Skip to main content

Jepchirchir Wins Saitama, Yugeta Breaks Own 60+ WR, Yamaguchi Breaks Own Nara CR - Weekend Marathon Highlights



Two of Japan's main year-ending marathons celebrated anniversary runnings this year, with the Saitama International Marathon holding its 5th edition and the Nara Marathon marking ten years.

Former half marathon world record holder Peres Jepchirchir (Kenya) dropped the competition at 30 km to win in Saitama. Within the first kilometer an all-African lead group had left top Japanese entrants Kaori Yoshida (Team RxL) and Kasumi Yoshida (Nitori), and Nina Savina (Belarus) behind. The lead group quickly rounded down to four, Jepchirchir and Ethiopian trio Fatuma Sado, Belaynesh Oljira and Rahma Tusa. #1-ranked Oljira slipped off early in the second half, and when the pacers stopped at 30 km Jepchirchir had no trouble getting rid of Tusa and Sado.

Jepchirchir took 1st in a PB of 2:23:50, with Sado a distant 2nd in 2:26:45. After 35 km Tusa ran into trouble, stopping and stretching out her legs and losing ground first to Oljira, 3rd in 2:27:11, and then Savina, who ran a PB 2:28:44 for 4th. Tusa hung on to 5th in 2:32:30, collapsing as soon as she crossed the finish line, but easily holding off top Japanese woman Kaori Yoshida, 6th in 2:35:15.


Further back, newly-crowned women's 60+ world record holder Mariko Yugeta (Saitama Ogose Ishikawa Genka), 61, ran a PB to break her own world record. After her 2:59:15 at last month's Shimonoseki Kaikyo Marathon, the first-ever sub-3 by a woman 60 years or older, Yugeta told media that at some point she wanted to break her 2:58:05 PB and that, if all went perfectly, she thought she had a shot at 2:57. A month later in Saitama she lived up to her words. Going through halfway perfectly on pace in 1:28:39, Yugeta summoned up a 24-second negative split to finish in 2:56:54. Can 2:55 be far away?

At the Nara Marathon, defending women's champion and course record holder Haruka Yamaguchi (AC Kita) returned from a 5th-place finish in 2:37:29 at last weekend's Singapore Marathon and a 2:27:39 course record and PB at the Kobe Marathon two weeks before that to go for her third Nara title. Running alone the entire way, Yamaguchi went through halfway in 1:17:22 before turning it on with a 1:16:00 second half for the win in 2:33:22. Her time took almost 7 and 1/2 minutes off her 2:40:50 CR from last year and gave her a margin of victory of over 18 minutes. The third-fastest time of her career, Nara was Yamaguchi's fourth win and seventh top five finish in her nine marathons this year.

Yamaguchi's friend and rival Shiho Kaneshige (GRlab Kanto) was 1st in the 10 km, running a CR and road 10 km PB of 33:32 wearing a deer headpiece a week after winning the Minato City Half Marathon in a PB and CR of 1:13:30. Taro Fukushima (Daiwa Seiki) also set a new men's 10 km CR in 29:47.


The men's marathon in Nara was closer than the women's, if relatively slower. A trio made up of former corporate leaguer Yoshihiro Yamamoto (Nara T&F Assoc.) and university men Koki Yamada (Doshisha Univ.) and Tatsuki Sato (Nara Gakuen Univ.) stayed together until almost 30 km before Yamamoto turned it on, dropping the two collegians with ease and opening a lead of over 4 minutes to win in 2:21:22. Yamada was next in 2:25:25, with Sato dropping to 4th after getting run down by Takuya Kondo (Ritsumeikan Univ.) in the final kilometer.

Functionally if not geographically another of Japan's main year-end marathons, the Honolulu Marathon saw men's national record holder Suguru Osako (ex-Nike Oregon Project) take 6th in 2:17:30 in an apparent workout effort, with Takuya Fukatsu (Asahi Kasei) next in 2:19:01 just two weeks after a 2nd-place finish at the Ohtwara Marathon. Former corporate leaguers Miharu Shimokado (Brooks) and Kaoru Nagao (Sunnyfield) were 4th and 5th in the women's race in 2:45:24 and 2:53:01.

5th Saitama International Marathon

Saitama, 12/8/19
complete results

1. Peres Jepchirchir (Kenya) - 2:23:50 - PB
2. Fatuma Sado (Ethiopia) - 2:26:45
3. Belaynesh Oljira (Ethiopia) - 2:27:11
4. Nina Savina (Belarus) - 2:28:44 - PB
5. Rahma Tusa (Ethiopia) - 2:32:30
6. Kaori Yoshida (Japan/Team RxL) - 2:35:15
7. Kasumi Yoshida (Nitori) - 2:38:39
8. Paskalia Chepkorir (Kenya) - 2:39:16
9. Yuki Mizuseda (Chiba T&F Assoc.) - 2:40:47 - PB
10. Yurino Yokoyama (unattached) - 2:50:50
-----
13. Mariko Yugeta (Saitama Ogose Ishikawa Genka) - 2:56:54 - 60+ WR, PB
-----
DNF - Zinash Debebe (Ethiopia)

