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Osako Tunes Up for Chicago in Redmond

Having both gone under the old 5000 m Japanese national record in the same race in Belgium in 2015, Suguru Osako (Nike Oregon Project) and Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Asahi Kasei) met up again in Redmond, Washington at the September 3rd Labor Day Half Marathon.

Osako, who set the current NR of 13:08.40 in the race in Heusden, ran Redmond as part of his buildup for next month's Chicago Marathon, soloing a 1:01:01 PB to win. Yoroizaka, 13:12.63 in Heusden, finished behind Osako again. Well behind, as in 2nd in 1:04:17 just 8 seconds ahead of top American Gregory Leak.

A PB by 12 seconds, Osako's solo run was the fastest half marathon so far this year by a Japanese man and moved him up to all-time Japanese #9 on a record-legal course. In terms of time and ranking it brought his half marathon up closer to the 2:07:19 he ran in Fukuoka last December, a mark which currently puts him at #7 all-time in Japan. The question is whether it was only bringing his half marathon performance up or whether it shows he is ready for a similar improvement in Chicago. We'll know in just over a month.

© 2018 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

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TokyoRacer said…
A solo 1:01 is really impressive. Hope he has good weather in Chicago.
September 4, 2018 at 6:21 PM
Anonymous said…
Very impressive run by Osako!
September 5, 2018 at 4:11 AM
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