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MGC Race Olympic Marathon Trials Qualifier - Ryu Takaku

Ryu Takaku

age: 26
sponsor: Yakult
graduated from: Nasu Takuyo H.S., Toyo University

best time inside MGC window:
2:10:03, 7rd, 2019 Hamburg Marathon

PB: 2:10:03, 7rd, 2019 Hamburg Marathon

other PBs:
5000 m: 13:57.89 (2016) 10000 m: 28:36.71 (2015) half marathon: 1:01:58 (2019)

marathons inside MGC window (Aug. 1 2017 – April 30 2019)
7th, 2019 Hamburg Marathon, 2:10:03 – PB
9th, 2019 Tokyo Marathon, 2:11:49
30th, 2018 Fukuoka International Marathon, 2:19:51
6th, 2018 Gold Coast Marathon, 2:11:45
7th, 2018 Beppu-Oita Marathon, 2:12:12

other major results:
2nd, 2019 Hakodate Half Marathon, 1:02:43
10th, 2019 Marugame Half Marathon, 1:01:58 – PB
2nd, 2019 New Year Ekiden First Stage (12.3 km), 35:56
13th,, 2018 East Japan Corporate Ekiden Second Stage (15.3 km), 45:53
2nd, 2017 Kumanichi 30 km Road Race, 1:31:18
18th, 2017 Marugame Half Marathon, 1:02:34
5th, 2014 Kumanichi 30 km Road Race, 1:30:32 – PB
1st, 2014 Hakone Ekiden Eighth Stage (21.5 km), 1:04:35

Takaku is one of five graduates of Toyo University in the MGC Race field, more than any other college program. At Toyo he won the Hakone Ekiden’s Eighth Stage in 2014 to help Toyo score the overall win. A month later he helped pace teammate and future Fukuoka International Marathon winner Yuma Hattori to a 30 km collegiate national record at the Kumanichi Road Race.

After joining Yakult, Takaku moved up to the marathon in Beppu-Oita last year, going on to run 2:11:45 at the Gold Coast Marathon. That time meant he needed to run 2:10:15 to qualify for the MGC Race on the two-race sub-2:11 average option. He came up short in Fukuoka, but with an excellent run at the New Year Ekiden and his first sub-62 half marathon in Marugame in February he looked set to do it in Tokyo.

But like a lot of others in this year’s Tokyo he suffered in the cold and rain, running only 2:11:49. Most people would have packed it in there, but less than two months later Takaku gave it one last shot in Hamburg with two days until the qualifying deadline. 2:10:15 was the target, and a 2:10:03 PB was what he pulled out.

Not many people could have pulled off that double, and since it he’s continued to run well, taking 2nd at July’s Hakodate Half Marathon in 1:02:43 over MGC qualifiers Chihiro Miyawaki (Toyota), Tomohiro Tanigawa (Konica Minolta) and Kentaro Nakamoto (Yasukawa Denki). He’ll probably be in a supporting role to Hattori again at the MGC Race, but in bouncing back to qualify in Hamburg Takaku showed something special that sets him apart from the other men his level.

Next proile: Yoshiki Takenouchi (NTT Nishi Nihon).

© 2019 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

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