Yoshitomi and Matsumura Lead Osaka Marathon Elite Field

One of the world's ten biggest marathons with nearly 30,000 finishers, his year's Osaka Marathon takes place Nov. 25. At the elite level Osaka has carved an interesting place for itself as a sort of unofficial amateur Japanese women's national championships, with just about all of Japan's sub-2:40 amateur women entered. 2017 winner Yumiko Kinoshita (Tokyo T&F Assoc.) leads 6 of last year's top 7 including Mitsuko Ino (Linkstyle), who finished just 1 second behind Kinoshita in the last edition, and 2016 Osaka winner Yoshiko Sakamoto (F.O.R.). But they have serious competition ahead of them this time in the form of quasi-corporate leaguer Hiroko Yoshitomi (Memolead), fresh from a 2:30:09 PB and CR win at the Nov. 11 Fukuoka Marathon, and 2:31:09 Moroccan Soud Kanbouchia. First-timer Felista Wambui (Kenya) is a wildcard. The high-volume racer Yoshitomi is the heavy favorite, the only question really being whether she can finally break 2:30 for the first time.

The men's side of the equation has more of an international contingent, featuring three Kenyans led by 2018 Copenhagen Marathon winner William Morwabe, and Moroccan Abdenasir Fathi. But as in the women's race the #1 seed is a Japanese runner, in this case 2014 Incheon Asian Games silver medalist Kohei Matsumura (MHPS). Matsumura has had a rough time since then, but a 2:11:04 at last year's Lake Biwa suggest he's heading back in the right direction. His strongest domestic competitors are 2017 Osaka runner-up Hideyuki Ikegami (Aminosaurus) and 2016 Katsuta Marathon course record-setter Shingo Igarashi (Josai Univ. Staff).

2018 Osaka Marathon Elite Field Highlights

Osaka, 11/25/18
detailed field listing
times listed are best within last 3 years except where noted

Women
Hiroko Yoshitomi (Japan/Memolead) - 2:30:09 (Fukuoka 2018)
Soud Kanbouchia (Morocco) - 2:31:09 (Daegu 2017)
Yumiko Kinoshita (Japan/Tokyo T&F Assoc.) - 2:34:38 (Osaka 2017)
Mitsuko Ino (Japan/Linkstyle) - 2:34:39 (Osaka 2017)
Yoshiko Sakamoto (Japan/F.O.R.) - 2:35:40 (Tokyo 2018)
Hisae Yoshimatsu (Japan/Shunan City Hall) - 2:36:02
Azusa Nojiri (Japan/NikoA) - 2:36:53 (Osaka 2017)
Haruka Yamaguchi (Japan/AC Kita) - 2:38:18 (Beppu-Oita 2018)
Kie Watanabe (Japan/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 2:40:23 (Shizuoka 2018)
Minami Nakashima (Japan/Kansai Gaikokugo Univ.) - 2:43:16 (Tokyo 2018)

Felista Wambui (Kenya) - debut - 1:13:51 (Niigata Half 2017)

Men
Kohei Matsumura (Japan/MHPS) - 2:11:04 (Lake Biwa 2017)
William Morwabe (Kenya) - 2:11:15 (Copenhagen 2018)
Julius Wahome (Kenya) - 2:12:05 (Chongqing 2016)
Charles Munyeki (Kenya) - 2:12:55 (Warsaw 2016)
Hideyuki Ikegami (Japan/Aminosaurus) - 2:13:41 (Osaka 2017)
Shingo Igarashi (Japan/Josai Univ. Staff) - 2:13:15 (Katsuta 2016)
Abdenasir Fathi (Morocco) - 2:14:33 (Rabat 2017)
Sho Matsumoto (Japan/Nikkei Business) - 2:15:50 (Osaka 2016)
Ahihiro Kaneko (Japan/Comody Iida) - 2:18:26 (Tsukuba 2017)

© 2018 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

19-Yr-Old Munakata Breaks Miura's U20 NR to Win Ageo City Half Marathon

The Ageo City Half Marathon is always big, the main race that the coaches of Hakone Ekiden-bound university men's teams use for firming up their entry rosters for the big show. That makes what's basically an idyllic small town race into one of the world's great road races, with depth unmatched anywhere. One of the top-tier people on the start list at 1:02:07, Kodai Miyaoka (Hosei Univ.) took the race out fast, but the entire pack was keying off the fastest man in the race, Reishi Yoshida (Chuo Gakuin Univ.), 1:00:31. Yoshida reeled Miyaoka in before 5 km and kept things steady in the low-1:01 range, wearing down the lead group to around 10 including his CGU teammate Taisei Ichikawa , a quartet from Izumo and National University Ekiden runner-up Komazawa University , 2 runners from local Daito Bunka University , 2:07:54 marathoner Atsumi Ashiwa (Honda), and Australian Ed Goddard . Right after 15 km Komazawa went into action, Yudai Kiyama , Hibiki Murakami and Haru Tanin

Ageo City Half Marathon Preview and Streaming

This weekend's big race is the Ageo City Half Marathon , the next stop on the collegiate men's circuit. Most of the universities bound for the Jan. 2-3 Hakone Ekiden use Ageo to thin down the list of contenders for their final Hakone rosters, and with JRN's development program that sends the first two Japanese collegiate finishers in Ageo to the United Airlines NYC Half every year a lot of coaches put in some of their A-listers too. That gives Ageo legendary depth and fast front-end speed, with a 1:00:47 course record last year from Kenyan corporate leaguer Paul Kuira (JR Higashi Nihon) and the top 26 all clearing 63 minutes. Since a lot of programs just enter everybody on their rosters you never really know who on the entry list is actually going to show up, but if even a quarter of the people at the top end of this year's list run it'll be a great race, even if conditions are looking likely to be a bit warmer than ideal. Chuo Gakuin University 's Reishi Yoshi

10000 m NR Attempt In the Works Saturday at Hachioji Long Distance - Streaming and Preview

There are a bunch of other time trial meets this weekend and next, but Saturday's Hachioji Long Distance is the last big meet for Japanese men, 8 heats of Wavelight-paced 10000 m finely graded from target times of 28:50 down to 26:59 for the fastest heat. Heat 6 at 17:55 local time is effectively the B-race, with 35 Japan-based Kenyans targeting 27:10 at the front end, and in a lot of cases a spot on their teams at the New Year Ekiden national championship on Jan. 1. Corporate teams are only allowed to field one non-Japanese athlete in the New Year Ekiden, and only on its shortest stage, and getting to that has a big impact on African athletes' contracts and renewal prospects. Toyota Boshoku , Yasukawa Denki , Chugoku Denryoku , Aisan Kogyo , JR Higashi Nihon , Subaru and 2024 national champion Toyota are all fielding two Kenyans, and Aichi Seiko three. For people like Toyota's Felix Korir and Samuel Kibathi , getting as close to the 27:10 target time as they can and

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