Last year's women's runner-up Hisae Yoshimatsu (Shunan City Hall) returns to the Dec. 16 Hofu Yomiuri Marathon after a strong year racing abroad including a 2nd-place finish in extreme heat at May's Geneva Marathon. Already the most dominant winner male or female in Hofu history, Yoshimatsu will attempt to add a record seventh win to her resume three weeks after racing this Sunday's Osaka Marathon.
In the men's race, two three-time winners, Ser-Od Bat-Ochir (Mongolia/NTN) and Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) will try to become the first man to win Hofu four times. They will face competition from Kenyan Michael Githae (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC), who beat Kawauchi by over 20 seconds at last weekend's Ageo City Half Marathon, his Suzuki teammate Taiga Ito, and last year's runner-up Tatsunori Hamasaki (Nanjo AC), like Kawauchi doubling up two weeks after Fukuoka.
49th Hofu Yomiuri Marathon Elite Field Highlights
Hofu, Yamaguchi, 12/16/18detailed field listing
times listed are best within last 3 years except where noted
Women
Hisae Yoshimatsu (Shunan City Hall) - 2:36:02 (Muenster 2017)
Men
Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) - 2:09:01 (Gold Coast 2016)
Michael Githae (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 2:09:21 (Lake Biwa 2018)
Taiga Ito (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 2:10:52 (Beppu-Oita 2017)
Tatsunori Hamasaki (Nanjo AC) - 2:11:26 (Hofu 2017)
Takumi Honda (Asahi Kasei) - 2:12:18 (Nobeoka Nishi 2018)
Ezekiel Cheboitibin (Kenya/Sunbelx) - 2:12:32 (Beppu-Oita 2018)
Shinichi Yamashita (Takigahara SDF Base) - 2:12:32 (Hofu 2017)
Ser-od Bat-Ochir (Mongolia/NTN) - 2:13:22 (Fukuoka Int'l 2017)
Munkhbayar Narandulam (Mongolia) - 2:13:56 (Chengdu 2018)
Satoru Kasuya (Toyota Boshoku) - 2:14:37 (Tokyo 2018)
Yusuke Tobimatsu (Hioki City Hall) - 2:15:32 (Kagoshima 2017)
© 2018 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
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