Matsumoto and Waku Win in Hokkaido, Yamaguchi Become First Woman to Win New Caledonia Four Times

As a route to qualification for next month's MGC Race Olympic marathon trials the Hokkaido Marathon saw higher-quality results than usual last year, but in its first edition after the closing of the trials qualifying period yesterday's 2019 running had no shortage on quality. In warm conditions the men's race went out conservatively with a 1:06:57 first half and turned into a show of who could negative split the hardest, with the top six all running the second half faster. Ryo Matsumoto, part of the top current marathon program in Japan, Toyota, won by over 30 seconds in 2:12:57 with 2nd through 6th all finishing within 15 seconds of each other in the mid-2:13s.

Kasumi Yoshida (Nitori) did a lot of the work in leading the women's pack for the first 30 km before heavy favorite Mirai Waku (Univ. Ent.) took off. Waku had said pre-race that she wanted to break 2:30, but despite falling well short of that she opened a lead of over a minute and a half to win in 2:33:44. 2015 winner Yui Okada (Otsuka Seiyaku) was next in 2:35:16, with Yoshida 3rd in 2:35:38. Two-time winner Chihiro Tanaka (Athle-C), 49, was 11th in 2:48:49.

At almost the same time, club runner Haruka Yamaguchi became the first woman to win the New Caledonia International Marathon four times, running 2:36:56 on a tougher course than in Hokkaido to win by nearly 9 minutes. The second-fastest women's winning time in New Caledonia history and fastest since its course was certified in 1995, Yamaguchi's run made her the fastest Japanese woman ever in New Caledonia and was good enough for her to finish 3rd overall, beating men's 3rd-placer Mark Moore (New Zealand) by over a minute. Japanese men Yuki Kawauchi and Junichi Ushiyama went 1-2, a fifth-straight Japanese double in New Caledonia.

2019 Hokkaido Marathon

Sapporo, Hokkaido, 8/25/19
complete results

Women
1. Mirai Waku (Univ. Ent.) - 2:33:44
2. Yui Okada (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 2:35:16
3. Kasumi Yoshida (Nitori) - 2:35:38
4. Chika Ihara (Higo Ginko) - 2:36:24
5. Yume Nagayama (Osaka Geijutsu Univ.) - 2:36:41
6. Erika Honda (Higo Ginko) - 2:40:18
7. Mai Nagaoka (Sysmex) - 2:40:33
8. Aki Odagiri (Takemura) - 2:44:23
9. Moeka Toge (Osaka Geijutsu Univ.) - 2:45:29
10. Mai Fujisawa (Excel AC) - 2:45:41
11. Chihiro Tanaka (Athle-C) - 2:48:49

Men
1. Ryo Matsumoto (Toyota) - 2:12:57
2. Masanori Sumida (Aichi Seiko) - 2:13:33
3. Koki Tanaka (Kanebo) - 2:13:36
4. Michael Githae (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 2:13:43
5. Shota Yamazaki (Yakult) - 2:13:44
6. Ryoichi Matsuo (Asahi Kasei) - 2:13:48
7. Kenta Iinuma (SGH Group) - 2:13:55
8. Ryo Ishida (SDF Academy) - 2:14:07
9. Kansuke Morihashi (Raffine) - 2:14:17
10. Takuma Shibata (Komori Corp.) - 2:14:50

New Caledonia International Marathon

New Caledonia, 8/25/19

Women
1. Haruka Yamaguchi (Japan) - 2:36:56
2. Yuko Kawauchi (Japan) - 2:45:34
3. Nana Ogawa (Japan) - 2:47:39

Men
1. Yuki Kawauchi (Japan) - 2:17:24
2. Junichi Ushiyama (Japan) - 2:19:59
3. Mark Moore (New Zealand) - 2:38:06

© 2019 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

19-Yr-Old Munakata Breaks Miura's U20 NR to Win Ageo City Half Marathon

The Ageo City Half Marathon is always big, the main race that the coaches of Hakone Ekiden-bound university men's teams use for firming up their entry rosters for the big show. That makes what's basically an idyllic small town race into one of the world's great road races, with depth unmatched anywhere. One of the top-tier people on the start list at 1:02:07, Kodai Miyaoka (Hosei Univ.) took the race out fast, but the entire pack was keying off the fastest man in the race, Reishi Yoshida (Chuo Gakuin Univ.), 1:00:31. Yoshida reeled Miyaoka in before 5 km and kept things steady in the low-1:01 range, wearing down the lead group to around 10 including his CGU teammate Taisei Ichikawa , a quartet from Izumo and National University Ekiden runner-up Komazawa University , 2 runners from local Daito Bunka University , 2:07:54 marathoner Atsumi Ashiwa (Honda), and Australian Ed Goddard . Right after 15 km Komazawa went into action, Yudai Kiyama , Hibiki Murakami and Haru Tanin

Ageo City Half Marathon Preview and Streaming

This weekend's big race is the Ageo City Half Marathon , the next stop on the collegiate men's circuit. Most of the universities bound for the Jan. 2-3 Hakone Ekiden use Ageo to thin down the list of contenders for their final Hakone rosters, and with JRN's development program that sends the first two Japanese collegiate finishers in Ageo to the United Airlines NYC Half every year a lot of coaches put in some of their A-listers too. That gives Ageo legendary depth and fast front-end speed, with a 1:00:47 course record last year from Kenyan corporate leaguer Paul Kuira (JR Higashi Nihon) and the top 26 all clearing 63 minutes. Since a lot of programs just enter everybody on their rosters you never really know who on the entry list is actually going to show up, but if even a quarter of the people at the top end of this year's list run it'll be a great race, even if conditions are looking likely to be a bit warmer than ideal. Chuo Gakuin University 's Reishi Yoshi

10000 m NR Attempt In the Works Saturday at Hachioji Long Distance - Streaming and Preview

There are a bunch of other time trial meets this weekend and next, but Saturday's Hachioji Long Distance is the last big meet for Japanese men, 8 heats of Wavelight-paced 10000 m finely graded from target times of 28:50 down to 26:59 for the fastest heat. Heat 6 at 17:55 local time is effectively the B-race, with 35 Japan-based Kenyans targeting 27:10 at the front end, and in a lot of cases a spot on their teams at the New Year Ekiden national championship on Jan. 1. Corporate teams are only allowed to field one non-Japanese athlete in the New Year Ekiden, and only on its shortest stage, and getting to that has a big impact on African athletes' contracts and renewal prospects. Toyota Boshoku , Yasukawa Denki , Chugoku Denryoku , Aisan Kogyo , JR Higashi Nihon , Subaru and 2024 national champion Toyota are all fielding two Kenyans, and Aichi Seiko three. For people like Toyota's Felix Korir and Samuel Kibathi , getting as close to the 27:10 target time as they can and

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