William Malel Drives Honda to Second-Straight Towada Hachimantai Ekiden Title

by Brett Larner

Despite thunderstorms bringing heavy rain that shut down highways and roads in the area, the Honda corporate team came through with its second-straight win today at the 67th Towada Hachimantai Ekiden in Akita. The rain may actually have helped the situation by alleviating Towada's normal summer heat as times were fast across the board compared to other years. None was faster than Honda's William Malel (Kenya), who covered the 13.4 km, 180 m downhill Second Stage in 35:27 and took an incredible 45 seconds off the stage record set just last year. Malel started the Second Stage in 7th, but by the time he handed off to Honda's third man Hiroaki Sano he had a lead of 33 seconds and from there Honda never looked back.

Sano, the top Japanese man at last year's Chicago Marathon, extended the lead to 1:29, running 46:23 for the 16.2 km Third Stage. Honda's Keita Baba ran 49:17 for the 16.4 km Fourth Stage, its fastest mark by over a minute, to put the team 2:40 ahead. Anchor Shota Hattori, a winner of the Hakone Ekiden's uphill Fifth Stage, made his pro ekiden debut on Towada's likewise uphill Fifth Stage, but although he faltered with only the tenth-fastest time on the stage Honda's lead was enough to guarantee the win.

Honda totalled 3:45:10 for the complete 73.7 km, 1:28 ahead of runner-up Yakult. First Stage leader Komori Corporation, missing its star member and 2014 Commonwealth Games 1500 m silver medalist Ronald Kwemoi (Kenya), was close behind in 3rd in 3:46:54. Top ten team times were two minutes faster than last year on average, with four of the five stages seeing faster winning times. All told the weather proved a lucky break after speculation that the race would be cancelled due to flooding.

67th Towada Hachimantai Ekiden
Kazuno, Akita, 8/7/14
5 stages, 73.7 km, 29 teams
click here for complete results

Overall Team Results
1. Honda - 3:45:10
2. Yakult A - 3:46:38
3. Komori Corporation - 3:46:54
4. Yachiyo Kogyo - 3:47:33
5. Yakult B - 3:48:26
6. JR Higashi Nihon - 3:49:12
7. East Japan Corporate Select Team - 3:50:05
8. Kokushikan University A - 3:52:55
9. Omokawa Lumber - 3:53:03
10. Tokyo Police Department - 3:53:13

First Stage - 13.6 km
1. Hirotoshi Sato (Komori Corp.) - 41:00
2. Yoshihiro Nishizawa (Tamagawa Club) - 41:12
3. Shota Yamazaki (Yakult B) - 41:12
4. Kenta Kitazawa (Yachiyo Kogyo) - 41:15
5. Sho Matsumoto (Arata Project) - 41:20

Second Stage - 13.4 km, ~180 m descent
1. William Malel (Kenya/Honda) - 35:27 - CR
2. Kassa Mekashaw (Ethiopia/Yachiyo Kogyo) - 36:21
3. Joseph Onsarigo (Kenya/Nanyo City Hall) - 36:24
4. Naohiro Domoto (JR Higashi Nihon) - 36:25
5. Norio Kamijo (Omokawa Lumber) - 37:13

Third Stage - 16.2 km
1. Bernard Kimanyi (Kenya/Yakult A) - 45:00
2. Cyrus Gichobi Njui (Kenya/Arata Project) - 45:40
3. David Njuguna (Kenya/Yakult B) - 46:06
4. Hiroaki Sano (Honda) - 46:23
5. Dishon Karukuwa Maina (Kenya/Omokawa Lumber) - 46:38

Fourth Stage - 16.4 km
1. Keita Baba (Honda) - 49:17
2. Koji Gokaya (JR Higashi Nihon) - 50:23
3. Masahiro Kawaguchi (Yakult A) - 50:28
3. Kazuyoshi Shimozato (Komori Corp.) - 50:28
5. Norikazu Kato (Yakult B) - 50:32

Fifth Stage -14.1 km, ~680 m ascent
1. Tomohiro Tanigawa (Tamagawa Club) - 50:18
2. Tatsunori Hamasaki (Komori Corp.) - 50:37
3. Tsukasa Koyama (East Japan Corp. Select Team) - 50:56
4. Akihiro Hirai (Yachiyo Kogyo) - 51:10
5. Soji Ikeda (Yakult A) - 51:15

(c) 2014 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Hassan Runs NR/CR for Osaka Win, Dibaba Hits Women's CR, Yoshida and Shuley Earn Legends

This was maybe the most entertaining marathon in years. After rocking the 2nd leg at last year's Hakone Ekiden Hibiki Yoshida (Sunbelx) ran an incredible 1:01:01 CR for the 21.9 km New Year Ekiden 2nd leg last month, equivalent to a 58:47 half marathon. That predicted a 2:03:27 marathon if he ever ran one, and when Yoshida announced he was debuting at this year's Osaka Marathon he wasted no time in saying it'd be a shot at the 2:04:55 NR. Things went out fast enough with a 14:50 split through 5 km, 2:05:11 pace, but Yoshida just couldn't hold back and took off at 8 km. He clearly DGAF about what was probably going to happen as his projected finish kept getting faster, 2:04:41, 2:04:15, 2:03:51, 2:03:40, edging closer and closer to what his New Year time predicted, but not helped along by the fact that he missed 4 out of his first 5 drink bottles. People laughed, and then cheered him on. 30 km was the first time he slowed, his finish projection dropping to 2:03:53, an...

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...

Ogikubo Breaks Road 10 km NR - April Road Roundup

And now back to our regular schedule. Two of Japan's best current marathoners, Akira Akasaki (Kyudenko), 6th in the Paris Olympics and 2nd in Berlin last fall in a 2:06:15 PB, and Shunya Kikuchi (Chugoku Denryoku), 7th in Osaka last year in a PB of 2:06:06, were supposed to be in on the wild action at the Boston Marathon and London Marathon , but both ended up scratching with injury. It's hard not to wonder what kind of dent they might have made, especially Akasaki. In Kikuchi's absence London didn't have any elite-level Japanese athletes, and the only one in Boston was Mao Uesugi (Tokyo Metro), 2:22:11 in Nagoya last year. Uesugi went out relatively strongly but faded hard in the hills to finish only 26th in 2:34:38. One other Japanese woman, Sherry Drury , ran the BAA Mile held the Saturday before the marathon, finishing 6th in 4:43.26. Bigger news the same day as the BAA Mile came in Spain, where Tomoya Ogikubo (Hiramatsu Byoin) followed up his 1:00:22 half ma...

japan running news

Search This Blog