Skip to main content

Hakone Ekiden Stars Dominate 2014 Kumanichi 30 km Elite Field

https://twitter.com/a_yamako/status/424296422305849344/photo/1

translated and edited by Brett Larner

The organizers of the 58th Kumanichi 30 km and 3rd Kumamoto-jo Marathon on Feb. 16 announced the 20 members of its 2014 elite field on Feb. 2.  Previously-announced Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't), has elected to run the marathon division rather than defend his course record win last year in the 30 km division, but the 30 km will focus on university athletes from the popular Hakone Ekiden, making it one of the freshest young fields in years.  From Hakone winner Toyo University come ace Yuma Hattori who took 3rd on Hakone's Second Stage, its most competitive, and Eighth Stage winner Ryu Takaku. Hakone runner-up Komazawa University sends two of its best men, team captain Shinobu Kubota and 2013 National University Half Marathon champion Shogo Nakamura.  3rd-place Nittai University sends top man Takumi Honda.  2012 National University Half Marathon winner Toshikatsu Ebina is also in the field, representing Hakone 8th-placer Teikyo University.

Not to be outdone, the corporate leagues are represented by Hayato Ideue of New Year Ekiden runner-up Team Toyota Kyushu, three members of New Year Ekiden 6th-place Team Fujitsu led by Kenyan Johana Maina, and more.  The small women's field of four is topped by 2011 Tokyo Marathon winner Noriko Higuchi (Team Wacoal) and elite marathoner Yoko Miyauchi (Team Kyocera).  The races begin at 9:00 a.m. on the 16th.

58th Kumanichi 30 km and 3rd Kumamoto-jo Marathon Elite Fields
Kumamoto, 2/16/14
listed times are half-marathon bests except where noted

Marathon - Men
Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) - 2:08:14 (Seoul 2013)
Shota Jige (Kumamura Town Hall) - 2:17:06 (Lake Biwa 2011)

30 km - Men
Johana Maina (Kenya/Team Fujitsu) - 1:01:28 (Nat'l Corp. Half Marathon 2013)
Shinobu Kubota (Komazawa Univ.) - 1:01:38 (Marugame 2012)
Shota Yamaguchi (Team Fujitsu) - 1:01:42 (Marugame 2012)
Toshikatsu Ebina (Teikyo Univ.) - 1:02:23 (Nat'l Univ. Half Marathon 2012)
Takumi Honda (Nittai Univ.) - 1:02:37 (Nat'l Univ. Half Marathon 2012)
Shogo Nakamura (Komazawa Univ.) - 1:02:41 (Nat'l Univ. Half Marathon 2013)
Kosuke Murasashi (Team YKK) - 1:02:46 (Marugame 2012)
Shogo Sekiguchi (Hosei Univ.) - 1:02:57 (Ageo 2013)
Yuya Taguchi (Team Toyota Boshoku) - 1:03:19 (Nat'l Corp. Half Marathon 2013)
Ryu Takaku (Toyo Univ.) - 1:03:20 (Nat'l Univ. Half Marathon 2013)
Hiroki Kubota (Team Yasukawa Denki) 1:03:38 (Nat'l Corp. Half Marathon 2013)
Hayato Ideue (Team Toyota Kyushu) - 1:03:42 (Tamana 2012)
Kazuki Sakurai (Takushoku Univ.) - 1:04:47 (Ageo 2013)
Shintaro Ogami (Takushoku Univ.) - 1:05:00 (Ageo 2013)
Yusuke Sato (Team Fujitsu) - 59:28 (Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai 20 km 2011)
Yuma Hattori (Toyo Univ.) - 28:22.43 (HDC Kitami Meet 10000 m 2013)

30 km - Women
Yoko Miyauchi (Team Kyocera) - 1:09:23 (Sanyo Women's 2011)
Noriko Higuchi (Team Wacoal) - 1:10:51 (Marugame 2010)
Yuka Takashima (Team Denso) - 1:13:30 (Nat'l Corp. Half Marathon 2012)
Kana Orino (Osaka Gakuin Univ.) - 1:13:38 (Matsue Ladies' 2013)

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Tokyo Olympics Marathon Trials Winner Nakamura Enters Waseda Grad School

An Olympian in the marathon at the Tokyo Olympics, Shogo Nakamura (Fujitsu) announced on his social media that he has entered Waseda University 's Graduate School of Sport Science with the start of the new academic year this week. A graduate of Mie's Ueno Kogyo H.S. , Nakamura went to Komazawa University before joining Fujitsu in 2015. His senior year of high school he was 3rd overall and 2nd Japanese in the 5000 m at the National High School Track and Field Championships, and in the fall the same year he ran what was at the time the 7th-fastest high school mark ever, 13:50.38. At Komazawa he scored four individual stage wins across the three big university ekidens. In 2019 he won the MGC Race, Japan's marathon trials for the Tokyo Olympics, where he was 62nd in 2:22:23. Nakamura indicated that he would be studying "top sports management" under professor Takeo Hirata . "I'll be balancing competition and academics," Nakamura wrote. "I'm r...

Weekend Road and Track Roundup

A roundup of the main road and track action on the last weekend of Japan's 2024-25 academic and fiscal year: Doubling off a 2:07:06 PB at the Tokyo Marathon 4 weeks ago, Tatsuya Maruyama took bronze at the Asian Marathon Championships in Jiaxing, China in 2:11:56. Gold went to North Korea's Il Ryong Han in a breakaway 2:11:18, with silver medalist Tianyu Chen of China just ahead of Maruyama in 2:11:50. Japan's Shungo Yokota was a distant 4th in 2:14:00, with Japan-based Mongolian NR holder Ser-Od Bat-Ochir 6th in 2:15:14. Japanese women Kaede Kawamura and Natsumi Matsushita were 5th and 6th in 2:31:26 and 2:34:40, with medals going to China's Bing Wu , gold in 2:26:01, North Korea's Kwang-Ok Ri , silver right behind her in 2:26:07, and defending gold medalist Khishigsaikhan Galbadrakh landing in bronze this time in 2:28:56, her third sub-2:29 performance so far in 2025. Back home, four men broke 2:20 at the Fukui Sakura Marathon . Ko Kobayashi from the Shi...

Japan Names Marathon Teams for Tokyo World Championships

On Mar. 26 the JAAF named its women's and men's marathon teams for September's Tokyo World Championships. On the women's side the team has veterans Sayaka Sato and Yuka Ando off the strength of a runner-up finish for Sato in Nagoya this year and a win in Nagoya last year by Ando, and newcomer Kana Kobayashi , 23, who has risen quickly from being a fun runner at Waseda University last year to a 2nd-place finish in Osaka Women's this year. Paris Olympics 6th-placer Yuka Suzuki was named alternate after finishing 3rd behind Kobayashi in Osaka Women's. On the men's side the team is led by last year's Fukuoka International Marathon CR breaker Yuya Yoshida and this year's Osaka runner-up Ryota Kondo . The 3rd spot on the team is reserved for JMC Series winner Naoki Koyama , who hasn't cleared the 2:06:30 World Championships qualifying standard and has to wait for the May 4 qualifying deadline for confirmation that the 1184 points he has in the Roa...