Skip to main content

United Airlines NYC Half - Japanese Results

by Brett Larner

For the last five years JRN has worked with the NYRR to bring the fastest two Japanese university men at November's Ageo City Half Marathon, one of the world's absolute deepest races, to the United Airlines NYC Half.  The program has had a big impact on the runners who have qualified, Yuta Shitara and Kenta Murayama both making the Beijing World Championships last year and Murayama turning some heads with his marathon debut in Tokyo this year, two-time NYC runner Takashi Ichida winning the 2016 Japanese XC national title and Ikuto Yufu, the highest placer in New York to date at 9th, winning the prestigious Karatsu 10-Miler last month.  This year Komazawa University third-year Yusuke Nishiyama and 19-year-old Tokai University first-year Haruki Minatoya made the trip, both running in the U.S.A. for the first time and Nishiyama accompanied by Komazawa coach and former marathon national record holder Atsushi Fujita.

Both chugged along in the main pack through the slow first 5 km in 15:18 before the race really began.  When the pace picked up Nishiyama was quick to fall off, but the young Minatoya stayed in contact with the lead group through 10 km before last year's runner-up Stephen Sambu of Kenya dropped a 13:58 split between 10 and 15 km to blow the race apart and seal the win in 1:01:16.  Minatoya opened a 20-second lead over Nishiyama mid-race, but Nishiyama rallied to overtake him at 18 km.  Working together they closed on European marathon champion Daniele Meucci of Italy late in the race but came up just short of catching him.  Meucci took 9th in 1:03:35, Nishiyama coming just shy of tying his former Komazawa teammate Yufu's placing as he finished 10th in 1:03:37.  Minatoya, a last-minute replacement for Ageo winner Kenya Sonota of Komazawa, was right behind in 11th in 1:03:40.

"That was hard," Nishiyama said post-race.  "I had a hard time going from so slow to so fast, and my hamstrings felt really tight in the cold."  Minatoya, a native of Akita in northern Japan, said, "It wasn't as cold as back home so it didn't bother me that much, although I wouldn't usually run in this kind of weather in just singlet and shorts.  The hardest part for me was running alone the whole second half of the race."  Both runners head back to Japan on Monday, Nishiyama targeting the 5000 m and Minatoya the 10000 m at May's Kanto Regional University Track and Field Championships in hopes of making June's National Track and Field Championships for a shot at the Rio Olympic team.

United Airlines NYC Half
New York, U.S.A., 3/20/16
click here for complete results

Men
1. Stephen Sambu (Kenya) - 1:01:16
2. Wilson Chebet (Kenya) - 1:01:35
3. Sam Chelanga (U.S.A.) - 1:01:43
4. Juan Luis Barrios (Mexico) - 1:02:02
5. Diego Estrada (U.S.A.) - 1:02:15
6. Lusapho April (South Africa) - 1:02:28
7. Byron Piedra (Ecuador) - 1:02:35
8. Zane Robertson (New Zealand) - 1:02:37
9. Daniele Meucci (Italy) - 1:03:35
10. Yusuke Nishiyama (Japan/Komazawa Univ.) - 1:03:37
11. Haruki Minatoya (Japan/Tokai Univ.) - 1:03:40

Women
1. Molly Huddle (U.S.A) - 1:07:41 - CR
2. Joyce Chepkirui (Kenya) - 1:07:41
3. Diane Nukuri (Burundi) - 1:09:41
4. Fionnuala McCormick (Ireland) - 1:10:44
5. Caroline Rotich (Kenya) - 1:10:45

© 2016 Brett Larner
all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

Unknown said…
I feel like the more racing experience I get the more poignantly I realize that the best way to practice racing is...to race. I know we've had this conversation many times, but it seems like the emphasis on "sticking to a pace" doesn't develop the physiological and psychological responsiveness to sudden changes in pace, which is how the world's top competition generally race (although the women's race at NYC was quite like a track race of keeping a more consistent rhythm between Molly and Joyce)

It will be interesting to see what would happen if more Japanese runners entered this race as a pack....
March 21, 2016 at 2:53 PM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Rui Aoki and Shunsuke Kuwata Making U.S. Debut at United Airlines NYC Half

When the National University Half Marathon was canceled in 2011 after the massive earthquake and tsunami struck northeastern Japan 2 days before the race, JRN talked to the New York Road Runners about bringing 2 collegiate runners to the United Airlines NYC Half Marathon the next weekend as a show of support. It wasn't possible to pull it together in the immediate aftermath of the disasters, but a year later we brought 2 young 2nd-years from Hakone Ekiden CR breaker Toyo University , Kento Otsu and Yuta Shitara , who had been the top 2 Japanese collegiate finishers at the Ageo City Half Marathon in November before Hakone. Shitara ran 1:01:48, at the time the fastest-ever by a Japanese man on U.S. soil, with Otsu running a solid 1:03:15. Thanks to that great start the Ageo-NYC partnership became a regular thing, and except for the pandemic it's continued every year since, expanding this year to June's New York Mini 10 km when 2 runners from Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden runne...
2 comments
Read more

Kuwata Runs Fastest-Ever Half Marathon by Japanese Man Outside Japan at United Airlines NYC Half

When the NYRR changed the United Airlines NYC Half course back in 2018 to more or less its current Boston-style hilly one-way version it seemed like it had been repurposed from a fast course to something more tactical. That went out the window last year with new course records of 59:09 and 1:07:04 from Abel Kipchumba and Sharon Lokedi , and this year's results backed that up. Hellen Obiri ground Lokedi down and took over 30 seconds off her CR, winning in 1:06:33 with Lokedi only 6 seconds off what she ran in 2025 but a distant 2nd in 1:07:10. British road 10 km NR holder Megan Keith rolled up hard late in the race to finish 3rd in 1:07:13 less than 10 seconds off old CR too. The men's race saw a big group of 18 attack the hilly first half on sub-59 pace, American Joe Klecker leading through 5 km in 13:57 and Houston Marathon winner Zouhair Talbi through 10 km in 27:56. Right up in it was Shunsuke Kuwata , a 20-year-old 2nd-year at 2025 National University Ekiden champ Koma...
Post a Comment
Read more

Japan's Team for World Indoor Championships

Japan is sending a team of 3 women and 7 men to this weekend's Kujaway Pomorze World Athletics Indoor Championships in Poland. A quick look at the lineup with best times in last 3 years: Women 3000 m   Nozomi Tanaka (New Balance) - 8:33.52 (2025) 60 mH Mako Fukube (NKK) - 8.02 (2026) Chisato Kiyoyama (Ichigo) - 8.09 (2026) Men 60 m Yoshihide Kiryu (Nihon Seimei) - 6.53 (2024) Yoshiki Kinashi (Tsukuba Univ. Grad School) - 6.60 (2026) 800 m Allon Tatsunami Clay (Penn State Univ.) - 1:45.17 (2026) 60 mH Shusei Nomoto (Ehime T&F) - 7.59 (2026) Ryota Fujii (Tottori Sports Assoc.) - 7.71 (2024) High Jump Naoto Hasegawa (Niigata Albirex RC) - 2.30 m (2026) Tomohiro Shinno (Kraftia) - 2.30 m (2026) © 2026 Brett Larner , all rights reserved
Post a Comment
Read more