Skip to main content

Oishi, Hoshi, Hattori to Make 30 km Debut at Feb. 15 Kumanichi Road Race

http://kumanichi.com/fsports/marathon/2015/kiji/20150117001.xhtml

translated and edited by Brett Larner

On Jan. 16 the organizing committee of the Kumamotojo Marathon announced the 18 men and women making up the elite field for the 59th running of the Kanaguri Hai Kumanichi 30 km Road Race scheduled for Feb. 15.  The list is packed with talent from this year's New Year Ekiden and Hakone Ekiden.

At the top of the corporate ladder are Minato Oishi, the Fifth Stage winner for New Year Ekiden national champion Toyota, and 2013's 5000 m national champion Sota Hoshi (Fujitsu).  Three-time Hofu Yomiuri Marathon winner Ser-Od Bat-Ochir (Mongolia, NTN) and Kyushu Gakuin H.S. graduate Daiichi Motomura (Nissin Shokuhin) are also on the list.

At last year's Kumanichi 30 km Yuma Hattori (Toyo Univ.) won in a collegiate national record 1:28:52.  This year his younger brother Hazuma Hattori (Toyo Univ.) takes up the challenge, looking to establish a Hattori dynasty.  From Hakone Ekiden runner-up Komazawa University, Eighth Stage 2nd-placer Shohei Otsuka is also scheduled to run.

2014 Kobe Marathon winner Hiromi Saito (Kyocera) leads the women's field which also includes Saori Noda (Osaka Gakuin Univ.) of Kumamoto's podium-making team at last weekend's National Women's Ekiden, and Anna Hasuike of the local Higo Ginko corporate team.

A total of 81 corporate, university and amateur runners are entered, including 10 women.  The JAAF-certified race starts in Kumamoto at Kengun Denteimae at 9:00 a.m., heading through the southwestern parts of the city before finishing at Bipuresu Kumanichi Kaikan.

59th Kumanichi 30 km Road Race Elite Field
Kumamoto, 2/15/15

Men
Ser-Od Bat-Ochir (33, Mongolia/NTN) - 2:08:50 (marathon)
Shota Yamaguchi (29, Fujitsu) - 1:32:46 (30 km)
Kosuke Murasashi (32, YKK) - 1:34:32 (30 km)
Sota Hoshi (27, Fujitsu) - 1:01:18 (half)
Minato Oishi (26, Toyota) - 1:02:06 (half)
Hazuma Hattori (20, Toyo Univ.) - 1:02:31 (half)
Shohei Otsuka (20, Komazawa Univ.) - 1:02:32 (half)
Hiroyuki Sasaki (24, Nissin Shokuhin) - 1:02:36 (half)
Hiroto Kanamori (21, Takushoku Univ.) - 1:03:14 (half)
Daichi Motomura (23, Nissin Shokuhin)- 1:03:14 (half)
Takayuki Tsuchiya (20, Tokai Univ.) - 1:03:47 (half)
Shoya Kurokawa (21, Komazawa Univ.) - 1:03:48 (half)
Shin Kimura (21, Meiji Univ.) - 1:04:52 (half)

Women
Kana Orino (22, Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 2:33:51 (marathon)
Hiromi Saito (23, Kyocera) - 2:38:23 (marathon)
Mao Kuroda (25, Wacoal) - 1:11:07 (half)
Anna Hasuike (26, Higo Ginko) - 1:13:19 (half)
Saori Noda (21, Osaka Gakuin Univ.) - 1:15:15 (half)

Comments

Most-Read This Week

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...