Skip to main content

Kawauchi Takes Six Minutes Off Kitakyushu Marathon Course Record to Lead Weekend Results



After a seven-week break from the marathon, Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) scored his third-straight marathon win, second-straight course record and came just shy of a third-straight negative split as he ran a completely solo 2:11:46 to take almost six minutes off the Kitakyushu Marathon course record. Following up on negative split wins at December's Hofu Yomiuri Marathon and January's Marshfield New Year's Day Marathon, the latter a course record by half an hour, Kawauchi was on his own in the first 100 m in Kitakyushu and never looked back.

In the hilly first 10 km his pace fluctuated from high-2:12 to high-2:10, but once Kawauchi got into the flatter section of the course he settled out on track for a high-2:11 to low-2:12 time. After a 1:05:51 split at halfway he slowed slightly on the outbound trip to the turnaround near 31 km, but picking it up again after 35 km he marked a 6:34 from 40 km to the finish to stop the clock at 2:11:46,  a 1:05:55 second half that put him 5:56 under the previous course record of 2:17:42 set by Shinji Tateishi in Kitakyushu's first running in 2014. Along with the course record, Kawauchi extended his record for most career sub-2:12 marathons to 26.


Both of Kawauchi's younger brothers were also in the race. Middle brother Yoshiki Kawauchi (Jaybird) was 3rd in 2:22:44, with youngest brother Koki Kawauchi (Mediafoam) 6th in 2:30:05. In the women's race, Linda Janthachit (Thailand) was a surprise winner in 2:49:56, only the seventh Thai woman to ever break 2:50 in the marathon.


Just across the island of Kyushu in Kumamoto, the Kumanichi 30 km, the world's most competitive race at its distance, saw an exciting race that came down to a sprint finish. Favorite Yuki Oshikawa (Toyota Kyushu), winner of the 2016 edition of the tougher Ome 30 km, found himself up against newcomer Keisuke Hayashi (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) who last month broke future half marathon national record holder Yuta Shitara's Seventh Stage record at the Hakone Ekiden and helped give AGU a fourth-straight Hakone title.


Oshikawa and Hayashi ran in a large pack through 15 km on a solid low-1:29 pace before an early break from Katsuya Kawasumi (Daito Bunka Univ.) shook things up. Trailed by others the pair ran Kawasumi down by 25 km, raising the pace bit by bit to burn off their other competition. In the home straight Hayashi got the edge on Oshikawa to cross the finish line in 1:29:47, the fastest winning time at Kumanichi since 2014. Oshikawa was a step behind in 1:29:48, with 3rd-place Gen Hachisuka (Konica Minolta) the only other man to clear 1:30 at 1:29:56.


Women's winner Yuko Watanabe (Edion) also emerged on top in a close race, winning in 1:47:17 by a margin of 11 seconds over Nanayo Okamoto (Osaka Gakuin Univ.). Veteran Hiroko Miyauchi (Hokuren) was another 4 seconds back in 3rd in 1:47:32. Watanabe's time was the slowest women's winning time at Kumanichi since 2010. In the accompanying mass-participation Kumamotojo Marathon, Hiroaki Fukukawa (Kumamoto Univ.) took the top men's spot in 2:20:50 with 2016 women's winner Yumi Sakai (Memolead) breaking her own course record for the win in 2:48:24.

Next behind Kumanichi on the world 30 km road race rankings, the Ome 30 km went off just after Kumanichi wrapped. With a slow first half on the tough net uphill section of the Ome course a group of 9 or 10 men stayed together through 20 km before the action began. Among them was Takayuki Matsumiya (Aichi Seiko), course record holder in Kumanichi, Japanese national record holder and former world record holder for 30 km, running Ome three days before his 38th birthday.

Oshikawa's teammate Kento Otsu (Toyota Kyushu) went to the front after 20 km to cut the lead pack down to five including Matsumiya, but on the flatter final 5 km it was another veteran, Naoki Okamoto (Chugoku Denryoku), who got away for the win in 1:33:09. Matsumiya was just 5 seconds short of a miracle, 2nd in 1:33:14 by 1 second over the much younger Koki Tanaka (Kanebo).


In the women's race a lead trio made up of Yuri Nozoe (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo), Maki Ashi (Kyudenko) and Kaori Yoshida (RxL) worked together in the initial stages, Danna Herrick (U.S.A.) alone in 4th ahead of two-time winner Asami Kato (Panasonic). Yoshida soon lost touch, leaving Ashi to take control after 20 km and run the last third of the race alone for the win in 1:44:14. Nozoe fell far behind but kept hold of 2nd in 1:47:29 ahead of Yoshida's 1:48:02 for 3rd. Herrick's position stayed unchanged at 4th in 1:49:31, Kato more than 10 minutes off her previous winning times in 1:54:45 for 5th. Yuka Sarumida (Univ. Ent.) won the accompanying women's 10 km in 33:18.

© 2018 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

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...
2 comments
Read more

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...
53 comments
Read more