Kobe and Osaka Marathon Elite Fields

Two of Japan's main fall amateur marathons are stepping up their game this year with their best-ever elite fields. Looking to upgrade its IAAF label from bronze to silver, the Nov. 17 Kobe Marathon has an elite field with three women under 2:30 and three men under 2:11 in the last three years. Kaori Yoshida (Team RxL) and Betty Jepleting (Kenya) lead the women, with Eliud Barngetuny (Kenya) and Weldu Negash Gebretsadik (Norway) fronting the men.

The men's race will almost definitely see an international winner, with veteran Chiharu Takada (JR Higashi Nihon) the top Japanese man at 2:11:25 on the Gold Coast two years ago, but the women's race has a good chance of seeing a Japanese winner. Along with Yoshida, it has sub-2:30 woman Yurie Doi (Tos Planning) and amateur duo Haruka Yamaguchi (AC Kita) and Shiho Kaneshige (GRlab Kanto), both with low-2:33 PBs earlier this fall and keen to join the sub-2:30 club.

With a field of 30,000 the Osaka Marathon is one of the world's ten biggest, but it's never had a proper elite field before. This year it's angling for an IAAF bronze label, and despite a new date that puts it up against the Fukuoka International Marathon it's managed to put together a field that ranks it 2nd in Japan behind Tokyo on combined men's and women's field strength.

Six men have current sub-2:10 marks to their names, led by Birhan Nebebew (Ethiopia) with a 2:06:52 in Lisbon earlier this season and Asefa Tefera (Ethiopia), 2:07:54 at last spring's Lake Biwa Marathon. Former world record holder Dennis Kimetto (Kenya) is also in the mix. Japanese hopes are with the great Kentaro Nakamoto (Yasukawa Denki), doubling after missing out on the 2020 Olympic team at September's MGC Race, and Asuka Tanaka (Hiramatsu Byoin).

The front end of the women's field has six athletes with recent times under 2:30. Aberu Mekuria Zennebe (Ethiopia) is the strongest with a 2:24:30 in Chongqing this year, followed by Monica Jepkoech (Kenya) and Maryna Damantsevich (Belarus). Marie Imada (Iwatani Sangyo) is the only Japanese woman under 2:30 with a 2:29:35 last year in Saitama, but past Osaka winners Yumiko Kinoshita (Ichikiro) and Yoshiko Sakamoto (F.O.R.) also return.

9th Kobe Marathon

Elite Field Highlights
Kobe, Hyogo, 11/17/19
complete field listing
times listed are best within last 3 years except where noted

Women
Kaori Yoshida (Japan) - 2:28:24 (Nagoya 2017)
Betty Jepleting (Kenya) - 2:28:43 (Eindhoven 2019)
Yurie Doi (Japan) - 2:29:49 (Nagoya 2018)
Mirriam Wangari (Kenya) - 2:31:36 (Hengshui 2019)
Susan Jerotich (Kenya) - 2:31:38 (Kobe 2018)
Tesfanesh Merga (Ethiopia) - 2:32:31 (Poznan 2018)
Haruka Yamaguchi (Japan) - 2:33:09 (Sydney 2019)
Shiho Kaneshige (Japan) - 2:33:16 (Chicago 2019)
Sisay Meseret Gola (Ethiopia) - 2:34:15 (Amsterdam 2018)

Men
Eliud Barngetuny (Kenya) - 2:10:15 (Madrid 2018)
Weldu Negash Gebretsadik (Norway) - 2:10:39 (Daegu 2018)
Geoffrey Kusuro (Uganda) - 2:10:53 (Ljubljana 2018)
Chiharu Takada (Japan) - 2:11:25 (Gold Coast 2017)
Igor Olefirenko (Ukraine) - 2:11:55 (London 2019)
Kalipus Lomwai (Kenya) - 2:13:12 (Beirut 2018)
Junichi Tsubouchi (Japan) - 2:13:51 (Beppu-Oita 2017)
John Lotiang (Kenya) - 2:14:12 (Nairobi 2017)
Shuichi Kondo (Japan) - 2:14:13 (Tokyo 2017)
Tomonori Sakamoto (Japan) - 2:14:21 (Shizuoka 2018)

9th Osaka Marathon

Elite Field Highlights
Osaka, 12/1/19
complete field listing
times listed are best within last 3 years except where noted

Women
Aberu Mekuria Zennebe (Ethiopia) - 2:24:30 (Chongqing 2019)
Monica Jepkoech (Kenya) - 2:26:58 (Porto 2017)
Maryna Damantsevich (Belarus) - 2:27:44 (European Championships 2018)
Veronicah Nyaruai (Kenya) - 2:29:14 (Hamburg 2019)
Marie Imada (Japan) - 2:29:35 (Saitama 2018)
Souad Kanbouchia (Morocco) - 2:29:48 (Wuhan 2019)
Olha Kotovska (Ukraine) - 2:30:18 (Daegu 2018)
Joan Jepchirchir (Kenya) - 2:30:33 (Rotterdam 2018)
Clementine Mukandanga (Rwanda) - 2:30:59 (Firenze 2018)
Yumiko Kinoshita (Japan) - 2:34:19 (Osaka Women's 2019)
Mitsuko Ino (Japan) - 2:34:39 (Osaka 2017)
Yoshiko Sakamoto (Japan) - 2:35:40 (Tokyo 2018)

Men
Birhan Nebebew (Ethiopia) - 2:06:52 (Lisbon 2019)
Asefa Tefera (Ethiopia) - 2:07:54 (Lake Biwa 2019)
Mohamed Reda El Aaraby (Morocco) - 2:09:16 (Chicago 2018)
Gizachew Hailu (Ethiopia) - 2:09:26 (Barcelona 2019)
Mohamed Ziani (Morocco) - 2:09:29 (Cape Town 2019)
Kentaro Nakamoto (Japan) - 2:09:32 (Beppu-Oita 2017)
Asuka Tanaka (Japan) - 2:10:13 (Tokyo 2018)
Ketema Bekele Negasa (Ethiopia) - 2:11:06 (Cape Town 2017)
Duncan Maiyo (Kenya) - 2:11:26 (Cape Town 2017)
Berhane Tsegay Tekle (Ethiopia) - 2:12:25 (Nice-Cannes 2018)
Hideyuki Ikegami (Japan) - 2:13:41 (Osaka 2017)
Dennis Kimetto (Kenya) - 2:14:54 (Shanghai 2018)

photo © 2019 Brett Larner, all rights reserved