Sakamoto 7th in Xiamen, Mwangi Breaks Hong Kong All-Comers Record

Sakamoto 7th in Xiamen, Mwangi Breaks Hong Kong All-Comers Record - Weekend Overseas Road Race Results

The year's international road racing circuit kicked off Sunday with two races in Asia featuring top-level Japanese athletes. At the C&D Xiamen Marathon in China, ten Japanese athletes ranked in the women's and men's Asian top 100 ran with support from JRN as part of Xiamen's bid to become the first race worldwide to qualify for the IAAF's new platinum road race label.

2016 Osaka Marathon winner and mother of three Yoshiko Sakamoto (Y.W.C.) placed highest among them, taking 7th in 2:39:00 with 2018 Osaka runner-up Haruka Yamaguchi (AC Kita) 9th in 2:42:39, 2017 Osaka winner Yumiko Kinoshita (Tokyo T&F Assoc.) 10th in 2:43:56, and 2018 Geneva Marathon runner-up Hisae Yoshimatsu (Shunan City Hall) 12th in 2:45:32.

Running just two days after Josai University had a disappointing 20th-place finish at the Hakone Ekiden, its assistant coach Shingo Igarashi was the top-placing Japanese man at 15th in 2:20:45. Dejene Debele (Ethiopia) won the men's race for the second year in a row in 2:09:26 with Medina Deme Armino (Ethiopia) taking the women's race in 2:27:45.

Just down the coast in Hong Kong, the Lok Wah Runners Club staged the first running of its new Lok Wah 100 Minutes Half Marathon, an event designed to encourage faster times in the upper end of Hong Kong's dedicated running community. Over a three-lap course Joseph Mwangi Ngare (Kenya) outran a field including 2018 Hofu Marathon winner Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't), four other Kenyans and the local best to win in 1:05:56, the fastest time ever on Hong Kong soil. Kawauchi was 2nd in 1:06:07 with Bernard Kiplangat Kibilo (Kenya) 3rd in 1:08:54.

2019 C&D Xiamen Marathon

Xiamen, China, 1/6/19
complete results

Women
1. Medina Deme Armino (Ethiopia) - 2:27:25
2. Shasho Insemu (Ethiopia) - 2:27:42
3. Fantu Eticha (Ethiopia) - 2:29:55
4. He Yinli (China) - 2:33:28
5. Askale Alemayehu (Ethiopia) - 2:33:41
-----
7. Yoshiko Sakamoto (Japan) - 2:39:00
9. Haruka Yamaguchi (Japan) - 2:42:39
10. Yumiko Kinoshita (Japan) - 2:43:56
12. Hisae Yoshimatsu (Japan) - 2:45:32
23. Momoko Tanaka (Japan) - 3:04:23

Men
1. Dejene Debele (Ethiopia) - 2:09:26
2. Atewek Mesfin (Ethiopia) - 2:09:28
3. Birhan Nebebew (Ethiopia) - 2:09:36
4. Chele Dechasa (Ethiopia) - 2:09:43
5. Belachew Amerta (Ethiopia) - 2:09:52
-----
15. Shingo Igarashi (Japan) - 2:20:45
19. Kansuke Morihashi (Japan) - 2:24:29
20. Tatsunori Hamasaki (Japan) - 2:24:29
22. Asuka Tanaka (Japan) - 2:25:58
-----
DNF - Kenichi Jiromaru (Japan)

Lok Wah 100 Minutes Half Marathon

Sha Tin, Hong Kong, 1/6/19
complete results

Men
1. Joseph Mwangi Ngare (Kenya) - 1:05:56 - ACR
2. Yuki Kawauchi (Japan) - 1:06:07
3. Bernard Kiplangat Kibilo (Kenya) - 1:08:54
4. Willy Kipkemoi Rotich (Kenya) - 1:08:54
5. Eliud Kiplimo Lelei (Kenya) - 1:10:15

Women
1. Julie Beatty - 1:25:19
2. Amy Mumford - 1:26:02
3. Mei Yan Wong - 1:27:48
4. Jill Czarnik - 1:30:57
5. Chi Ling Mok - 1:32:33

Xiamen photo ©2019 Mika Tokairin, all rights resetved
text and Lok Wah photo ©2019 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Tokyo Marathon Top Japanese Man Tsubasa Ichiyama Works 4 Days a Week, Walked On in College

38,000 people ran the 2025 Tokyo Marathon . Every runner had their own story, but one of the most special was Tsubasa Ichiyama (Sunbelx). Despite being on almost nobody's radar, he outran some of the best in the country to finish as the top Japanese man. Ichiyama ran most of the race in the 3rd pace group, going through halfway in 1:02:44 and 30 km in 1:29:13. When the pacers stopped, he showed what he could really do. "I'm not good at downhills, so in the first part it was hard to run smoothly," he said at the post-race press conference. "But after the downhill part ended I got into my rhythm, and I think that helped me over the 2nd half." After dropping Asian Games gold medalist Hiroto Inoue (Mitsubishi Juko) and others, he quickly bore down on the Japanese athletes who had gone out faster in the 2nd pace group. Overtaking Paris Olympics 6th placer Akira Akasaki (Kyudenko) and Yuhei Urano (Fujitsu), at 39.8 km he caught all-time Japanese #2 man Yohei I...

Toyota Wins New Expo Ekiden

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Weekend Road Race Roundup

The ACN Expo Ekiden was the biggest race of the weekend domestically, but there was so much else going on domestically and internationally that it was hard to keep track. We'll do our best. Saturday in Fukuoka the Fst in Fukuoka road mile and 5 km moved from its usual fall date to a spring date for the first time. Ireland's Sophie O'Sullivan outran high school sensation Sherry Drury by 1 second for the win in the women's mile, 4:53 to 4:54. Drury's mark was a new U20 NR. The men's mile also came down to a 1-second win for Irishman Brian Fay over Japan's Jo Aoki , 4:12 to 4:13. Margaret Akidor had an easy win in the women's 5 km in 15:34, with veteran Yuichiro Ueno outrunning a doubling Fay in the men's 5 km to win in 14:07. Complete results here . The Matsue Ladies Half Marathon hosted the National University Women's Half Marathon Sunday. National champion Ritsumeikan University 's Makoto Tsuchiya outran Daito Bunka University 's...

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