Skip to main content

MGC Race Olympic Marathon Trials Qualifier - Yoshiki Takenouchi

Yoshiki Takenouchi

age: 27
sponsor: NTT Nishi Nihon
graduated from: Kansaidai Daiichi H.S., Nihon University

best time inside MGC window:
2:10:01, 7rd, 2017 Fukuoka International Marathon

PB: 2:10:01, 7rd, 2017 Fukuoka International Marathon

other PBs:
5000 m: 13:56.46 (2015) 10000 m: 28:36.44 (2018) half marathon: 1:03:08 (2019)

marathons inside MGC window (Aug. 1 2017 – April 30 2019)
DNS – 2018 Fukuoka International Marathon
30th, 2018 Lake Biwa Marathon, 2:20:29
7th, 2017 Fukuoka International Marathon, 2:10:01

other major results:
8th, 2019 Sendai International Half Marathon, 1:03:08 – PB
33rd, 2019 National Corporate Half Marathon, 1:03:13 (PB)
DNS – 2019 National Men’s Ekiden Seventh Stage (13.0 km)
2nd, 2018 Kansai Corporate Ekiden Fifth Stage (16.0 km), 48:54
1st, 2018 Hokuren Distance Challenge Fukagawa Meet 10000 m B-race, 28:36.44 – PB
11th, 2017 Lake Biwa Marathon, 2:13:33
9th, 2015 Hakone Ekiden Third Stage (21.5 km), 1:03:59

The only Nihon University graduate in the race, Takenouchi was one of three men who qualified for the MGC Race at the 2017 Fukuoka Internationl Marathon, a minor team 2:13 guy who seemed to fluke his way into 7th in 2:10:01. Since then he hasn’t done a lot to shake that impression, following up on Fukuoka with a 2:20:29 at last year’s Lake Biwa and a DNS back in Fukuoka.

But whatever problems hit him just before Fukuoka last year, ones that also kept him out of the New Year Ekiden and National Men's Ekiden, he seems to have turned it around, running half marathon PBs twice this spring and starting to post all of his training publicly on Twitter. But that came to an end at the end of June, and he has been laying low ever since.

Takenouchi is also entered in November’s NYC Marathon, so it’s not clear what exactly his intentions are. The most likely thing is that he had some kind of setback that might keep him out of the MGC Race and that he's using NYC as a backup if he’s not ready in time. We shall see.

Next profile: Mao Ichiyama (Wacoal).

© 2019 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee

Comments

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

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