Skip to main content

Sado Over Ohara at Osaka Women's Marathon, Fukushi DNF After Bad Fall, Iwade and Tanihara Take the Half



Relative darkhorse Fatuma Sado (Ethiopia) outlasted some of Japan's top Olympic hopefuls and her Kenyan competition to win the Osaka International Women's Marathon in 2:25:39.

Stellar pacing right on the A-group target of 17:00 per 5 km quickly shook the pack down to the main contenders, Ethiopians Sado, Abebech Afework and Sutume Asefa Kebede, Kenyans Bornes Chepkirui and Eunice Jeptoo and Japan's Rei Ohara (Tenmaya), Kayoko Fukushi (Wacoal), and Natsuki Omori (Daihatsu). Ohara had already qualified for September's MGC Race 2020 Olympic marathon trials, but for Fukushi, running her first marathon since the Rio Olympics, and the debuting Omori, they needed to either clear 2:24 or be in the first three Japanese women after Ohara and under 2:28.

Just past 12 km disaster struck Fukushi. Tripping in the middle of the pack and falling, she tore both knees and hands before hitting her head on the pavement. Fukushi bounced up and quickly regained contact with the pack, but blood trickled down from a gash on the very right of her forehead and flowed from both knees. It didn't seem to slow her down, not yet, but her coach was worried enough to call out to her after the next water station to ask if she was OK.

Jeptoo was the first casualty from the lead pack, losing touch near 18 km. Afewerk was next, with Omori dropping off after the 20 km drink table. Asefa soon followed, ultimately the only one of the Africans to drop out of the race. Coming up to 25 km Fukushi began to fade, leaving only Sado, Ohara and Chepkirui when the final pacer stepped off at 30 km.

Organizers had put a 500,000 yen bonus, about $4500 USD at current exchange rates, up for the runner in the top 8 who clocked the fastest split from 30 to 35 km, double if they beat last year's winner Mizuki Matsuda's 16:19. But despite a short-lived surge from Ohara it didn't seem to motivate them, all three clocking their slowest split yet in the race, 17:32-33, with Chepkirui scoring the bonus.

At 35 km Ohara surged again, and this time it was enough to snap Chepkirui. Sado tailed her for 2.5 km before going to the front for the first time, never really surging but just gradually edging away. And that was it, really. Ohara rallied in the last kilometer, but with Sado having opened a gap of about 10 seconds she was too far away. Sado won in 2:25:39, Ohara next in 2:25:46 and Chepkirui rounding out the top 3 in 2:26:01.

Behind Ohara, the next three Japanese women could qualify for the trials if under 2:28 with the three after them also having a shot if under 2:27. Madoka Nakano (Noritz) led a pack of four from the B-group in pursuit of Omori, all on track to go just under 2:27 at 30 km. Just past that they suddenly overtook Fukushi, who had begun to repeatedly stop, rub her legs and bend her knees, which immediately started to bleed again. Nakano broke away from them all and entered the stadium in 4th, taking 4 minutes off her PB to clear the trials qualification standard in 2:27:39, only the ninth woman to qualify.

Also on PB pace, Yukari Abe (Shimamura) bore down on the finish line in 5th with the clock ticking down. Agonizingly, she cross the line in 2:28:02, just missing her shot at making the Olympic team by seconds. Just behind her, Hanae Tanaka (Shiseido) also missed out, needing a 2:28:20 to qualify after having run faster early in the qualification window but coming up just short in 2:28:42.

After getting run down by Nakano's group Fukushi alternately walked, ran, stopped, and stretched, slogging her way along and talking to spectators until her coach stopped her at 35 km. Post-race she was taken to the hospital for examination and issued a statement saying, "When I fell I tried to protect my legs, but because of that I hit my head on the road. I felt OK until 20 km, but after that I started getting dizzy and I thought, 'This is bad.'" If the damage isn't serious, dropping out gave Fukushi the chance to try to regroup and try one more time to qualify for the trials in Nagoya in March.


