Skip to main content

Karemi and Matsuda Break Okukuma Course Record - Weekend Half Marathon Roundup

For the second year in a row Japan-based Kenyan Jeremiah Thuku Karemi (Toyota Kyushu) broke the course record at Kumamoto's Okukuma Half Marathon. Coached by 1992 Barcelona Olympics marathon silver medalist Koichi Morishita, Karemi took 27 seconds off his winning time last year to win by over a minute in 1:01:21. Joel Mwaura (Kurosaki Harima) was a distant 2nd in 1:02:40, with Karemi's teammate Yuki Oshikawa (Toyota Kyushu) taking the top Japanese spot at 3rd in 1:03:13. Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) was 9th in 1:04:04 a week after running the Ibusuki Nanohana Marathon.

In the women's race, Anna Matsuda (Kyocera), coached by former men's half  marathon national record holder Atsushi Sato, took 26 seconds off the course record to win in 1:13:10. Not far off, Kotomi Tsubokura (Wacoal) was a clear 2nd in 1:03:27 with Maki Saito (Higo Ginko) improving on her 10th-place finish last year to take 3rd in 1:14:46.

Also Sunday, up in Tokyo the Akabane Half Marathon celebrated its tenth running with a new men's course record. Yuki Kuroda (Comody Iida) became the first man to break 64 minutes on the Akabane course as he led the top three under the old course record set last year to win in 1:03:33. Last year's women's winner Tomomi Sawahata (Sawahatters) won again, 10 seconds off her 2018 mark in 1:15:12.

7th Okukuma Half Marathon

Kumagun, Kumamoto, 1/20/19
complete results

Men
1. Jeremiah Thuku Karemi (Toyota Kyushu) - 1:01:21 - CR
2. Joel Mwaura (Kurosaki Harima) - 1:02:40
3. Yuki Oshikawa (Toyota Kyushu) - 1:03:13
4. Tomoya Nishi (Komori Corp.) - 1:03:18
5. Kazuhiro Kuga (Fujitsu) - 1:03:38
6. Masanori Sumida (Aichi Seiko) - 1:03:40
7. Ryunosuke Hayashi (SGH Group) - 1:03:41
8. Takeru Tanoue (Toyo University) - 1:03:45
9. Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) - 1:04:04
10. Nobuyuki Matsumoto (Aisan Kogyo) - 1:04:14

Women
1. Anna Matsuda (Kyocera) - 1:13:10 - CR
2. Kotomi Tsubokura (Wacoal) - 1:13:27
3. Maki Saito (Higo Ginko) - 1:14:46
4. Sachihio Suzuki (Nittai Unviersity) - 1:14:59
5. Ayami Hirano (Nittai University) - 1:15:27
6. Aoi Shiozaki (Meijo University) - 1:15:32
7. Mirai Kamoshida (Meijo University) - 1:16:44
8. Sakura Kawakami (Noritz) - 1:17:13
9. Sena Komori (Meijo University) - 1:17:38
10. Kikuyo Tsuzaki (Noritz) - 1:17:51

10th Akabane Half Marathon

Akabane, Tokyo, 1/20/19
complete results

Men
1. Yuki Kuroda (Comody Iida) - 1:03:33 - CR
2. Fuma Nakamura (Teikyo University) - 1:03:45
3. Masahiro Kamidoi (Asia University) - 1:04:15
4. Shun Yoshizato (Surugadai University) - 1:04:23
5. Shuhei Mita (Sunbelx) - 1:04:54

Women
1. Tomomi Sawahata (Sawahatters) - 1:15:12

© 2019 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

'Kobe 2024: Aitchison, Athmani Lead Record-Breaking Thursday'

  https://www.paralympic.org/news/kobe-2024-para-athletics-world-championships-aitchison-athmani-lead-record-breaking-thursday Complete results and daily schedule from the Kobe World Para Athletics Championships are here .
Post a Comment
Read more

Chesang Wins Osaka Women's Marathon in 2:19:31, Yada Drops 2:19:57 Debut NR

This year's Osaka International Women's Marathon was a race run with a high level of methodicalness, starting slower than the planned 3:19/km but ramping up until the lead pack was skimming around the 2:20:15-30 projected finish level. After hitting halfway in 1:10:13 with a group of 6, by 25 km only 4 were left up front, sub-2:19 runners Workenesh Edesa , Stella Chesang and Bedatu Hirpa , and the debuting Mikuni Yada , and when the last 2 pacers stepped off at 30 km it was Yada who went to the front. Despite never have raced longer than the 10.6 km Third Stage at November's Queens Ekiden where she had helped the Edion team score its first-ever national title, Yada was very, very impressive, fearlessly surging from 12 km and never letting up, even laughing and smiling to fans along the course. When she started sustaining a pace around 3:15/km the projected finish dropped under 2:20 and all the way down to 2:19:28 by 35 km, and even when all 3 of the more experienced ru...
2 comments
Read more

Hirayama Breaks Osaka Half CR, Martinez Set Puerto Rican NR

The Osaka Half Marathon took another big step up the domestic half marathon rankings from a mass-participation race run alongside the Osaka International Women's Marathon to one of the country's top-tier races. In the women's race, the debuting Jecinta Nyokabi (Denso) went out fast, only to be run down by veteran Yumi Yoshikawa (Canon AC) by 10 km. Nyokabi faded to 6th in 1:10:41, but Yoshikawa pushed on to a PB 1:09:14 for the win. Rina Shimizu (Noritz), Yuna Takahashi (Shimamura) and Makoto Tsuchiya (Ritsumeikan Univ.) all broke 70 minutes, Tsuchiya taking the Kansai Region collegiate title in 1:09:32 for 4th overall. Everyone in the top 10 who wasn't debuting ran a PB, a mark of how fast the day was even with cold and windy conditions. The men's race went out on sub-61 pace courtesy of Yudai Shimazu (GMO), then got a big injection of speed when Kyuma Yokota (Toyota Kyushu) took off close to 60-flat pace. Yokota opened a 10-second lead by 15 km, but over ...
Post a Comment
Read more