Skip to main content

Hofu Marathon Elite Field



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, 12/16/18
detailed 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

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

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

Multiple National Records This Weekend

Olympic and World champion Haruka Kitaguchi got the biggest headlines among Japanese athletes this weekend, overcoming a rough last year and a half that included injury and a coaching change to break her own javelin throw NR by over a meter and a half to win the inaugural WA Ultimate Championship in Budapest. U20 WR and Asian AR holder Ziyi Yan opened with a big 68.05, 0.67 m further than Kitaguchi's best-ever from back in 2023. That could have been the end, but Kitaguchi came back from a 61.15 m first attempt to throw a massive 68.92 m NR on her next one, ultimately enough for the win. She still has a long way to go to match the 18-year-old Yan's 71.74 m from May, but it was a clear statement that Kitaguchi is back. Back home at the National Corporate Track and Field Championships in Kyoto, women's pole vault NR holder Misaki Morota continued a solid comeback season of her own, bettering her NR from May by 1 cm with a 4.51 m on her first attempt. Morota took another 3...
Post a Comment
Read more