Skip to main content

Kuira and Robertson Go Sub-60 to Crack Marugame Course Record, Flanagan a No-Show

by Brett Larner
click photo for finish footage


Japan-based Kenyan Paul Kuira (Team Konica Minolta) and Kenya-based Kiwi Zane Robertson made some history Sunday as they pushed each other just under the 59:48 course record at the Kagawa Marugame International Half Marathon.

Kuira, along with Samuel Wanjiru and Daniel Njenga a graduate of Sendai Ikuei H.S., and Robertson, both debuting, ran in a lead pack that included favorite Bernard Koech (Kenya), Juan Luis Barrios (Mexico), Benjamin Ngandu (Kenya/Team Monteroza) and Jacob Wanjuki (Kenya/Team Aichi Seiko), Kuira's Konica teammates Masato Kikuchi and Keita Shitara and collegiates Ken Yokote (Meiji Univ.) and Daichi Kamino (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) through a solid 28:10 first 10 km, on track for 59:25.  Kamino, the star of the 2015 Hakone Ekiden with a brilliant course record on its uphill Fifth Stage, was the first to fall off Japanese national record pace, with the rest following by 15 km.

A surge from Ngandu shook up the rest of the lead pack, but after a quick response from Kuira only Robertson could stay in contention.  Kuira surged repeatedly over the last 3 km, but although it looked like Robertson would break he hung on.  Going onto the track Robertson made a surge of his own to take the lead but with 20 m to go Kuira came back to just get it, both men going 1 second under the course record in 59:47, the first-ever sub-60 for each.  Kuira's time was a world lead, and Robertson, just the 4th non-African to ever break the hour mark on a legal course, took 2 1/2 minutes off the New Zealand national record.

Koech easily took 3rd in 1:00:09, with Ngandu 4th in an unexpected PB of 1:00:20.  Kikuchi, the top Japanese man at last year's World Half Marathon Championships, broke 61 for the first time with a 1:00:57 for 7th, while Shitara and Kamino were under 1:01:30.  University runners dominated, taking 11 of the top 15 Japanese spots all 1:02:46 or better.  2015 Hakone Ekiden course record setter Aoyama Gakuin University scored big, with stars Yusuke Ogura and Tadashi Isshiki running bests of 1:02:03 and 1:02:09 alongside Kamino's superb 1:01:21.  Hakone 4th-placer Meiji University also had a big day, Yokote making a 1:01:37 debut and Shuho Dairokuno and Shin Kimura running 1:02:44 and 1:02:45, a PB in Kimura's case.

Robertson's was not the only national record set in Marugame.  Taiwan's Chieh Wen Chiang ran as part of a quintet with top-level Japanese marathoners Arata Fujiwara (Miki House) and Hirokatsu Kurosaki (Team Konica Minolta), taking 21 seconds off the Taiwanese half marathon record as he finished 59th in 1:03:46.  The men's race also set new world records with the fastest-ever 78th through 84th-place finishes in a half marathon.

The women's race was less dynamic due in large part to the strangely unannounced DNS of feature athlete Shalane Flanagan (U.S.A.).  In her absence, Australia's Eloise Wellings followed Robertson in making a solid debut, picking it up after a slow first 5 km and accompanied through 10 km by the likewise debuting Kaho Tanaka (Team Daiichi Seimei) before pulling away.  Wellings pushed on alone to win in 1:10:41, the second-slowest winning time in Marugame history, with an 18 second margin over Mao Kiyota (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC), a training partner of last year's winner Eri Makikawa who was 4th by a second behind Yuko Mizuguchi (Team Denso).  Pre-race Japanese favorite Hanae Tanaka (Daiichi Seimei) had an off day, only 7th in 1:11:24.  Welcomed back to Japan yet again after her doping suspension, Zivile Balciunaite (Lithuania) was 25th in 1:17:47.

Elsewhere, much of the rest of the Aoyama Gakuin team lined up an hour later and closer to home at the Kanagawa Half Marathon in Yokohama.  AGU's Hakone Fourth Stage course record setter Kazuki Tamura and anchor stage runner-up Yuya Ando did much of the work in windy conditions, but although AGU runners took six of the top ten spots they fell victim to rival Koki Ido (Waseda University), who dropped Ando late in the race to take the win by 10 seconds in 1:03:27.  Nittai University's Riko Takagi and Maria Tanaka went 1-2 in the women's half marathon, with Kanade Furuya (Hakuho Joshi H.S.) 3rd in an impressive 1:17:48. Kanagawa's Eda H.S. almost completely swept the women's 10 km, Naruha Sato taking the win in 34:05.

