Skip to main content

MGC Race Olympic Marathon Trials Qualifier - Daisuke Uekado

Daisuke Uekado

age: 25
sponsor: Otsuka Seiyaku
graduated from: Hokuryo H.S., Kyoto Sangyo University

best time inside MGC window:
2:09:27, 6th, 2017 Fukuoka International Marathon

PB: 2:09:27, 6th, 2017 Fukuoka International Marathon

other PBs:
5000 m: 14:06.13 (2016) 10000 m: 28:48.22 (2013) half marathon: 1:03:28 (2016)

marathons inside MGC window (Aug. 1 2017 – April 30 2019)
22nd, 2019 Beppu-Oita Marathon, 2:15:49
8th, 2018 Berlin Marathon, 2:11:07
6th, 2017 Fukuoka International Marathon, 2:09:27 – PB

other major results:
11th, 2019 New Year Ekiden Fourth Stage (22.4 km), 1:05:59
2nd, 2018 Kansai Corporate Ekiden First Stage (12.6 km), 37:54
81st, 2018 Valencia World Half Marathon Championships, 1:04:48
10th, 2017 Lake Biwa Marathon, 2:12:58
48th, 2016 Marugame Half Marathon, 1:03:28 – PB
1st, 2016 Kyoto Marathon, 2:17:54

Someone else totally unique in the MGC men’s field: Uekado is the only one who graduated from a university outside the Tokyo-centric Kanto Region. That might not mean anything to you, but the Kanto Region is home to Japan’s mightiest race, the Hakone Ekiden, and exerts all the cultural and gravitational pull of a black hole on the nation’s distance running high school boys. Few who could choose not to run it, and as the number of Hakone runners in the MGC field, over 80% of the entrants, shows, few who don’t run it go on to success.

Uekado went to Kyoto Sangyo University, far to the west of the Hakone scene. He won the 2016 Kyoto Marathon just before graduating and moving on to the Otsuka Seiyaku corporate team. There he came under the guidance of a coaching staff includeing Takayuki Inubushi, the first Japanese man to ever break 2:07 in the marathon. His first year there he improved to 2:12:58 at Lake Biwa, then dropped a 2:09:27 for 6th at the 2017 Fukuoka International Marathon to make the MGC Race.

His 2:11:07 follow-up at the 2018 Berlin Marathon where coach Inubushi had run 2:06:57 was good, if only that, but at Beppu-Oita this February he couldn’t compete in the middle of what turned to be a high-level race, finishing only 22nd in 2:15:49. As I’ve written in a couple of the other profiles, there have been a lot of Japanese guys who have run one breakthrough sub-2:10 and never gotten there again. Everyone likes an underdog, but there’s not much at this stage to suggest Uekado could beat that trend.

Next profile: Yuki Sato (Nissin Shokuhin).

© 2019 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Ngetich Breaks CR, Murayama and Sasaki Make U.S. Debut at New York Mini 10k

WR holder Agnes Ngetich  soloed a fast one at the 54th edition of the Mastercard New York Mini 10k, leading inside the first mile and pulling away the rest of the race to run a 30:07 CR for the win, the fastest time ever on U.S. soil albeit on a slightly net downhill course. On a warm day that saw over 10,000 women finish  Tsigie Gebreselama  was on her own most of the way too, a distant 2nd in 30:53 and 17 seconds up on past champ Hellen Obiri . Further back, 2026 World University Cross Country bronze medalist Amisa Murayama  and 2025 Morinomiyako Ekiden 3rd leg CR breaker Nazuki Sasaki  from 2025 National University Women's Ekiden runner-up Tohoku Fukushi University  made their U.S. debuts. Murayama was targeting the fastest-ever Japanese time at the Mini, 32:37, but struggled on the hills just before 5 km and late in the race, fading to finish 23rd in 34:08. Sasaki, recovering from a stress reaction in her upper back a few months ago, ran a conservative ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Federation Tells World Championships Marathoner Horibata To Go On Diet

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/news/20110307-OHT1T00258.htm translated by Brett Larner Having made the 2011 World Championships marathon team by running a PB of 2:09:25 to come in 3rd overall and as the top Japanese finisher at the Mar. 6 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, Hiroyuki Horibata (24, Team Asahi Kasei), talked to the media at Osaka Airport on Mar. 7. Following Sunday's race Rikuren director Keisuke Sawaki , 67, told Horibata, "Let's cut things down a bit until the World Championships," directing him to go on a diet. The 189 cm Horibata weighs 72 kg [~6'3", 160 lbs]. When he joined Team Asahi Kasei in 2005 at age 18 he weighed 65 kg, and this weight is still generally listed on his profile at races and in the media. "For some reason it never changes," he said with a grin. His coach Takeshi Soh , 58, commented, "If he was hungrier for glory his world would change completely," slapping the 'heavyweight division runner...
Post a Comment
Read more

Australian YouTuber Handed Lifetime Ban by Ageo City Half Marathon After Running 1:06 with Another Runner's Bib (updated)

After discussion with their race's chief JAAF referee, on Nov. 27 the organizers of the Ageo City Half Marathon handed down a lifetime ban from their event against 36-year-old Australian Matt Inglis Fox  for running the Nov. 15 race wearing the bib number of another JAAF-registered runner. The incident came to light after Fox posted on his personal Instagram account that he had run a PB of 1:06:33 and finished 203rd in Ageo with a 10 km split of 31:03, along with photos and video of himself in the race wearing a bib number beginning with 11. Fox did not appear in the results by name or in that time or place, the closest match being a 1:06:54 gross, 1:06:50 net finish time with a 31:21 10 km split for 18th place in the JAAF-registered division and 209th overall by bib number 1129, registered to a non-Japanese Tokyo-resident club runner. The club runner, Harrisson Uk , readily confirmed that he had given his bib to Fox, saying, "I gave my number to Matt. It wasn't me."...
82 comments
Read more