.  From there it was a steady slide down in pace, falling as low as 10th but gutting it out to retake places and catching Ethiopian Abebech Afework in the final kilometer for 7th and just missing 6th-place Ethiopian Ehitu Kiros Reda.  Akaba's time of 2:27:49 came up far short of her goal of a sub-2:24, and after having changed her training approach this time to a Kawauchi-style method of doing races as training runs, for which she was curiously mocked by the American broadcasters, she'll no doubt be spending time evaluating what went wrong.

 2013 Chicago Marathon
Chicago, IL, 10/13/13
click here for complete results

 Men
1. Dennis Kimetto (Kenya) - 2:03:45 - CR, PB
2. Emannuel Mutai (Kenya) - 2:03:52 - PB
3. Sammy Kitwara (Kenya) - 2:05:16 - PB
4. Micah Kogo (Kenya) - 2:06:56 - PB
5. Dathan Ritzenhein (U.S.A.) - 2:09:45
6. Ayele Abshero (Ethiopia) - 2:10:10
7. Hiroaki Sano (Japan/Team Honda) - 2:10:29 - PB
8. Moses Mosop (Kenya) - 2:11:19
9. Yoshinori Oda (Japan/Team Toyota) - 2:11:29
10. Matt Tegenkamp (U.S.A.) - 2:12:28 - debut
-----
14. Kenji Higashino (Team Asahi Kasei) - 2:13:53
15. Norihide Fujimori (Team Chugoku Denryoku) - 2:13:55
18. Hiroki Tanaka (Team Chugoku Denryoku) - 2:15:36
20. Yoshiki Otsuka (Team Aichi Seiko) - 2:16:58

Women
1. Rita Jeptoo (Kenya) - 2:19:57 - PB
2. Jemima Sumgong Jelegat (Kenya) - 2:20:48 - PB
3. Maria Konovalova (Russia) - 2:22:46 - PB
4. Aliaksandra Duliba (Belarus) - 2:23:44 - debut
5. Atsede Baysa (Ethiopia) - 2:26:42
6. Ehitu Kiros Reda (Ethiopia) - 2:27:42
7. Yukiko Akaba (Japan/Team Hokuren) - 2:27:49
8. Abebech Afework (Ethiopia) - 2:28:38
9. Clara Santucci (U.S.A.) - 2:31:39
10. Melissa White (U.S.A.) - 2:32:37 - PB

text (c) 2013 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

 photo (c) 2013 Collin Winter and Dr. Helmut Winter
all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Osaka Marathon Elite Field

With 3 weeks to go the elite fields for the Feb. 22 Osaka Marathon are out. Given Osaka's history as the elite men-only Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon the women's field is small, with only one entrant, Sinhala Kureshi , having broken 2:21 with her 2:19:53 in Hamburg last spring. Afera Godfay , Mare Dibaba and Rose Chelimo have all run 2:21 to 2:22 in recent races, and Esther Chemtai is an interesting debut off a 1:08:09 at last fall's Cardiff Half. Kaede Kawamura is the highest-level Japanese woman in the field with a 2:25:44 in Osaka 2 years ago. Last year's men's champ and CR breaker Yihunilign Adane is back, his main competition being fellow Ethiopians Bute Gemechu , Mulugeta Asefa Uma and South Africa's Elroy Gelant . 4th last year in 2:05:58, Kyohei Hosoya leads the front of the super deep Japanese field along with Ichitaka Yamashita , Kenta Sonota , Kiyoto Hirabayashi , Yuhei Urano , Yusuke Nishiyama and Daisuke Doi . But where Osaka excels is in deb...
1 comment
Read more

Etir Breaks Marugame CR, Catrofe Sets Uruguay NR, Omare 3rd-Straight Win

On the one hand it was too windy for really fast times at the Marugame Half , but on the other it wasn't, apparently. It was pretty much a strong tailwind over the first 10 km and just a strong a headwind over the last 10, so it wasn't a surprise that the lead group of men went through 5 km in 13:59 and 10 km in 27:51. Up front in it were 59:30 collegiate record co-holders Richard Etir and Kotaro Shinohara , and sub-59:30 guy Emmanuel Maru . But with the National University Half Marathon having moved to Marugame last year there were a million fast Hakone kids up in it to, Hiromichi Nonaka from Koku Gakuin University leading the way but lots more right behind. Etir and Maru opened up on the field after the turnaround, and by 15 km Etir was alone, 9 seconds ahead of Maru and on sub-59 pace running into the wind. Like everyone else he struggled to keep pace in the wind, sub-59 slipping away but easily taking the win in 59:07, a CR and new collegiate record by 23 seconds. Maru e...
1 comment
Read more

'Kobe 2024: Aitchison, Athmani Lead Record-Breaking Thursday'

  https://www.paralympic.org/news/kobe-2024-para-athletics-world-championships-aitchison-athmani-lead-record-breaking-thursday Complete results and daily schedule from the Kobe World Para Athletics Championships are here .
Post a Comment
Read more