Skip to main content

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

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

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
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Australian YouTuber Handed Lifetime Ban by Ageo City Half Marathon After Running 1:06 with Another Runner's Bib (updated)

After discussion with their race's chief JAAF referee, on Nov. 27 the organizers of the Ageo City Half Marathon handed down a lifetime ban from their event against 36-year-old Australian Matt Inglis Fox  for running the Nov. 15 race wearing the bib number of another JAAF-registered runner. The incident came to light after Fox posted on his personal Instagram account that he had run a PB of 1:06:33 and finished 203rd in Ageo with a 10 km split of 31:03, along with photos and video of himself in the race wearing a bib number beginning with 11. Fox did not appear in the results by name or in that time or place, the closest match being a 1:06:54 gross, 1:06:50 net finish time with a 31:21 10 km split for 18th place in the JAAF-registered division and 209th overall by bib number 1129, registered to a non-Japanese Tokyo-resident club runner. The club runner, Harrisson Uk , readily confirmed that he had given his bib to Fox, saying, "I gave my number to Matt. It wasn't me."...
82 comments
Read more

Nat'l University Ekiden Updates Here

Looks like I just went over my update limit on Twitter - sorry, it's the first time I've tried to use it for this. I'll look for another option next time. In the meantime I'll add updates to the comments below. Not sure if that has a max too but I guess we'll find out. Update: Part one of the Nationals commentary can be found here .
77 comments
Read more

Keita Satoh Running New Balance Fifth Avenue Mile

1500 m U20 NR holder Keita Satoh (Nike Swoosh TC) is running this weekend's New Balance Fifth Avenue Mile , the first time that a Japanese man has been invited in the race's 45-year history. In university Sato had to change focus away from middle distance to the half marathon-scale lengths of the Hakone Ekiden stages, but since graduating in March and relocating to Flagstaff he has refocused on the 1500 m, going from 3:43.19 in April in his first 1500 m in almost 4 years to 3:38.30 over the course of 5 races. Fifth Avenue will be his last race before heading back to Japan for one more track 1500 m and some down time. Men's entries with best 1500 m times in last 3 years: Stefan Nillessen (NED) - 3:29.23 (2025) Flavien Szot (FRA) - 3:30.74 (2025) Oliver Hoare (AUS) - 3:31.07 (2024) Jake Heyward (GBR) - 3:31.18 (2026) Titouan Le Grix (FRA) - 3:31.46 (2026) Romain Mornet (FRA) - 3:31.62 (2025) Adam Spencer (AUS) - 3:31.83 (2026) Pieter Sisk (BEL) - 3:31.85 (2025) Gary Martin (...
2 comments
Read more