The accompanying Osaka Half Marathon has grown to be one of the better races on the domestic winter calendar, with the top ten men all clearing 63 minutes last year. This year it nearly happened again, with local policeman Madoka Tanihara (Osaka Police) outrunning his corporate league and university competition to lead the top nine under 63 for the win in 1:02:48. Tanimura made a bold move from nearly 2 km to open a big lead, but although Shinichiro Nakamura (Kyudenko) and others bore down on him on the track at the finish his margin of victory was safe. Fellow Osaka police officer Yuto Fujiyama took 6th in 1:02:54.


In the women's half, independent Reia Iwade (Under Armor) ran the entire way paced by a male training partner, finishing one second off her PB in 1:09:46. For whatever reason it's become rare to see Japanese women break 70 anywhere other than December's Sanyo Ladies Half, so Iwade getting it done at the beginning of the year is a welcome sight. For much of the race she had competition from Rino Goshima (Chuo University), but Goshima was unable to stay with the pace and fell to 3rd in 1:11:17, run down by Kotomi Tsubokura (Wacoal), runner-up at last weekend's Okukuma Half and 2nd again today in 1:11:08.

38th Osaka International Women's Marathon

Osaka, 1/29/17
complete results

1. Fatuma Sado (Ethiopia) - 2:25:39
2. Rei Ohara (Japan/Tenmaya) - 2:25:46
3. Bornes Chepkirui (Kenya) - 2:26:01
4. Madoka Nakano (Japan/Noritz) - 2:27:39 - PB
5. Yukari Abe (Japan/Shimamura) - 2:28:02 - PB
6. Hanae Tanaka (Japan/Shiseido) - 2:28:42
7. Tomomi Tanaka (Japan/Daiichi Seimei) - 2:29:03
8. Natsuki Omori (Japan/Daihatsu) - 2:29:15 - debut
9. Yinli He (China) - 2:31:14
10. Abebech Afework (Ethiopia) - 2:31:31
11. Chika Ihara (Japan/Higo Ginko) - 2:31:32
12. Ayaka Fujimoto (Japan/Kyocera) - 2:32:30
13. Misato Horie (Japan/Noritz) - 2:33:51
14. Hitomi Mizuguchi (Japan/Osaka Gakuin Univ.) - 2:34:15
15. Yumiko Kinoshita (Japan/Tokyo T&F Assoc.) - 2:34:19 - PB
16. Nolene Conrad (South Africa) - 2:36:21
17. Yoshiko Sakamoto (Japan/Team F.O.R.) - 2:36:37
18. Kaori Yoshida (Japan/Team RxL) - 2:37:02
19. Mami Onuki (Japan/Sysmex) - 2:38:12
20. Hisami Ishii (Japan/Yamada Denki) - 2:38:33
21. Eriko Kushima (Japan/Noritz) - 2:39:54
22. Chien-Ho Hsieh (Taiwan) - 2:40:41 - PB
23. Shiho Satonaka (Japan/GRlab) - 2:40:49
24. Kasumi Yoshida (Japan/Nitori) - 2:41:00
25. Honoka Tanaike (Japan/Kyoto Sangyo Univ.) - 2:41:10 - debut
-----
28. Eunice Jeptoo (Kenya) - 2:45:52
-----
DNF - Sutume Asefa Kebede (Ethiopia)
DNF - Kayoko Fukushi (Japan/Wacoal)
DNF - Hiroko Miyauchi (Japan/Hokuren)

Osaka Half Marathon

Osaka, 1/27/19
complete results

Men
1. Madoka Tanihara (Osaka Police) - 1:02:48
2. Shinichiro Nakamura (Kyudenko) - 1:02:50
3. Kiyohito Akiyama (Aichi Seiko) - 1:02:51
4. Kyohei Hosoya (Kurosaki Harima) - 1:02:52
5. Kazuki Muramoto (Sumitomo Denko) - 1:02:53
6. Yuto Fujiyama (Osaka Police) - 1:02:54
7. Takamitsu Hashimoto (Komori Corp.) - 1:02:59
8. Yohei Suzuki (Aisan Kogyo) - 1:02:59
9. Daichi Takeuchi (Toenec) - 1:02:59
10. Yuki Takahata (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 1:03:02

