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

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Weekend Racing Roundup

  China saw a new men's national record of 2:06:57 from  Jie He  at the Wuxi Marathon Sunday, but in Japan it was a relatively quiet weekend with mostly cold and rainy amateur-level marathons across the country. At the Tokushima Marathon , club runner Yuhi Yamashita  won the men's race by almost 4 1/2 minutes in 2:17:02, the fastest Japanese men's time of the weekend, but oddly took 22 seconds to get across the starting line. The women's race saw a close finish between the top two, with Shiho Iwane  winning in 2:49:33 over Ayaka Furukawa , 2nd in 2:49:46.  At the 41st edition of the Sakura Marathon in Chiba, Yukie Matsumura  (Comodi Iida) ran the fastest Japanese women's time of the weekend, 2:42:45, to take the win. Club runner Yuki Kuroda  won the men's race in 2:20:08.  Chika Yokota  won the Saga Sakura Marathon women's race in 2:49:33.  Yuki Yamada  won the men's race in 2:21:47 after taking the lead in the final 2 km.  Naoki Inoue  won the 16th r

Japan's Olympic Marathon Team Meets the Press

With renewed confidence, Japan's Olympic marathon team will face the total 438 m elevation difference hills of Paris this summer. The members of the women's and men's marathon teams for August's Paris Olympics appeared at a press conference in Tokyo on Mar. 25 in conjunction with the Japan Marathon Championship Series III (JMC) awards gala. Women's Olympic trials winner Yuka Suzuki (Daiichi Seimei) said she was riding a wave of motivation in the wake of the new women's national record. When she watched Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) set the record at January's Osaka International Women's Marathon on TV, Suzuki said she was, "absolutely stunned." Her coach Sachiko Yamashita told her afterward, "When someone breaks the NR, things change," and Suzuki found herself saying, "I want to take my shot." After training for a great run in Paris, she said, "I definitely want to break the NR in one of my marathons after that." Mao

Takeuchi Wins Niigata Half in Boston Tune-Up

Running in cold, windy and rainy conditions, Ryoma Takeuchi (ND Software) warmed up for April's Boston Marathon with a win at Wednesday's Niigata Half Marathon . Takeuchi sat behind Nittai University duo Susumu Yamazaki and Ryuga Ishikawa in the early stages, then made a series of pushes to pick up the pace. Each time he tucked in behind whoever went to the front, while behind them others dropped off. Before 15 km only Yamazaki and Riki Koike of Soka University were left, and when Takeuchi went to the front the last time after 15 km only Koike followed. By 16 he was gone too, leaving Takeuchi to solo it in to the win in 1:03:13 with a 17-second negative split. "This was my last fitness check before the Boston Marathon next month, and my time was right on-target," he said post-race. "Everything went as planned. I'm looking forward to racing some of the world's best in Boston, and my goal there is to place in the single digits." Just back from tr