Skip to main content

Maeda, Ohara Purdue and Bulo Lead Dec. 23 Sanyo Ladies Road Race

The organizers of the Sanyo Ladies Road Race have announced the elite fields for this year's 36th running on Dec. 23, a selection race for the women's national team for next March's World Half Marathon Championships in Spain. Honami Maeda (21, Tenmaya), winner of August's Hokkaido Marathon, and London World Championships team members Miyuki Uehara (22, Daiichi Seimei) and Mao Kiyota (24, Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) lead the list of young hopefuls for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic team who will grace Okayama's streets.

All three will run the half marathon, where they will face last year's winner Rei Ohara (Tenmaya). Also entered are 2015 Beijing World Championships 5000 m team member Azusa Sumi (21, Univ. Ent.), Ayaka Fujimoto (20, Kyocera) who earlier this year ran 2:27:08 at the Tokyo Marathon to become Japan's fastest-ever teen marathoner, and 2017 World XC Championships team member Mao Ichiyama (Wacoal). London World Championships marathon 13th-placer Charlotte Purdue (Great Britain) adds high-level international flair to the race.

Mai Nishiwaki (Tenmaya) leads the 10 km field fresh off a scintillating run at last month's National Corporate Women's Ekiden, challenged by this year's National Championships 10000 m 5th-placer Yuka Hori (Panasonic) and last year's 4th-placer Kanayo Miyata (Yutaka Giken). Sub-15 minute 5000 m runner Shuru Bulo (Toto) will force the others to respond to her African speed from the start.

The races start and finish at City Light Stadium in Okayama. Both are IAAF-certified courses. The half marathon begins at 10:00 with the 10 km starting at 10:15.

source article: http://www.sanyonews.jp/sp/article/635028
translated by Brett Larner

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...