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

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