10th Nara Marathon

Nara, 12/8/19
complete results

Women
1. Haruka Yamaguchi (AC Kita) - 2:33:22 - CR
2. Moeka Toge (Osaka Geijutsu Univ.) - 2:51:40
3. Chizuru Oi (Nara-X Athletes) - 2:51:51

Men
1. Yoshihiro Yamamoto (Nara T&F Assoc.) - 2:21:22
2. Koki Yamada (Doshisha Univ.) - 2:25:25
3. Takuya Kondo (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 2:25:58

Women's 10 km
1. Shiho Kaneshige (GRlab Kanto) - 33:32 - CR

Men's 10 km
1. Taro Fukushima (Daiwa Seiki) - 29:47 - CR

Honolulu Marathon

Honolulu, U.S.A., 12/8/19
complete results

Men
1. Titus Eriku (Kenya) - 2:08:00 - CR
2. Wilson Chebet (Kenya) - 2:13:14
3. Edwin Kipngetich Koech (Kenya) - 2:14:20
-----
6. Suguru Osako (Japan) - 2:17:30
7. Takuya Fukatsu (Japan) - 2:19:01

Women
1. Margaret Muriuki (Kenya) - 2:31:11
2. Betsy Saina (Kenya) - 2:31:52
3. Renee Metivier (U.S.A.) - 2:43:18
4. Miharu Shimokado (Japan) - 2:45:24
5. Kaoru Nagao (Japan) - 2:53:01

photo © 2019 Akko, all rights reserved
text © 2019 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

Metts said…
Recently, many have been waiting for JB, in the US, to break the three hour barrier But she hasn't done it yet. Whatever it is; environment,proper training, genetics, mindset, Yugeta is doing something right. Just like in 2008, when another Japanese broke the 60+ male record. Something about running in Japan, or at least I like to think so. The magic shoes too? But its still about the person, not just the shoes. And or we can say, in the same way, Yoshida, is doing something right recently, like a few other amateurs, and lower level pros, in Japan, in years past.
December 8, 2019 at 2:59 PM
TokyoRacer said…
Deer headpiece? Oh, I get it, it's Nara, deer capital of Japan.
December 8, 2019 at 6:02 PM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

World Championships Medalist Racewalking Coach Mizuho Sakai Recognized With Highest Coaching Honor

The 2023 Mizuno Sports Mentor Awards recognizing excellence in coaching were held Apr. 23 in Tokyo. Toyo University assistant coach and race walking coach Mizuho Sakai was given a gold award, the program's highest honor, and expressed her thanks and joy in a speech at the award ceremony. The coach of 2023 Budapest World Championships men's 35 km race walk bronze medalist Masatora Kawano , Sakai said, "This is an incredible honor and I'm truly grateful. As a child I wanted to be in the sporting world and I've spent my life in that world. My end goal was always to play a supporting role for other athletes, so I'm honored to be recognized in this way." Sakai's husband Toshiyuki Sakai , head coach of Toyo's three-time Hakone Ekiden champion team, attended the awards gala with her and was also introduced to the audience. After bowing he took a seat in front of her and watched with warmth as she received recognition for her outstanding work. The Mizun
Post a Comment
Read more

Hirabayashi Runs PB at Shanghai Half, WR Holder Nakata Dominates Fuji Five Lakes - Weekend Road Roundup

Returning to the roads after his 2:06:18 win at February's Osaka Marathon, Kiyoto Hirabayashi (Koku Gakuin University) took 5th at Sunday's Shanghai Half Marathon in a PB 1:01:23, just under a minute behind winner Roncer Kipkorir Konga (Kenya) who clocked a CR 1:00:29. After inexplicably running the equivalent of a sub-59 half marathon to win the Hakone Ekiden's Third Stage, Aoi Ota (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) was back to running performances consistent with his other PBs with a 1:02:30 for 8th. His AGU teammate Kyosuke Hiramatsu was 10th in 1:04:00. Women's winner Magdalena Shauri (Tanzania) also set a new CR in 1:09:57. Aoyama Gakuin runners took the top four spots in the men's half marathon at the Aomori Sakura Marathon , with Hakone alternate Kosei Shiraishi getting the win in 1:04:32 and B-team members Shunto Hamakawa and Kei Kitamura 2nd and 3rd in 1:04:45 and 1:04:48. Club runners took the other division titles, Hina Shinozaki winning the women's half
Post a Comment
Read more

The Ivy League at the Izumo Ekiden in Review

Last week I was contacted by Will Geiken , who I'd met years ago when he was a part of the Ivy League Select Team at the Izumo Ekiden . He was looking for historical results from Izumo and lists of past team members, and I was able to put together a pretty much complete history, only missing the alternates from 1998 to 2010 and a little shaky on the reverse transliterations of some of the names from katakana back into the Western alphabet for the same years. Feel free to send corrections or additions to alternate lists. It's interesting to go back and see some names that went on to be familiar, to see the people who made an impact like Princeton's Paul Morrison , Cornell's Max King , Stanford's Brendan Gregg in one of the years the team opened up beyond the Ivy League, Cornell's Ben de Haan , Princeton's Matt McDonald , and Harvard's Hugo Milner last year, and some of the people who struggled with the format. 1998 Team: 15th of 21 overall, 2:14:10 (43
Post a Comment
Read more