Still further north at the Moriya Half Marathon in Ibaraki, Nittai University men took four of the top five spots, Yuta Katsumata getting the win over Chuo Gakuin University's Tsuyoshi Ebisawa in 1:04:45.  Kazusa Yoshinari (Kokushikan Univ.) won the women's race in 1:20:12.

Kagawa Marugame International Half Marathon
Marugame, Kagawa, 2/1/15
click here for complete results

Men
1. Paul Kuira (Kenya/Konica Minolta) - 59:47 - CR, WL, debut
2. Zane Robertson (New Zealand) - 59:47 - NR, debut
3. Bernard Koech (Kenya) - 1:00:09
4. Benjamin Ngandu (Kenya/Monteroza) - 1:00:20 - PB
5. Juan Luis Barrios (Mexico) - 1:00:46
6. Jacob Wanjuki (Kenya/Team Aichi Seiko) - 1:00:48
7. Masato Kikuchi (Japan/Konica Minolta) - 1:00:57 - PB
8. Keita Shitara (Japan/Konica Minolta) - 1:01:20 - PB
9. Daichi Kamino (Japan/Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:01:21 - PB
10. Ken Yokote (Japan/Meiji Univ.) - 1:01:37 - debut
11. Yusuke Ogura (Japan/Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:02:03 - PB
12. Hiroto Inoue (Japan/Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) - 1:02:03
13. Tadashi Isshiki (Japan/Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:02:09 - PB
14. Masaki Toda (Japan/Tokyo Nogyo Univ.) - 1:02:14 - PB
15. Gen Hachisuka (Japan/Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 1:02:26 - PB
16. Natsuki Terada (Japan/JR Higashi Nihon) - 1:02:43
17. Shuho Dairokuno (Japan/Meiji Univ.) - 1:02:44
18. Cyrus Njui (Kenya/Arata Project) - 1:02:45
19. Shin Kimura (Japan/Meiji Univ.) - 1:02:45 - PB
20. Shota Kai (Japan/Yachiyo Kogyo) - 1:02:46 - PB
-----
23. Samuel Tsegaye (Eritrea) - 1:02:47
57. Arata Fujiwara (Japan/Miki House) - 1:03:46
58. Hirokatsu Kurosaki (Japan/Konica Minolta) - 1:03:46
59. Chieh Wen Chiang (Taiwan) - 1:03:46 - NR
-----
DNS - Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC)
DNS - Fabiano Joseph (Tanzania)

Women
1. Eloise Wellings (Australia) - 1:10:41 - debut
2. Mao Kiyota (Japan/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 1:10:59 - PB
3. Yuko Mizuguchi (Japan/Denso) - 1:11:03 - PB
4. Eri Makikawa (Japan/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 1:11:04
5. Misato Horie (Japan/Noritz) - 1:11:06
6. Kaho Tanaka (Japan/Daiichi Seimei) - 1:11:12 - debut
7. Hanae Tanaka (Japan/Daiichi Seimei) - 1:11:24
8. Eri Hayakawa (Japan/Toto) - 1:13:02
9. Kikuyo Tsuzaki (Japan/Noritz) - 1:13:16
10. Mei Matsuyama (Japan/Bukkyo Univ.) - 1:13:21 - PB
-----
25. Zivile Balciunaite (Lithuania) - 1:17:47
-----
DNS - Shalane Flanagan (U.S.A.)
DNS - Ehitu Kiros (Ethiopia)

Kanagawa Half Marathon
Yokohama, Kanagawa, 2/1/15
click here for complete results

Men's Half Marathon
1. Koki Ido (Waseda Univ.) - 1:03:27
2. Yuya Ando (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:03:37
3. Ryunosuke Hayashi (Tokai Univ.) - 1:03:59
4. Kazuki Tamura (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:04:16
5. Kokoro Watanabe (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:04:27
6. Yuki Nakamura (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:04:33
7. Toshinori Watanabe (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:04:39
8. Takuya Maeda (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) - 1:04:46
9. Ryusei Yoshinaga (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:04:54
10. Motoya Niino (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) - 1:04:57