Women
1. Reia Iwade (Under Armor) - 1:09:46
2. Kotomi Tsubokura (Wacoal) - 1:11:08
3. Rino Goshima (Chuo Univ.) - 1:11:17
4. Miku Daido (Iwatani Sangyo) - 1:11:50
5. Nanayo Okamoto (Osaka Gakuin Univ) - 1:12:31
6. Hikaru Sudo (Tohoku Fukushi Univ.) - 1:12:39
7. Asuka Yamamoto (Osaka Geijutsu Univ.) - 1:13:34
8. Aina Takatani (Osaka Gakuin Univ.) - 1:13:50
9. Ayumi Morita (Toyo Univ.) - 1:14:24
10. Momoe Nobuoka (Kyoto Sangyo Univ.) - 1:15:07

© 2019 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

National University Championships Entry Lists and Streaming

The 95th National University Track and Field Championships run Friday through Monday at Nissan Stadium in Yokohama. The complete meet schedule and live results are here . The 10000 m races were already held separately earlier this season. Streaming starts at 9:00 a.m. Saturday Japan time, with separate field event channels and Day 2 and 3 streaming here . Top entries in each event with best performance in the qualifying window: Men 100 m Shoma Yamamoto (Hiroshima Univ.) - 10.04 Fukuto Komuro (Chuo Univ.) - 10.07 Naoki Nishioka (Tsukuba Univ.) - 10.09 Riku Oishi (Toyo Univ.) - 10.13 Kaito Kuroki (Chuo Univ.) - 10.14 Ryunosuke Mizuno (Waseda Univ.) - 10.14 Yugo Haitamataira (Juntendo Univ.) - 10.17 Shun Miyashita (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 10.19 200 m Akira Hayashi (Keio Univ.) - 20.36 Tomoru Funaki (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 20.39 Oma Asai (Tsukuba Univ.) - 20.47 Reishin Yamamoto (Toyo Univ.) - 20.49 Shingo Suzuki (Tokai Univ.) - 20.54 Haruto Nakamura (Fukuoka Univ.) - 20.55 400 m Shinya Hayashi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Yuasa and Niiya Win Hokkaido Marathon, 6 Qualify for Olympic Trials

  Six more people picked up qualifying spots for next year's MGC Race at yesterday's Hokkaido Marathon in Sapporo, guaranteeing themselves places at Japan's 2028 Los Angeles Olympics marathon trials. In the men's race, Hibiki Yoshida tried to break away from the massive lead group at 30 km, opening a 25-second lead between there and 35 km before getting cut down by the chase trio of Jin Yuasa , Ken Tansho and Masato Arao . All three stayed together until the very end, Yuasa showing the same kind of closing speed he had in winning 2025 Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon and pulling away to win in 2:10:46. The debuting Tansho was next in 2:10:55, with Arao, 6th at last year's Sydney Marathon in an excellent 2:07:42, 3rd here in 2:10:59. By clearing 2:12:00 all three picked up MGC qualifying spots, freeing them up to go overseas next spring. Continuing a great season, Soka University 's Shoki Yamaguchi was 4th in 2:11:47, missing out on trials qualification but bea...
1 comment
Read more

Monterey Welcomes Student-Athletes from Sister City Nanao, Japan

a press release by the Monterey-Nanao Cross Country Exchange Project photos here Fourteen student-athletes from Nanao High School in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, recently completed a weeklong visit to the Monterey Peninsula as part of the Monterey–Nanao Cross Country Exchange Project , bringing together young people from the two Sister Cities through running, education, environmental stewardship, cultural exchange, and friendship. The seven boys and seven girls from Nanao were paired with 14 members of the Monterey High School cross country team and stayed in their homes throughout the visit. The week marked the first half of a reciprocal exchange that will continue when the Monterey students travel to Nanao later this year. The visitors received their first introduction to Monterey shortly after arriving at Monterey High School, walking with their hosts to Sister City Park and gathering for photographs beside the sign honoring Nanao — a fitting beginning for a week devoted to bringin...
Post a Comment
Read more