Skip to main content

Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon Elite Field Highlights

Gifu, 5/15/16
click here for complete field listing
times listed are 2013-2016 bests except where noted

Women
Eunice Kirwa (Bahrain) - 1:08:06 (Marugame 2016)
Rebecca Kangogo Chesir (Kenya) - 1:08:21 (Milan 2015)
Betelhem Moges (Ethiopia) - 1:09:23 (Olomouc 2014)
Visiline Jepkesho (Kenya) - 1:09:43 (Adana 2016)
Yuka Ando (Japan/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 1:09:51 (Sanyo 2015)
Sayo Nomura (Japan/Daiichi Seimei) - 1:10:03 (Sanyo 2013)
Kayoko Fukushi (Japan/Wacoal) - 1:10:04 (Berlin 2014)
Lauren Kleppin (U.S.A.) - 1:10:16 (Copenhagen 2014)
Eri Makikawa (Japan/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 1:10:27 (Marugame 2014)
Mao Kiyota (Japan/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 1:10:31 (Valencia 2015)
Bornes Jepkirui (Kenya) - 1:10:32 (Azpeitia 2014)

Men
Bedan Karoki (Kenya/DeNA) - 59:14 (Copenhagen 2015)
Paul Kuira (Kenya/Konica Minolta) - 59:47 (Marugame 2015)
Kenneth Keter (Kenya) - 59:48 (Venlo 2016)
Martin Mathathi (Kenya) - 1:00:11 (Marugame 2014)
James Rungaru (Kenya/Chuo Hatsujo) - 1:00:12 (Nice 2015)
Fabiano Sulle (Tanzania) - 1:01:19 (Marugame 2016)
Moses Kibet (Uganda) - 1:01:37 (Lisbon 2016)
Kenta Matsumoto (Japan/Toyota) - 1:01:55 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2015)
Patrick Muendo Mwaka (Kenya/Aisan Kogyo) - 1:01:56 (Gifu 2014)
Ser-Od Bat-Ochir (Mongolia/NTN) - 1:02:10 (Marugame 2016)
Takuya Suzuki (Japan/Aisan Kogyo) - 1:02:15 (Marugame 2016)
Yuya Ito (Japan/Toyota) - 1:02:21 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2014)
Chiharu Takada (Japan/JR Higashi Nihon) - 1:02:22 (Marugame 2013)
Dishon Maina (Kenya/Omokawa Zaimoku) - 1:02:23 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2014)
Michael Githae (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 1:02:27 (Gifu 2015)
Yuichiro Ogawa (Japan/NTN) - 1:02:30 (Marugame 2014)
Ryo Matsumoto (Japan/Toyota) - 1:02:32 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2013)
Kinari Ikeda (Japan/Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:02:45 (Takanezawa 2016)
Junji Katakawa (Japan/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 1:02:49 (Marugame 2015)
Satoru Kasuya (Japan/Toyota Boshoku) - 1:02:52 (Marugame 2013)
Yuki Kawauchi (Japan/Saitama Pref. Gov't) - 1:02:55 (Ageo 2014)
Cuthburt Nyasango (Zimbabwe) - 1:02:56 (Prague 2013)
Rodgers Chumo Kwemoi (Kenya/Aisan Kogyo) - debut - 27:42.09 (Tokai Univ. 2015)

© 2016 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Nagoya Women's Marathon Preview and Streaming (updated)

Japan's winter marathon season of 6 major races in 7-straight weekends wraps up Sunday with the world's largest women-only marathon, the Nagoya Women's Marathon . The weather is looking pretty good, 6˚ at the start rising to 10˚ by the finish and sunny skies, but a moderate 7 m/s NW wind means a headwind finish that might impact the potential for some fast times. Official streaming kicks off at 9:00 a.m. local time. Live results will be here . Sheila Chepkirui won last year in 2:20:40, breaking away from Sayaka Sato and Eunice Chebichii Chumba at 30 km and hanging on for the win. Sato negative split a 2:20:59 PB for 2nd, Chumba fading to 3rd in 2:21:36. All 3 are back this time, but they have pretty serious competition from Aynalem Desta , 2:17:37 in Amsterdam last fall, and Selly Chepyego Kaptich , 2:20:03 in Barcelona 2023. And of course, Japanese NR holder Honami Maeda . Maeda ran 2:18:59 at the Osaka International Women's Marathon in 2024 to make the Paris Oly...

Chepkirui Over Sato Again to Win 2nd-Straight Nagoya Women's Marathon, Chen Breaks Malaysian NR (updated)

This year's Nagoya Women's Marathon felt like a changing of the guard, with some the bigger domestic names over the last few years fading early and a lot of newer faces stepping up with quality debuts or second marathons. The front group was set to be paced for 2:20 flat with the 2nd group at 2:23:30 to hit the auto-qualifying time for the 2027 MGC Race, Japan's L.A. Olympics marathon trials race in Nagoya. Up front things went out OK, but after a 33:10 split at 10 km Ayuko Suzuki , 2:21:22 here 2 years ago, lost touch, ultimately finishing 23rd in 2:33:28. Windy conditions started to play with pacers' ability to keep things steady and the pace slowed majorly over the next 10 km, but even with a 34:05 second 10 km there were big-name casualties. 2024 Nagoya winner Yuka Ando was next to drop, ending up 17th in 2:30:32. NR holder Honami Maeda was next, followed quickly by Bahraini Kenyan Eunice Chumba and debuting Wakana Kabasawa . Maeda faded to 21st in 2:31:21, whil...

How it Happened

Ancient History I went to Wesleyan University, where the legend of four-time Boston Marathon champ and Wes alum Bill Rodgers hung heavy over the cross-country team. Inspired by Koichi Morishita and Young-Cho Hwang’s duel at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics I ran my first marathon in 1993, qualifying for Boston ’94 where Bill was kind enough to sign a star-struck 20-year-old me’s bib number at the expo. Three years later I moved to Japan for grad school, and through a long string of coincidences I came across a teenaged kid named Yuki Kawauchi down at my neighborhood track. I never imagined he’d become what he is, but right from the start there was just something different about him. After his 2:08:37 breakthrough at the 2011 Tokyo Marathon he called me up and asked me to help him get into races abroad. He’d finished 3rd on the brutal downhill Sixth Stage at the Hakone Ekiden, and given how he’d run the hills in the last 6 km at Tokyo ’11 I thought he’d do well at Boston or New York. “I...