Skip to main content

Weekend Overseas Marathon Results



Five Japanese men took on two of Europe's main marathons Sunday.

At the Huawei Venice Marathon runners battled strong headwinds the entire way, winds that combined with high tide to seriously flood the last three kilometers of the course through Venice proper. After breaking away from a Kenyan trio coming onto the long bridge into Venice winner Gebre Mekuant Ayenew (Ethiopia) paused, slowing to a walk and almost stopping at the end of the first of the fourteen bridges that punctuate the Venice course when he found waves breaking across the course ahead of him. Gebre lost over a minute on his projected time slogging through the water to win in 2:13:23.

Women's winner Angela Jemesunde Tanui (Kenya) lost even more time as the water continued to rise, dropping off a steady sub-2:27 pace to finish in 2:31:30. Boston Marathon winner Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't), expected to challenge Gebre for the win, fell off the pace after only 5 km and, looking heavy and tight, slowed the rest of the way to finish in a career worst 2:27:43. "I don't know what happened," he told media post-race. "My last tuneup was good, and I have no idea why I couldn't run today."

Futher north in Germany, sub-2:10 men Hiroyuki Yamamoto (Konica Minolta), Tadashi Isshiki (GMO) and Akinobu Murasawa (Nissin Shokuhin), and 2:13:53 runner Yuki Munakata (Kanebo) faced similarly windy but colder conditions at the Frankfurt Marathon.  Yamamoto, returning from injury, dropped out after only 15 km. Isshiki, who needed to run low-2:12 to qualify for the MGC Race 2020 Olympic trials, ran 2:14:49 for 17th with Murasawa next in 2:15:41. Munkata had the best day of the four, running close to his PB in 2:14:32 to take 15th overall. Kelkile Gezahegn Woldaregay (Ethiopia)  won in 2:06:37, with Meskerem Assefa Wondimagegn (Ethiopia)  winning an amazingly deep women's race in 2:20:36.

Frankfurt Marathon

Frankfurt, Germany, 10/28/18
complete results

Men
1. Kelkile Gezahegn Woldaregay (Ethiopia) - 2:06:37
2. Martin Kiprugut Kosgey (Kenya) - 2:06:41
3. Alex Kibet (Kenya) - 2:07:09
4. Amos Kiplimo Mitei (Kenya) - 2:07:28
5. Kenneth Keter (Kenya) - 2:07:34
-----
15. Yuki Munakata (Japan/Kanebo) - 2:14:32
17. Tadashi Isshiki (Japan/GMO) - 2:14:49
18. Akinobu Murasawa (Japan/Nissin Shokuhin) - 2:15:41
-----
DNF - Hiroyuki Yamamoto (Japan/Konica Minolta)

Women
1. Meskerem Assefa Wondimagegn (Ethiopia) - 2:20:36
2. Haftamnesh Tesfay Haylu (Ethiopia) - 2:20:47
3. Bedatu Hirpa Badane (Ethiopia) - 2:21:32
4. Belaynesh Oljira Jemama (Ethiopia) - 2:21:53
5. Dera Dida Yami (Ethiopia) - 2:22:39

Venice Marathon

Venice, Italy, 10/28/18
complete results

Men
1. Gebre Mekuant Ayenew (Ethiopia) - 2:13:23
2. Gilbert Kipleting Chumba (Kenya) - 2:13:52
3. Stephen Kiplimo (Kenya) - 2:13:58
4. Philip Cheruiyot Kangogo (Kenya) - 2:14:07
5. Vincent Kiplagat Kiptoo (Kenya) - 2:17:35
6. John Kipchirchir Komen (Kenya) - 2:19:47
7. Yuki Kawauchi (Japan/Saitama Pref. Gov't) - 2:27:43
8. James Kimat Ebenyo (Kenya) - 2:32:00

Women
1. Angela Jemesunde Tanui (Kenya) - 2:31:30
2. Amente Sorome Negash (Ethiopia) - 2:38:59
3. Euliter Jepchirchir Tanui (Kenya) - 2:40:56
4. Brendah Kebeya (Kenya) - 2:44:26
5. Nikolina Sustic (Croatia) - 2:50:18

text and photo © 2018 Brett Larner

Buy Me A Coffee

Comments

Unknown said…
Mark Kiptoo age 42 ran 2:07.50 for a New Masters World Record in Frankfurt (just a sidenote)

Most-Read This Week

Measuring Marathon Courses by Bicycle

http://news.searchina.ne.jp/disp.cgi?y=2013&d=0110&f=column_0110_034.shtml translated by Brett Larner The full marathon is a sport where you compete over 42.195 km, but how do they go about measuring that distance?  Today we're going to look a little bit at how they go about certifying the distance of a marathon. The reality is that major international marathons use a bicycle to measure the distance.  This rule is an international standard, and the same method of measurement is used everywhere.  It was put into place in 1986.  In order to ensure that the same method is used everywhere, a bicycle that meets IAAF specifications must be used for measurement. In the case of Japan's major marathons, to be certain that the distance is correct a provisional measurement is first made.  Before the course is certified using a bicycle the course is measured using a 50 m-long length of wire to determine that it is in fact 42.195 km.  When a bicycle is u...

Ai Hosoda Announces Retirement

photo © 2025 Victah Sailer/Photo Run, all rights reserved On Jan. 8 the Edion women's corporate team announced that Ai Hosoda , 30, will retire at the end of March this year. The Tokyo Marathon will be her last race. At Nagano Higashi H.S. Hosoda ran in the National High School Ekiden her 2nd and 3rd years. During her 3rd year at Nittai University she won both the 5000 m and 10000 m at the Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships, going on to win the bronze medal in the 10000 m at the World University Games in her 4th year at Nittai. After graduating she joined the Daihatsu corporate team, debuting at the 2019 Nagoya Women's Marathon in 2:29:27. 2 years later she transferred to Edion. She qualified for the Paris Olympics marathon trials at the 2022 Nagoya Women's Marathon and finished 3rd in the trials in the fall of 2023, but was later bumped down to Olympic alternate after another athlete ran a faster time. Instead of the Olympics, Hosoda ran the 2024 Ber...

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 .