Skip to main content

Tanaka, Ino and Yoshimatsu Take on Harmony Geneva Marathon

Three elite-level Japanese athletes will race the 14th edition of Switzerland's Harmony Geneva Marathon Sunday with support from JRN. In a women's field headed by Ethiopian Alemitu Lema and debuting Kenyan Ruth Waithera, 2017 Osaka Marathon runner-up Mitsuko Ino seeks to rebound from a poor performance at March's Skechers Performance Los Angeles Marathon with a bettering of her 2:34:39 breakthrough in Osaka.

2016 Osaka runner-up Hisae Yoshimatsu will be aiming to follow her 3rd place finish at last September's Volksbank Muenster Marathon and 2nd-place finish at December's Hofu Yomiuri Marathon with another top three placing, ideally cracking 2:35 on Geneva's slightly net downhill course.

The men's field features four men with recent sub-2:10 times led by 2:08 man Joseph Aperumoi of Kenya. Seeded 6th on recent time, club runner and Tokai University alumnus Asuka Tanaka makes his international marathon debut after a surprise 2:10:13 PB in Tokyo in February. "I'm less focused on time and more on just being as competitive as I can," Tanaka said.

JRN will be on-hand throughout the weekend to provide support and cover the race live. Follow @GeneveMarathon for more coverage.


14th Harmony Geneva Marathon Elite Field

Geneva, Switzerland, 5/6/18
times listed are best within last three years except where noted

Women
Alemitu Lema  (Ethiopia) - 2:31:36 (Mersin 2017)
Berha Lemelem (Ethiopia) - 2:33:10 (Seville 2017)
Ametework Fekadu  (Ethiopia) - 2:34:25 (Lodz 2017)
Mitsuko Ino (Japan) - 2:34:39 (Osaka 2017)
Hisae Yoshimatsu (Japan) - 2:35:46 (Hofu 2015)
Ruth Waithera (Kenya) - debut - 1:10:15 (Milan Half 2018)

Men
Joseph Aperumoi (Kenya) - 2:08:26 (Amsterdam 2017)
Wilfred Murgor (Kenya) - 2:09:37 (Seoul 2015)
Abraraw Misganaw (Ethiopia) - 2:09:47 (Lubljana 2015)
Wycliff Biwott (Kenya) - 2:09:55 (Zagreb 2017)
William Yegon (Kenya) - 2:10:11 (Hefei 2015)
Asuka Tanaka (Japan) - 2:10:13 (Tokyo 2018)
Alfred Kering (Kenya) - 2:10:27 (Lisbon 2016)
Bernard Cheruiyot (Kenya) - 2:10:42 (Gyeongju 2017)
Abdelkabir Saji (Morocco) - 2:13:44 (Marrakech 2018)
Tadese Tolesa (Ethiopia) - 2:16:04 (Metz 2014)
James Kiplagat (Kenya) - 2:19:06 (Nairobi 2017)
Tamiru Sahelu (Ethiopia) - debut - 29:00 (Addis Abeba 10 km 2017)

© 2018 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Arao Becomes 1st Man in 40 Years to Score Back-to-Back Ome Road Race Wins

30 km is an under-appreciated distance, and both of Japan's big races at that distance happened Sunday. At the Ome Road Race in western Tokyo's mountains, Sydney Marathon 6th-placer Masato Arao (ND Software) became the first man since the great Kunimitsu Ito in 1985-1986 to win back-to-back years. Arao, who finished 39th of 40 on his leg at the New Year Ekiden last month, stayed in the pack through 20 km before going on the attack, putting over a minute on New Year Ekiden Sixth Stage CR breaker Yudai Shimazu (GMO). Sub-1:31 winning times are rare on the tough and hilly Ome course, but Arao's 1:30:54 almost equaled his 1:30:50 from last year, making him the first Japanese man ever to do it twice and second only to CR holder Ezekiel Cheboitibin . Next up Arao races the Tokyo Marathon, where he is targeting sub-2:06. Shimazu was 2nd in 1:31:58 and Yuta Nakayama (JR Higashi Nihon) 3rd in 1:32:07. Cheboitibin was only 9th, running almost 8 minutes off his CR in 1:36:42. Shi...
3 comments
Read more

Nagoya Women's Marathon Elite Field

Last year's top 3 Sheila Chepkirui , Sayaka Sato and Eunice Chebichii Chumba are back for this year's Nagoya Women's Marathon on Mar. 8, but things are being set up more for it to be a race between Chepkirui, 2:17:49 in Berlin 2023, Aynalem Desta , 2:17:37 in Amsterdam last fall, and Japanese NR holder Honami Maeda , 2:18:59 at the Osaka International Women's Marathon in 2024. Aynalem has the freshest sub-2:20 of the 3, with neither Chepkirui nor Maeda having done it in 2 years. Maeda's only recent result is a 1:10:07 from Houston last month, but when she ran her NR she didn't have any kind of tuneup race to indicate her fitness so it's probably best not to read too much into that. If it goes out as a 2:18 race those are the only 3 who can probably hang with it. If it turns out to be more of a 2:20 race like when Chepkirui won in 2:20:40 last year then there's a group of 7 at the 2:20-2:22 level who will be in the picture, including Chumba, Selly Chep...
Post a Comment
Read more

'Kobe 2024: Aitchison, Athmani Lead Record-Breaking Thursday'

  https://www.paralympic.org/news/kobe-2024-para-athletics-world-championships-aitchison-athmani-lead-record-breaking-thursday Complete results and daily schedule from the Kobe World Para Athletics Championships are here .
Post a Comment
Read more