Barmasai and Negasa Win Muenster Marathon, Kinoshita and Sakamoto Make Podium

Excellent conditions and decent fields said course records might be in the works, but while the results fell short of that level the women's race was the deepest in the Volksbank Muenster Marathon's 18-year history.

Ethiopians Chaltu Negasa and Chaltu Chawo and Kenyans Cythina Kosgei, Rebby Koech and Sheila Rono took it out at CR pace with Japan's Yoshiko Sakamoto, running with support from JRN, hanging on for the first 5 km before dropping off. By 15 km the debuting Kosgei and last year's winner Rono had fallen off, leaving Koech to tackle the Ethiopian pair.

The pair took turns trying to break away from the Kenyan, and by halfway they had a 30-second lead, 1:14:15 to 1:14:45. At 30 km they were still on CR, but despite staying together until near the end they didn't quite have the record in them, Negasa breaking away after 40 km for the win in 2:30:59. Chawo staggered in in 2:31:09, almost unable to stand an hour later at the award ceremony.

Koech paid for the early pace and was run down by Kosgei who took 3rd in 2:32:50. 2nd in Muenster in 2016 and 4th in 2017, Sakamoto was on PB pace through 32 km and moved as high as 5th. But from behind her Japan's Yumiko Kinoshita, who had started conservatively with a mostly South American 2nd pack, ran a two-minute negative split to overtake Sakamoto at 39 km, then Koech in the final kilometer to finish 4th in 2:35:45, 14 seconds up on Koech. Sakamoto ended up 6th in 2:37:42, the fastest of her three times in Muenster but lowest placing. Like Chawo, post-race Kinoshita was in a world of hurt and had trouble standing at the award ceremony. Sakamoto clearing 2:38 meant that for the first time in Muenster history the podium finishers all went under 2:40.

The men's race was never on CR pace, but from the early going it was on high-2:10 to low-2:11 pace and pretty well stayed there. Kenyan James Barmasai was at the front of the pack behind the pacers the entire way, the competition dropping away to just countrymen Edwin Kirwa and Mark Kangogo by 30 km. From there it was all Barmasai, not so much breaking away as holding on to what he had as he opened a lead of over a minute on Kirwa and almost three on Kangogo by race's end. His final time of 2:11:40 was still one of the better in event history, Kirwa next in 2:12:58 and Kangogo 3rd in 2:14:38.

18th Volksbank Muenster Marathon

Muenster Germany, 9/8/19
complete results

Women
1. Chaltu Negasa (Ethiopia) - 2:30:59
2. Chaltu Chawo (Ethiopia) - 2:31:09
3. Cynthia Kosgei (Kenya) - 2:32:50
4. Yumiko Kinoshita (Japan) - 2:36:45
5. Rebby Koech (Kenya) - 2:36:59
6. Yoshiko Sakamoto (Japan) - 2:37:42

Men
1. James Barmasai (Kenya) - 2:11:40
2. Edwin Kirwa (Kenya) - 2:12:58
3. Mark Kangogo (Kenya) - 2:14:38
4. Charles Maina (Kenya) - 2:16:02
5. Dereje Girma (Ethiopia) - 2:17:01
6. Elias Sansar (Germany) - 2:24:13

text and photos © 2019 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Morii Surprises With Second-Ever Japanese Sub-2:10 at Boston

With three sub-2:09 Japanese men in the race and good weather conditions by Boston standards the chances were decent that somebody was going to follow 1981 winner Toshihiko Seko 's 2:09:26 and score a sub-2:10 at the Boston Marathon . But nobody thought it was going to be by a 2:14 amateur. Paris Olympic team member Suguru Osako had taken 3rd in Boston in 2:10:28 in his debut seven years ago, and both he and 2:08 runners Kento Otsu and Ryoma Takeuchi were aiming for spots in the top 10, Otsu after having run a 1:01:43 half marathon PB in February and Takeuchi of a 2:08:40 marathon PB at Hofu last December. A high-level amateur with a 2:14:15 PB who scored a trip to Boston after winning a local race in Japan, Yuma Morii told JRN minutes before the start of the race, "I'm not thinking about time at all. I'm going to make top 10, whatever time it takes." Running Boston for the first time Morii took off with a 4:32 on the downhill opening mile, but after that Sis

Saturday at Kanaguri and Nittai

Two big meets happened Saturday, one in Kumamoto and the other in Yokohama. At Kumamoto's Kanaguri Memorial Meet , Benard Koech (Kyudenko) turned in the performance of the day with a 13:13.52 meet record to win the men's 5000 m A-heat by just 0.11 seconds over Emmanuel Kipchirchir (SGH). The top four were all under 13:20, with 10000 m national record holder Kazuya Shiojiri (Fujitsu) bouncing back from a DNF at last month's The TEN to take the top Japanese spot at 7th overall in 13:24.57. The B-heat was also decently quick, Shadrack Rono (Subaru) winning in 13:21.55 and Shoya Yonei (JR Higashi Nihon) running a 10-second PB to get under 13:30 for the first time in 13:29.29 for 6th. Paris Olympics marathoner Akira Akasaki (Kyudenko) was 9th in 13:30.62. South Sudan's Abraham Guem (Ami AC) also set a meet record in the men's 1500 m A-heat in 3:38.94. 3000 mSC national record holder Ryuji Miura made his debut with the Subaru corporate team, running 3:39.78 for 2n

Three Japanese Men Running 128th Boston Marathon

Back in Japan's golden years Boston was a big draw for its top talent in the marathon, but for a long time it was off the list of first-choice marathons as the preoccupation shifted to times. That started changing again in 2017 when 5000 m NR holder Suguru Osako made his debut there with a 2:10:28 for 3rd, following in the footsteps of other Waseda University alum who ran well in Boston including two-time winner Toshihiko Seko and the late Tomoyuki Taniguchi . Osako was 3rd at October's Paris Olympic marathon trials, putting him in position to be on the Paris team unless someone runs 2:05:50 or better at February's Osaka Marathon or March's Tokyo Marathon. Having run 2:06:13 in Tokyo last year but beaten by two Japanese men who both went under 2:06, there wasn't really any upside to Osako doing Tokyo this time. Osaka seemed like the logical choice, but like he has for most of his life Osako is following his own motivations and opting to return to the 128th Boston

japan running news

Search This Blog