Japanese Amateur Yamaguchi and Ugandan Kusuro Break Kobe Course Records

Amateur Japanese club runner Haruka Yamaguchi (AC Kita) and Ugandan Geoffrey Kusuro had dominant wins at the 9th running of the Kobe Marathon Sunday, both running PBs and winning by almost 4 minutes in course record time.

Yamaguchi, who ran a PB 2:33:06 in Sydney in September and dropped a surprise 31:58 at last weekend's East Japan Women's Ekiden, slipped away early, never challenged by the pack of invited African elites or by friend and rival club runner Shiho Kaneshige (GRlab Kanto). Going through halfway faster than her half marathon PB in 1:13:08. She slowed slightly in the second half, especially on the large bridge out to the island finish line, but her win was never in doubt as she broke the tape in 2:27:39. Previously, the fastest pure amateur Japanese women's marathon performance was Chihiro Tanaka's 2:29:30 in Nagoya in 2002. Breaking that by almost two minutes, Yamaguchi staked her claim as Japan's best-ever amateur.

2nd through 5th were close together but a distant afterthought. Almost 4 minutes back from Yamaguchi, Sisay Meseret Gola (Ethiopia) was 2nd in 2:31:30 ahead of compatriot Tesfanesh Merga, Kenyan Tesfanesh Merga, and Kaneshige, who took almost a minute and a half off of her PB of 2:33:16 at last month's Chicago Marathon.

Kusuro had a different race than Yamaguchi, running down early frontrunning Kenyan John Loitang, hitting halfway in 1:03:35 side-by-side, and then alone before 25 km. He too struggled on the bridge out to the bay just before the finish, a feature set to disappear with Kobe's planned course change to a downtown finish, but with a gap over Barngetuny and the rest of the field that only grew over the second half of the race he had no trouble hanging on to win in 2:08:46. Barngetuny was next in 2:12:23, over a minute and a half ahead of Japanese 3rd-placer Junichi Tsubouchi (Kurosaki Harima).

9th Kobe Marathon

Kobe, Hyogo, 11/17/19

Women
1. Haruka Yamaguchi (Japan/AC Kita) - 2:27:39 - CR, PB
2. Sisay Meseret Gola (Ethiopia) - 2:31:30
3. Tesfanesh Merga (Ethiopia) - 2:31:43
4. Mirriam Wangari (Kenya) - 2:31:48
5. Shiho Kaneshige (Japan/GRlab Kanto) - 2:31:56 - PB

Men
1. Geoffrey Kusuro (Uganda) - 2:08:46 - CR, PB
2. Eliud Barngetuny (Kenya) - 2:12:23
3. Junichi Tsubouchi (Japan/Kurosaki Harima) - 2:14:05
4. Kalipus Lomwai (Kenya) - 2:14:09
5. Weldu Negash (Ethiopia) - 2:14:30

photos © 2019 Ryan McDonald, all rights reserved
© 2019 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Chepkirui Over Sato Again to Win 2nd-Straight Nagoya Women's Marathon, Chen Breaks Malaysian NR (updated)

This year's Nagoya Women's Marathon felt like a changing of the guard, with some the bigger domestic names over the last few years fading early and a lot of newer faces stepping up with quality debuts or second marathons. The front group was set to be paced for 2:20 flat with the 2nd group at 2:23:30 to hit the auto-qualifying time for the 2027 MGC Race, Japan's L.A. Olympics marathon trials race in Nagoya. Up front things went out OK, but after a 33:10 split at 10 km Ayuko Suzuki , 2:21:22 here 2 years ago, lost touch, ultimately finishing 23rd in 2:33:28. Windy conditions started to play with pacers' ability to keep things steady and the pace slowed majorly over the next 10 km, but even with a 34:05 second 10 km there were big-name casualties. 2024 Nagoya winner Yuka Ando was next to drop, ending up 17th in 2:30:32. NR holder Honami Maeda was next, followed quickly by Bahraini Kenyan Eunice Chumba and debuting Wakana Kabasawa . Maeda faded to 21st in 2:31:21, whil...

Nagoya Women's Marathon Preview and Streaming (updated)

Japan's winter marathon season of 6 major races in 7-straight weekends wraps up Sunday with the world's largest women-only marathon, the Nagoya Women's Marathon . The weather is looking pretty good, 6˚ at the start rising to 10˚ by the finish and sunny skies, but a moderate 7 m/s NW wind means a headwind finish that might impact the potential for some fast times. Official streaming kicks off at 9:00 a.m. local time. Live results will be here . Sheila Chepkirui won last year in 2:20:40, breaking away from Sayaka Sato and Eunice Chebichii Chumba at 30 km and hanging on for the win. Sato negative split a 2:20:59 PB for 2nd, Chumba fading to 3rd in 2:21:36. All 3 are back this time, but they have pretty serious competition from Aynalem Desta , 2:17:37 in Amsterdam last fall, and Selly Chepyego Kaptich , 2:20:03 in Barcelona 2023. And of course, Japanese NR holder Honami Maeda . Maeda ran 2:18:59 at the Osaka International Women's Marathon in 2024 to make the Paris Oly...

16 Women and 26 Men on the Current Olympic Trials Qualifier List

Last weekend's Nagoya Women's Marathon and the Tokyo Marathon the weekend before brought the main part of the first year of qualification for the Marathon Grand Championship Race, Japan's L.A. Olympics marathon trials to be held in Nagoya in October, 2027, to an end. There are still a few races like the Nagano Marathon and overseas World Athletics platinum label races this season where people might qualify, but for the most part we're not likely to see many new additions until August's Hokkaido Marathon, where the qualifying period opened last year. As of right now 16 women and 26 men have qualified, although the first woman to make the cut, Ai Hosoda , announced that she was retiring after Tokyo earlier this month. Out of the 16 women to have qualified so far, Mikuni Yada is the fastest with her 2:19:57 debut at Osaka Women's in January. Including Hosoda that makes 2 qualifiers for the Edion corporate team, but Daihatsu has the biggest share of the field so ...

japan running news

Search This Blog