Women's Half Marathon
1. Riko Takagi (Nittai Univ.) - 1:15:53
2. Maria Tanaka (Nittai Univ.) - 1:16:59
3. Kanade Furuya (Hakuho Joshi H.S.) - 1:17:48

Women's 10 km
1. Naruha Sato (Eda H.S.) - 34:05
2. Maki Ashi (Nittai Univ.) - 34:41
3. Mizuki Kubota (Eda H.S.) - 34:45

Moriya Half Marathon
Moriya, Ibaraki, 2/1/15
click here for complete results

Men
1. Yuta Katsumata (Nittai Univ.) - 1:04:45
2. Tsuyoshi Ebisawa (Chuo Gakuin Univ.) - 1:05:04
3. Takafumi Ote (Nittai Univ.) - 1:05:32
4. Akira Tomiyasu (Nittai Univ.) - 1:05:34
5. Shunya Suo (Nittai Univ.) - 1:05:44

Women
1. Kazusa Yoshinari (Kokushikan Univ.) - 1:20:12

(c) 2015 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Nagoya Women's Marathon Elite Field

The Mar. 9 Nagoya Women's Marathon is the last big elite marathon on Japan's winter schedule, this year with a trio of sub-2:20 runners up front, Sheila Chepkirui , Aga Ruti and Hitomi Niiya . It being a home soil World Championships selection cycle there's decent depth behind them, and 2:21 runner Rika Kaseda looks especially on her game right now with a 1:07:53 PB at the Marugame Half earlier this month. Australian Isobel Batt-Doyle is also trending in the right direction, having run 2:22:59 in her last go in Valencia in December. The debut list is pretty interesting, with women-only half marathon NR holder Rino Goshima , 1:08:03, making her debut, as are 1:09:01 Australian Leanne Pompeani and track runner Yuna Wada . 2018 World Half Marathon silver medalist Pauline Kamulu isn't technically debuting, having run 2:31:04 at last summer's hot and humid Hokkaido Marathon, but with a 1:07:33 in Marugame ahead of Kaseda she has a lot of potential to go 10 minutes ...

Yuasa Goes Sub-2:10 to Win Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon

Almost totally absent its usual winds, great conditions at the Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon produced overall fast times and a sub-2:10 winning time for the second year in a row. Last year Waseda University 's Yota Ifuku became the first man to break 2:10 in Nobeoka with a surprise 2:09:26 debut for the win. Ifuku was back as a pacer with 2:07 man Tetsuya Yoroizaka from the local national champion Asahi Kasei corporate team, taking the lead group through 30 km almost dead on 3:06/km pace. A lead group of 12 was still together at that point, but just over a kilometer later Jin Yuasa , solid at January's New Year Ekiden in his corporate league debut with the Toyota corporate team with a 2nd-place run on the 11.4 km Sixth Stage, went on the attack. Pre-race Yuasa had said that he planned to bide his time until a strategic uphill between 31 and 32 km, and that's exactly what he did. Pushing on the climb, Yuasa then rolled a 2:52 for the 33rd km to blow the pack apart. F...

Honda's Shota Nakano Wins Close Karatsu 10-Miler

At the 65th Karatsu 10-Mile Road Race Sunday in Karatsu, Saga, Shota Nakano (Honda) won in 47:30. Nakano graduated from Hiroshima's Sera H.S. before joining Chuo University . He ran the Hakone Ekiden three years in a row beginning his 2nd year at Chuo, winning the Third Stage his 3rd year. After graduating last spring he joined Honda, where he set a 1500 m PB of 3:41.47 at September's National Corporate Track and Field Championships. His other PBs include 13:24.11 for 5000 m, 28:00.86 for 10000 m and 1:02:49 for the half marathon. This was his first time racing the 10-mile distance. Yushin Akatsu (Komori Corp.) was 2 seconds behind Nakano in 47:32, with Daiki Nomimura (NTT Nishi Nihon) 3rd in 47:33 and veteran Keita Shitara (Nishitetsu) 4th in 47:35. Chikako Mori (Sekisui Kagaku) took the women's 10 km in 34:12 and Shiena Kanamori (Chikushi Joshi Gakuen H.S.) the high school girls' 5 km in 16:22. Taiyo Iwasa (Tosu Kogyo H.S.) won the high school boys' 10 km ...