Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon Elite Field

Japan's most obscure elite-level marathon, the Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon has announced its elite field for its 57th running on Feb. 10. Generally a developmental-level race with winning times in the 2:11 to 2:13 range, Nobeoka serves as a springboard for early career marathoners to move on to bigger things. Which hasn't stopped local Ryoichi Matsuo (Asahi kasei) from making it an annual event on his calendar, with wins in 2016 and 2017 and 2nd-place in an exciting sprint finish last year. Matsuo is back again this year to try to become only the second man in the race's history to win it three times.

His main competition is Josai University ekiden team assistant coach Shingo Igarashi, 2nd in Osaka last fall and racing Nobeoka after training run efforts at the Xiamen and Dubai marathons in January. With a 2:15:02 best in Tokyo two years ago Takuma Shibata (Komori Corp.) should also factor in. The most interesting first-timer is Masamichi Yasuda (Aichi Seiko), a solid half marathoner with a 1:02:39 at last year's Osaka Half, while despite only running 2:24:32 in his debut in Beppu-Oita last year Wataru Tochigi (Hitachi Butsuryu) has the highest potential for the kind of breakthrough that makes Nobeoka what it is.

57th Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon Elite Field

Nobeoka, Miyazaki, 2/10/19
complete field listing
times listed are best in last 3 years except where noted

Ryoichi Matsuo (Asahi Kasei) - 2:12:19 (Noboeka 2018)
Shingo Igarashi (Josai Univ. Staff) - 2:14:19 (Osaka 2018)
Takuma Shibata (Komori Corp.) - 2:15:02 (Tokyo 2017)
Yuichi Yasui (Toyota) - 2:18:09 (Tokyo 2016)
Rei Omori (Fujitsu) - 2:18:11 (Tokyo 2018)
Kazuki Nakashima (Asahi Kasei) - 2:18:41 (Nobeoka 2018)
Takahiro Gunji (Komori Corp.) - 2:19:03 (Paris 2017)
Hiroki Sugawa (Sunbelx) - 2:24:14 (Gold Coast 2014)
Wataru Tochigi (Hitachi Butsuryu) - 2:24:32 (Beppu-Oita 2018)

Debut

Masamichi Yasuda (Aichi Seiko) - 1:02:39 (Osaka Half 2018)
Nobuyuki Matsumoto (Aisan Kogyo) - 1:02:52 (National Corporate Half 2015)
Kokoro Watanabe (Chugoku Denryoku) - 1:03:07 (National University Half 2015)
Kazuki Noda (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 28:59.66 (track 10000 m)

© 2019 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Japan's First Goldless Day - Asian Athletics Championships Day Four Highlights

Day 4 of the Bangkok Asian Athletics Championships was the first without a single gold medal going to Japan, but there were still enough silvers and bronzes to go around. Robyn Lauren Brown of the Philippines outclassed the rest of the women's 400 mH final field, taking gold in 57.50. Eri Utsunomiya and Ami Yamamoto made it a Japanese 2-3, Utsunomiya running 57.73 for silver and Yamamoto 57.80 for bronze. Yusaku Kodama also scored silver in the men's 400 mH, running 48.96 behind Qatari winner Bassem Hemeida 's 48.64. Yuki Yamasaki won bronze in the heptathlon with 5696 points, Uzbekistan's Ekaterina Voronina taking gold in 6098 and Swapna Barman silver in 5840. Teammate Karin Odama was 4th in 5487. Another bronze came in the mixed 4x400 m relay, with Japan running 3:15.71 behind India's 3:14.70 and Sri Lanka's 3:15.41. Naoto Hasegawa and Ryoichi Akamatsu both cleared 2.23 m in the men's high jump, Hasegawa finishing 4th overall and Akamatsu 5th. ...

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