Skip to main content

Shitara Wins Kumamoto Kosa 10-Miler

In a year that saw him deliver one of the most memorable debut marathons in history, a half marathon national record, 10000 m and marathon PBs and more, Yuta Shitara (Honda) ended 2017 on a high note, beating three-time defending champion Jeremiah Thuku Karemi (Toyota Kyushu) to win the 42nd Kumamoto Kosa 10-Miler. Shitara, Karemi, London World Championships marathoner Hiroto Inoue (MHPS), Ethiopian Abayneh Degu (Yasukawa Denki) and track ace Shuho Dairokuno (Asahi Kasei) ran together in a lead group through the early going, but Shitara was just too much for the others to handle.

Shitara broke the tape in 45:58, only the fourth Japanese man to ever clear 45 minutes. Karemi was well under last year's winning time but nowhere close to catching Shitara, finishing 2nd in 46:10 and Inoue only 2 seconds behind him. With many corporate and university teams using Kosa to tune up for the Jan. 1 New Year Ekiden and Jan. 2-3 Hakone Ekiden, it regularly produces the deepest 10 mile results in the world. The top 11 cleared 47 minutes, with 47 under 48 minutes and 80 under 49 minutes.


Of the 11 to run under 47 minutes, four including Shitara, 6th-placer Takashi Ichida (Asahi Kasei), 10th-placer Kento Otsu (Toyota Kyushu) and 11th-placer Kenta Murayama (Asahi Kasei), are alumni of the JRN-supported program for top university talent from November's Ageo City Half Marathon to run in March's United Airlines NYC Half. A 5th alumnus, Ikuto Yufu (Fujitsu), had an off day, finishing 88th in 49:18.

Rio Olympics marathoner Suehiro Ishikawa (Honda) was a decent 14th in 47:14, easily beating Inoue's London teammate Kentaro Nakamoto (Yasukawa Denki), 33rd in 47:40. 2:07:39 marathoner Masato Imai (Toyota Kyushu) took 44th in 47:49. In the high school boys' 10 km, Ryuta Igawa (Kyushu Gakuin H.S.) won in a solid 29:45. Hikari Fukuda was the top finisher in the women's 5 km, winning in 16:31.

42nd Kumamoto Kosa 10 Mile Road Race

Kosa, Kumamoto, 12/3/17
click here for complete results

Men's 10 Miles
1. Yuta Shitara (Honda) - 45:58
2. Jeremiah Thuku Karemi (Toyota Kyushu) - 46:10
3. Hiroto Inoue (MHPS) - 46:12
4. Abayneh Degu (Yasukawa Denki) - 46:15
5. Shuho Dairokuno (Asahi Kasei) - 46:21
6. Takashi Ichida (Asahi Kasei) - 46:35
7. Yuki Oshikawa (Toyota Kyushu) - 46:39
8. Naoya Takahashi (Yasukawa Denki) - 46:42
9. Shintaro Miwa (NTN) - 46:44
10. Kento Otsu (Toyota Kyushu) - 46:59
-----
11. Kenta Murayama (Asahi Kasei) - 46:59
14. Suehiro Ishikawa (Honda) - 47:14
33. Kentaro Nakamoto (Yasukawa Denki) - 47:40
44. Masato Imai (Toyota Kyushu) - 47:49
88. Ikuto Yufu (Fujitsu) - 49:18

High School Boys' 10 km
1. Ryuta Igawa (Kyushu Gakuin H.S.) - 29:45

Women's 5 km
1. Hikari Fukuda (Higo Ginko) - 16:31

© 2017 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

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...
2 comments
Read more

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...
8 comments
Read more

Route Inn Hotels Win National Corporate Women's Ekiden Qualifier for First Time

After Saturday's Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai qualifying race in Tokyo, 2nd-tier corporate women's teams were in Fukuoka for their own national championships qualifying race, the Princess Ekiden . With Queens Ekiden 19-placer Otsuka Seiyaku a DNS, 30 teams lined up for the 6-stage, 42.195 km race where the top 16 would go on to join the top 8 from last year's Queens Ekiden at next month's national race. Coming right in the middle of the international fall marathon season several teams had people still tired from Berlin and Chicago, with Daihatsu fielding Rika Kaseda and Natsuki Omori from Berlin, Tokyo Metro sending out its own Berlin duo of Mao Uesugi and Ayumi Morita , and Kraftia not playing its top member Yuka Akasaki after her solid run in Chicago last week. After a fast start from eventual 9th-placer Denso 's Rio Matsutani , Daihatsu took over on the Second Stage and held it until the Fifth, where a tired Omori dropped to 3rd. Mayuka Fujita from Route Inn H...
2 comments
Read more