World Record Holder Jepkosgei Returns to Gifu Seiryu Half

Women's world record holder and defending champion Joyciline Jepkosgei (Kenya) and last year's top man Alexander Mutiso (Kenya/ND Software) return to lead the elite fields for the April 22 Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon. The women's field is small but high-quality at the front end, with Eunice Chumba (Bahrain) and Valary Jemeli (Kenya) joining Jepkosgei under the 68-minute mark and additional support coming from sub-70 runners Joy Kemuma (Kenya) and Karolina Nadolska (Poland). The top Japanese woman in last summer's London World Championships marathon, Mao Kiyota (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) again leads the way as the fastest Japanese woman at 1:10:31.

Most of Gifu's budget clearly went to the women's race, as the men's field is made up almost entirely of Japan-based athletes. Not that it's short of quality. With a 1:00:31 mark Mutiso is only the 5th-fastest athlete in a field led by sub-60 men James Mwangi (Kenya/NTN), James Rungaru (Kenya/Chuo Hatsujo) and Moses Kurong (Uganda). Yohei Suzuki (Aisan Kogyo) leads the Japanese entry list with a 1:01:53 best in Marugame this year, with Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) set to make his annual appearance in Gifu just 6 days after running the Boston Marathon.

8th Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon Elite Field Highlights

Gifu, 4/22/18
times listed are best in last three years except where noted
click here for complete field listing

Women
Joyciline Jepkosgei (Kenya) - 1:04:51 (Valencia 2017)
Eunice Chumba (Bahrain) - 1:06:11 (Copenhagen 2017)
Valary Jemeli (Kenya) - 1:07:50 (Prague 2017)
Joy Kemuma (Kenya) - 1:09:02 (Venlo 2018)
Karolina Nadolska (Poland) - 1:09:54 (Posnan 2017)
Ftaw Zeray (Ethiopia) - 1:10:31 (Marugame 2018)
Mao Kiyota (Japan/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 1:10:31 (Valencia 2015)
Sayo Nomura (Japan/Uniqlo) - 1:11:22 (Sanyo 2015)
Sinead Diver (Australia) - 1:11:40 (Valencia 2018)
Yuko Aoki (Japan/Canon AC Kyushu) - 1:12:14 (Sanyo 2017)
Yuko Watanabe (Japan/Edion) - 1:13:08 (Sanyo 2015)
Yuko Mizuguchi (Japan/Denso) - 1:13:13 (Sendai 2017)
Marie Imada (Japan/Iwatani Sangyo) - 1:13:54 (Marugame 2018)
Andrea Seccafien (Canada) - debut - 33:34.45 (10000 m, Melbourne 2017)
Sayaka Takarada (Japan/Aichi Denki) - 15:54.62 (5000 m, Nagasaki 2015)

Men
James Mwangi (Kenya/NTN) - 59:07 (Copenhagen 2016)
James Rungaru (Kenya/Chuo Hatsujo) - 59:37 (Den Haag 2018)
Moses Kurong (Uganda) - 59:50 (Copenhagen 2017)
Nicholas Kosimbei (Kenya/Toyota) - 1:00:21 (Lisbon 2018)
Alexander Mutiso (Kenya/ND Software) - 1:00:31 (Lisbon 2018)
Edward Waweru (Kenya/NTN) - 1:00:31 (Marugame 2018)
Macharia Ndirangu (Kenya/Aichi Seiko) - 1:00:57 (Gifu Seiryu 2017)
Joel Mwaura (Kenya/Kurosaki Harima) - 1:00:59 (Marugame 2017)
Patrick Muendo Mwaka (Kenya/Aisan Kogyo) - 1:01:51 (Gifu Seiryu 2016)
Yohei Suzuki (Japan/Aisan Kogyo) - 1:01:53 (Marugame 2018)
Daniel Muiva Kitonyi (Kenya/Kanebo) - 1:02:05 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2017)
Ser-Od Bat-Ochir (Mongolia/NTN) - 1:02:08 (Marugame 2016)
Michael Githae (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 1:02:27 (Gifu Seiryu 2015)
Takuya Fukatsu (Japan/Asahi Kasei) - 1:02:29 (Osaka 2018)
Shun Sakuraoka (Japan/NTN) - 1:02:44 (Ageo 2016)
Desmond Mokgobu (South Africa) - 1:02:48 (Port Elizabeth 2015)
Suehiro Ishikawa (Japan/Honda) - 1:02:49 (Marugame 2016)
Shintaro Miwa (Japan/NTN) - 1:02:59 (Marugame 2018)
Hayato Sonoda (Japan/Kurosaki Harima) - 1:03:00 (Marugame 2016)
Yuki Kawauchi (Japan/Saitama Pref. Gov't) - 1:03:11 (Ageo 2015)
Yuichi Okutani (Japan/Otsuka Seiyaku) - 1:03:21 (Osaka 2017)
Yuya Ito (Japan/Toyota) - 1:03:22 (Hakodate 2015)
Yasuyuki Nakamura (Japan/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 1:03:32 (Ageo 2017)
Dishon Karukuwa Maina (Kenya) - 1:03:35 (Gifu Seiryu 2016)
Kenta Matsumoto (Japan/Toyota) - 1:03:38 (Gifu Seiryu 2015)
Yuichiro Ogawa (Japan/NTN) - 1:03:44 (Marugame 2016)
Taiga Ito (Japan/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 1:03:52 (Gifu Seiryu 2015)
Shota Hattori (Japan/Honda) - 1:05:13 (Sendai 2016)
Ezekiel Jafary (Tanzania) - 1:06:19 (Moshi 2015)

© 2018 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

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...

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