Skip to main content

MGC Race Olympic Marathon Trials Qualifier - Shohei Otsuka

Shohei Otsuka

age: 25
sponsor: Kyudenko
graduated from: Oita Tomei H.S., Komazawa University

best time inside MGC window:
2:10:12, 3rd, 2018 Beppu-Oita Marathon

PB: 2:10:12, 3rd, 2018 Beppu-Oita Marathon

other PBs:
5000 m: 13:55.41 (2018) 10000 m: 28:25.42 (2019) half marathon: 1:02:32 (2014)

marathons inside MGC window (Aug. 1 2017 – April 30 2019)
11th, 2019 Tokyo Marathon, 2:12:36
4th, 2018 Hokkaido Marathon, 2:12:07
3rd, 2018 Beppu-Oita Marathon, 2:10:12

other major results:
34th, 2019 Marugame Half Marathon, 1:02:53
25th, 2019 New Year Ekiden Fourth Stage (22.4 km), 1:07:05
8th, 2018 Kumamoto Kosa 10-Miler, 46:21
1st, 2018 Kyushu Corporate Ekiden Seventh Stage (16.3 km), 46:26
16th, 2017 Lake Biwa Marathon, 2:15:10
1st, 2017 Hakone Ekiden Fifth Stage (20.8 km, ~800 m uphill), 1:12:46
4th, 2015 Kumanichi 30 km Road Race, 1:31:29
2nd, 2015 Hakone Ekiden Eighth Stage (21.4 km), 1:05:45

Otsuka made an early debut in the marathon while still a student at Komazawa University where he was one of the heavy hitters on its ekiden team, winning the Hakone Ekiden's famous uphill Fifth Stage his senior year. After joining the Kyudenko corporate team he took almost five minutes off his debut time with a 2:10:12 for 3rd in his hometown Beppu-Oita Marathon, then qualified for the MGC Race with a 2:12:07 for 4th at last August’s Hokkaido Marathon.

Strong during ekiden season, Otsuka struggled a bit at its peak race in January. He seemed to get it back together, just off his PB at the Marugame Half, but at the Tokyo Marathon he wasn’t able to execute the kind of breakthrough to the level of former Komazawa teammate Shogo Nakamura (Fujitsu) that he’s been hoping for. Siince then he’s run a PB for 10000 m, combined with his performance in Hokkaido last sumer a definite plus heading into the MGC Race.

Next profile: Ryu Takaku (Yakult).

© 2019 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

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
Post a Comment
Read more

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
Post a Comment
Read more

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
Post a Comment
Read more