Kobe Marathon Elite Field

Next weekend's Kobe Marathon is the latest Japanese race to acquire an IAAF road race label, something we'll probably be seeing a lot more of both in Japan and abroad with the IAAF's shift to a world ranking-based system that rewards performance in labeled races. The field this year perfectly follows the same boutique pattern as most other Japanese races' tiny international fields, one athlete each from the widest range of nationalities possible within a field of six to eight, plus some home soil people. With the IAAF dropping the nationality variety requirement starting in 2019 it'll be interesting to see how that impacts races like Kobe, Fukuoka International and Saitama International.

Last year's men's winner Khalil Lamciyeh of Morocco returns as the third-fastest man in the field behind newly-minted nationality transfer Weldu Negash of Norway and Kenyan Cosmas Kyeva. Saidi Juma Makula of Tanzania and Australian Liam Adams could be in range of the win, with Moroccan Hamzi Sahili and top-ranked Japanese man Sora Tsukada (SGH) a ways back in ability to date. A potential darkhorse is Jun Shinoto (Sanyo Tokushu Seiko), a past 3000 m steeplechase national champion and Hakone Ekiden stage record setter who made an unsuccessful marathon debut earlier this year in Beppu-Oita.

Mongolian national record holder Munkhzaya Bayartsogt and Eritrean national record holder Kokob Tesfagabriel lead the women's field, exactly the kind of interesting, outside-the-norm matchup that made the IAAF's nationality requirement so valuable. Moroccan Sanae Achahbar should be in it with them, with Nina Savina of Belarus, Kenyan Susan Jerotich and Australian Melanie Panayiotou rounding out the international contingent. Former Noritz runner Kanae Shimoyama (MD Homes) is the top-ranked Japanese woman with a 2:35:07 two years ago in Nagoya. Noriko Higuchi (Wacoal), the last Japanese woman to win the Tokyo Marathon back in 2011, will be running her first marathon since the spring of 2015.

8th Kobe Marathon Elite Field Highlights

Kobe, Hyogo, 11/18/18
detailed filed listing
times listed are best in last 3 years except where noted

Men
Weldu Negash (Norway) - 2:10:39 (7th, Daegu 2018)
Cosmas Kyeva (Kenya) - 2:11:45 (1st, Poznan 2018)
Khalil Lamciyeh (Morocco) - 2:11:58 (6th, Beppu-Oita 2017)
Saidi Juma Makula (Tanzania) - 2:12:01 (3rd, Daegu 2016)
Liam Adams (Australia) - 2:12:52 (9th, Berlin 2017)
Hamza Sahili (Morocco) - 2:13:46 (6th, Marrakesh 2018)
Sora Tsukada (Japan/SGH) - 2:15:16 (4th, Osaka 2016)
Jun Shinoto (Japan/Sanyo Tokushu Seiko) - 2:24:04 (33rd, Beppu-Oita 2018)

Women
Munkhzaya Bayartsogt (Mongolia) - 2:31:12 (10th, Seoul Int'l 2018)
Kokob Tesfagabriel (Eritrea) - 2:31:45 (Wuhan 2018)
Sanae Achahbar (Morocco) - 2:32:36 (4th, Marrakesh 2017)
Nina Savina (Belarus) - 2:33:50 (12th, Euro Champs 2018)
Susan Jerotich (Kenya) - 2:34:18 (2nd, Pittsburgh 2018)
Kanae Shimoyama (Japan/MD Homes) - 2:35:07 (26th, Nagoya 2016)
Melanie Panayiotou (Australia) - 2:35:25 (19th, London 2017)
Noriko Higuchi (Japan/Wacoal) - 2:42:05 (10th, Vienna 2015)

© 2018 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Waseda Leads Top 7 Teams Under Izumo Ekiden CR, Ivy League Best-Ever 3rd (updated)

3rd last year, Waseda University scored its first Izumo Ekiden win since 2010, taking almost 2 minutes off the CR and leading the top 7 teams under the old record of 2:07:51 for the complete 6-stage, 45.1 km course. Waseda was 16 seconds back in 7th after the First Stage, but its 2nd runner Ojiro Honda made that up easily and put them 6 seconds out front. A massive 22:56 CR for the 8.5 km Third Stage by Shadrack Kipkemei (Nihon Univ.) dropped Waseda back to 2nd even though its runner Ryuki Suzuki broke the old CR too, but back-to-back CR on the next 2 stages by 1st-year Haruki Niizuma and Shunpei Yamaguchi put anchor Shinsaku Kudo out of reach of the rest of the field. Kudo duly won the 10.2 km anchor stage in 29:00, bypassing a 2:06 time entirely for a new 2:05:56 CR, just under 2:48/km average pace for the complete course. Defending champ Koku Gakuin University struggled a bit in the first half of the race but came on strong in the longer second half with 4th and 5th runners...

Kipyegon Repeats, Toyo Wins Hakone Ekiden Qualifier in First Appearance in 21 Years

Back for the first time in 21 years after a disastrous 14th-place finish at the 102nd Hakone Ekiden this past January, Toyo University hit one out of western Tokyo's Showa Kinen Park with a solid win at the Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai, the half marathon that serves as the official qualifying race for the 103rd Hakone Ekiden. The top 10 teams in the Hakone auto-qualify for the following year, with the rest having to run the Yosenkai in October with a squad of 10 to 16 runners out of which the top 10 score on aggregate time, with the 10 fastest schools joining the Hakone field and top individuals from non-qualifying teams names to the Kanto Region Student Alliance select team to make up the complete Hakone field of 21. Driven in large part by an aggressive run from 3rd-year Yu Miyazaki , one of only 2 Japanese athletes to go with the big African contingent up front, Toyo won in 10:31:30, 1:03:09 or 2:59.6/km per athlete. As the first team to have broken the 3:00/km average pace barrie...

Ngetich and Mutiso Take Down Tokyo Legacy Half CR

In its 5th edition the Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon scored 2 new course records via Kenyans from the Ikaika agency, with 10 km WR holder Agnes Ngetich blasting 3 minutes off the old record to win by over 4 in 1:04:23, and Alexander Mutiso skimming just 1 second under the CR for the win by 5 seconds in 59:51. The 2 races played out completely differently, even if the paydays were the same for the winners. Surrounded by an envelope of male runners all the way to the final 100 m, Ngetich was out hard on the downhill in the first 5 km, hitting it on sub-64 pace in 15:08 before leveling out on the flat middle 10 km. Her next 2 splits projected to 1:04:09 and 1:04:17, and even with the uphill back to the stadium in the last 5 km she didn't fall far off from that, winning in 1:04:23. Runner-up Tabitha Njeri Kamau was nearly a mile back in 1:08:28, with Kamau's Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo teammate Kazuna Kanetomo dropping a 1:10:17 PB for 3rd. Now an independent, track Olympian Kaede Ha...

japan running news

Search This Blog