Skip to main content

Yamazaki, Ndirangu, Kamulu and Shitara Top Weekend Road Racing Action



Snow and cold impacted road races across Japan over the weekend, but at the top level almost every event went off as planned. In his marathon debut, Shota Yamazaki (Yakult) downed two-time defending champ Ryoichi Matsuo and debuting training partner Takumi Honda of the locally-based New Year Ekiden national champion Asahi Kasei corporate team to take the top spot at the Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon in a three-way sprint finish.

Shaking off first-timer Keisuke Tanaka (Fujitsu) late in the race, Yamazaki did all the work in the lead trio with the Asahi Kasei duo hanging off both of his shoulders. Hitting a bridge with 750 m to go Honda surged into the lead with Matsuo following. Yamazaki fell back, looking behind him with 500 m to go and seeming to have settled for 3rd. At 400 m to go Matsuo went to the front and looked to be on track to become only the second man to win Nobeoka three times, but as the pair rounded the final corner Yamazaki came back with a kick that left both his rivals behind.

Yamazaki took the win in 2:12:15 with Honda bettering Matsuo by 1 second for 2nd in 2:12:18. Matsuo's 2:12:19 was over a minute faster than his winning last year and just 8 seconds off his best, but outdone by the debuting duo ahead of him he fell short of the three-peat. 2017 women's winner Noriko Sato (First Dream AC) succeeded in becoming the first women's winner to defend in Nobeoka, beating rival Shiho Katayama (Saku AC Hokkaido) by 19 seconds to win in 2:56:40. Complete results available here.



Running in blowing snow at the National Corporate Half Marathon and 10 km Championships, the Kenyan pair of Charles Ndirangu (JFE Steel) and Pauline Kamulu (Route Inn Hotels) took the top spots in the long races. With the pace see-sawing between 2:53 and 2:59/km every 5 km, Ndirangu broke away after 15 km to run alone the rest of the way to his third national title in 1:01:55. In his first serious half marathon, 10000 m national record holder Kota Murayama (Asahi Kasei) nearly ran Ndirangu down in the last kilometer, leading the Japanese chase pack to take 2nd in 1:02:00 less than a second ahead of Hideyuki Tanaka (Toyota), Yuki Oshikawa (Toyota Kyushu) and Naoya Takahashi (Yasukawa Denki). For his breakthrough effort Murayama earned a place on Japan's team for next month's Valencia World Half Marathon Championships.

Kamulu, course record setter at December's Sanyo Ladies Half, soloed the women's race, leading by 19 seconds at 5 km and steadily lengthening her lead to win by almost a minute and a half in 1:09:40. Runner-up Yuka Hori (Panasonic) likewise ran the entire way on her own, a distant 2nd in 1:11:05 in her debut but still over a minute ahead of 3rd-placer Misaki Hayashida (Toyota Jidoshokki). Hori also earned a place on the Valencia team. Hayashida's teammate Yui Fukuda, winner of the accompanying women's 10 km last year in course record time, led rival Tomoka Kimura (Universal Entertainment) by 4 seconds at 5 km before opening up in the second half to win in 32:09, 8 seconds under last year's course record time. Kimura was the only other runner to clear 33 minutes, 2nd in 32:37. Complete results from all three races available here.

Marathoner Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) was scheduled to run the Izumo Kunibiki Half Marathon Sunday, but after heavy snowfall on the west coast earlier in the week the race was cancelled. Kawauchi will regroup next weekend at the Kitakyushu Marathon, his second marathon of the year.


On an almost flawless roll since breaking the half marathon national record in September, Yuta Shitara (Honda) won his final tuneup for a planned shot at the marathon national record at the Tokyo Marathon, winning the Karatsu 10-Miler in 46:12 by a margin of 46 seconds over runner-up Yusuke Nishiyama (Toyota). Shunsuke Imanishi (Toyo Univ.) was just behind Nishiyama in 47:00 for 3rd. Members of Fukuoka's Chikushi Joshi Gakuen H.S. ekiden team took the top three spots in the women's 10 km, Sana Ichihara winning in 34:05. Complete results available here.

© 2018 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

National University Championships Entry Lists and Streaming

The 95th National University Track and Field Championships run Friday through Monday at Nissan Stadium in Yokohama. The complete meet schedule and live results are here . The 10000 m races were already held separately earlier this season. Streaming starts at 9:00 a.m. Saturday Japan time, with separate field event channels and Day 2 and 3 streaming here . Top entries in each event with best performance in the qualifying window: Men 100 m Shoma Yamamoto (Hiroshima Univ.) - 10.04 Fukuto Komuro (Chuo Univ.) - 10.07 Naoki Nishioka (Tsukuba Univ.) - 10.09 Riku Oishi (Toyo Univ.) - 10.13 Kaito Kuroki (Chuo Univ.) - 10.14 Ryunosuke Mizuno (Waseda Univ.) - 10.14 Yugo Haitamataira (Juntendo Univ.) - 10.17 Shun Miyashita (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 10.19 200 m Akira Hayashi (Keio Univ.) - 20.36 Tomoru Funaki (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 20.39 Oma Asai (Tsukuba Univ.) - 20.47 Reishin Yamamoto (Toyo Univ.) - 20.49 Shingo Suzuki (Tokai Univ.) - 20.54 Haruto Nakamura (Fukuoka Univ.) - 20.55 400 m Shinya Hayashi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Yuasa and Niiya Win Hokkaido Marathon, 6 Qualify for Olympic Trials

  Six more people picked up qualifying spots for next year's MGC Race at yesterday's Hokkaido Marathon in Sapporo, guaranteeing themselves places at Japan's 2028 Los Angeles Olympics marathon trials. In the men's race, Hibiki Yoshida tried to break away from the massive lead group at 30 km, opening a 25-second lead between there and 35 km before getting cut down by the chase trio of Jin Yuasa , Ken Tansho and Masato Arao . All three stayed together until the very end, Yuasa showing the same kind of closing speed he had in winning 2025 Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon and pulling away to win in 2:10:46. The debuting Tansho was next in 2:10:55, with Arao, 6th at last year's Sydney Marathon in an excellent 2:07:42, 3rd here in 2:10:59. By clearing 2:12:00 all three picked up MGC qualifying spots, freeing them up to go overseas next spring. Continuing a great season, Soka University 's Shoki Yamaguchi was 4th in 2:11:47, missing out on trials qualification but bea...
1 comment
Read more

Monterey Welcomes Student-Athletes from Sister City Nanao, Japan

a press release by the Monterey-Nanao Cross Country Exchange Project photos here Fourteen student-athletes from Nanao High School in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, recently completed a weeklong visit to the Monterey Peninsula as part of the Monterey–Nanao Cross Country Exchange Project , bringing together young people from the two Sister Cities through running, education, environmental stewardship, cultural exchange, and friendship. The seven boys and seven girls from Nanao were paired with 14 members of the Monterey High School cross country team and stayed in their homes throughout the visit. The week marked the first half of a reciprocal exchange that will continue when the Monterey students travel to Nanao later this year. The visitors received their first introduction to Monterey shortly after arriving at Monterey High School, walking with their hosts to Sister City Park and gathering for photographs beside the sign honoring Nanao — a fitting beginning for a week devoted to bringin...
Post a Comment
Read more