Yamamoto 4th at New York City Marathon, Kawauchi 2nd in Porto

by Brett Larner

Running just his second career marathon, Toyo University graduate Hiroyuki Yamamoto followed up on his 2:11:48 debut at Beppu-Oita last year with a 2:11:49 for 4th at the New York City Marathon. Always in the lead pack until he wasn't, always looking smooth, confident and relaxed, Yamamoto's placing was the best-ever by a Japanese man in New York, his time also up near the top of the Japanese lists in New York.

2015 World Champion Ghirmay Ghebreslassie (Eritrea) smoked a 2:07:51 for the win, the third-fastsest winning time in NYC history, while this year's Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon winner Lucas Rotich (Kenya) was 2nd. The perpetual Abdi Abdirahman (U.S.A.) held Yamamoto off for 3rd in 2:11:23. In an admittedly weaker than usual field, Yamamoto's best-ever Japanese placing was also arguably the best performance by a Japanese man in any of the World Marathon Majors events since Kurao Umeki's 3rd-place finish at the 2006 Berlin Marathon. In the women's race, Mary Keitany (Kenya) scored her third-straight New York City Marathon win in 2:24:26. Sally Kipyego (Kenya) ran a 2:28:01 best for 2nd, while in 3rd Molly Huddle (U.S.A.) ran a good 2:28:13 debut.

Elsewhere, after saying that he planned to break the Porto Marathon's 2:09:51 course record, serial marathoner Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) took 2nd in just 2:14:32, nearly three minutes behind winner Samuel Theuri Mwaniki (Kenya). The pre-race favorite, Kawauchi lost touch with the lead pack within the first 10 km, running as low as 8th overall before inching his way up through the field over the last 10 km. "I don't know," he told JRN post-race. "After this I don't know if I can run 3:00/km pace at Fukuoka."

The Porto women's race was more dramatic. Running her third career marathon and first outside Africa, Loice Chebet Kiptoo (Kenya) ran side-by-side with #1-ranked Guteni Shone (Ethiopia) through 20 km before pulling away on the most technical part of the course. Kiptoo pushed on until 27 km when she began to show signs of trouble, her stride changing and pace fading. Running with a cadre of 3~4 male pacers behind her, local Filomena Costa (Portugal) began to make up ground, pulling to within 10 seconds. After the 31 km turnaround to the long straightaway to the finish, however, Costa stalled, never able to close the last 10 seconds to the win. Kiptoo dug deep to fight Costa off, breaking the course record in 2:29:13, the first win in her short marathon career to date. Costa slowed and was run down by compatriot Catarina Ribeiro, both breaking 2:31 and clearing the London World Championships qualifying standard. On the podium Kiptoo wept openly, the personal significance of her first European win clear to every person in attendance.

New York City Marathon
New York, USA, 11/6/16
click here for complete results

Men
1. Ghirmay Ghebreslassie (Eritrea) - 2:07:51
2. Lucas Rotich (Kenya) - 2:08:53
3. Abdi Abdirahman (U.S.A.) - 2:11:23
4. Hiroyuki Yamamoto (Japan/Konica Minolta) - 2:11:49
5. Shadrack Biwott (U.S.A.) - 2:12:01

Women
1. Mary Keitany (Kenya) - 2:24:26
2. Sally Kipyego (Kenya) - 2:28:01
3. Molly Huddle (U.S.A.) - 2:28:13
4. Joyce Chepkirui (Kenya) - 2:29:08
5. Diane Nukuri (Burundi) - 2:33:04

Porto Marathon
Porto, Portugal, 11/6/16
click here for complete results

Men
1. Samuel Theuri Mwaniki (Kenya) - 2:11:48
2. Yuki Kawauchi (Japan/Saitama Pref. Gov't) - 2:14:32
3. Jose Moreira (Portugal) - 2:16:11
4. Matthew Kipkore Kiprotich (Kenya) - 2:17:38
5. Gilbert Kipkemboi Maina (Kenya) - 2:19:25

Women
1. Loice Chebet Kiptoo (Kenya) - 2:29:13 - CR
2. Catarina Ribeiro (Portugal) - 2:30:10
3. Filomena Costa (Portugal) - 2:30:27
4. Pamela Kipchoge (Kenya) - 2:36:42
5. Guteni Shone (Ethiopia) - 2:38:23

© 2016 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Waseda Leads Top 7 Teams Under Izumo Ekiden CR, Ivy League Best-Ever 3rd (updated)

3rd last year, Waseda University scored its first Izumo Ekiden win since 2010, taking almost 2 minutes off the CR and leading the top 7 teams under the old record of 2:07:51 for the complete 6-stage, 45.1 km course. Waseda was 16 seconds back in 7th after the First Stage, but its 2nd runner Ojiro Honda made that up easily and put them 6 seconds out front. A massive 22:56 CR for the 8.5 km Third Stage by Shadrack Kipkemei (Nihon Univ.) dropped Waseda back to 2nd even though its runner Ryuki Suzuki broke the old CR too, but back-to-back CR on the next 2 stages by 1st-year Haruki Niizuma and Shunpei Yamaguchi put anchor Shinsaku Kudo out of reach of the rest of the field. Kudo duly won the 10.2 km anchor stage in 29:00, bypassing a 2:06 time entirely for a new 2:05:56 CR, just under 2:48/km average pace for the complete course. Defending champ Koku Gakuin University struggled a bit in the first half of the race but came on strong in the longer second half with 4th and 5th runners...

Kipyegon Repeats, Toyo Wins Hakone Ekiden Qualifier in First Appearance in 21 Years

Back for the first time in 21 years after a disastrous 14th-place finish at the 102nd Hakone Ekiden this past January, Toyo University hit one out of western Tokyo's Showa Kinen Park with a solid win at the Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai, the half marathon that serves as the official qualifying race for the 103rd Hakone Ekiden. The top 10 teams in the Hakone auto-qualify for the following year, with the rest having to run the Yosenkai in October with a squad of 10 to 16 runners out of which the top 10 score on aggregate time, with the 10 fastest schools joining the Hakone field and top individuals from non-qualifying teams names to the Kanto Region Student Alliance select team to make up the complete Hakone field of 21. Driven in large part by an aggressive run from 3rd-year Yu Miyazaki , one of only 2 Japanese athletes to go with the big African contingent up front, Toyo won in 10:31:30, 1:03:09 or 2:59.6/km per athlete. As the first team to have broken the 3:00/km average pace barrie...

Ngetich and Mutiso Take Down Tokyo Legacy Half CR

In its 5th edition the Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon scored 2 new course records via Kenyans from the Ikaika agency, with 10 km WR holder Agnes Ngetich blasting 3 minutes off the old record to win by over 4 in 1:04:23, and Alexander Mutiso skimming just 1 second under the CR for the win by 5 seconds in 59:51. The 2 races played out completely differently, even if the paydays were the same for the winners. Surrounded by an envelope of male runners all the way to the final 100 m, Ngetich was out hard on the downhill in the first 5 km, hitting it on sub-64 pace in 15:08 before leveling out on the flat middle 10 km. Her next 2 splits projected to 1:04:09 and 1:04:17, and even with the uphill back to the stadium in the last 5 km she didn't fall far off from that, winning in 1:04:23. Runner-up Tabitha Njeri Kamau was nearly a mile back in 1:08:28, with Kamau's Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo teammate Kazuna Kanetomo dropping a 1:10:17 PB for 3rd. Now an independent, track Olympian Kaede Ha...

japan running news

Search This Blog