Mekuria and Tefera Bring Osaka Into the Game With Course Record Wins

The Fukuoka International Marathon is the traditional major player on Japan's December marathon calendar, but resting on traditional can only last so long. The Osaka Marathon, one of the world's ten largest mass-participation marathons, this year got into the elite game in a big way with its best-ever fields and a race date that put it head-to-head with Fukuoka.

Bidding to get into the IAAF/World Athletics road race label game, Osaka brought in enough quality internationals to keep its mostly amateur domestic field off the eight-deep podium. Aberu Mekuria (Ethiopia) dominated the women's race with a 2:26:29 course record, more than two minutes ahead of Kenyan mercenary runner-up Monica Jepkoech (Bahrain). 2017 Osaka winner Yumiko Kinoshita (Japan) ran the second-fastest time of her career, 2:35:16, but finished off the podium in 9th.

The men's race must have had the Fukuoka organizers sweating, as Ethiopian Asefa Tefera dropped a 2:07:47 course record for the win, like Mekuria winning by about two minutes. Tefera's time ended up being 37 seconds slower than Fukuoka winner El Mahjoub Dazza's, but while only one other man went sub-2:10 in Fukuoka, here three more did, Moroccans Mohamed El Aaraby and Mohamed Ziani, and Ethiopian Husen Muhammed Amin Esmael.

Osaka flexing its muscle to get into the elite end of Japanese marathoning seems like a natural move given the event's position as one of the world's biggest marathons. But where does it leave the other traditional elite Japanese races? If Osaka stays on this date it's hard to see it not hitting Fukuoka pretty hard. With a high-level women's race it's also hard not to see that impacting January's Osaka International Women's Marathon. And what about next weekend's Saitama International Marathon, where only one semi-elite Japanese woman is set to start?

The logical sequence of events would be to take the elite women's race out of Saitama, leaving it as a nice amateur mass-participation race, and put the elite race back in Tokyo where it belongs. September's MGC Race showed that Japan's rival TV broadcasters can cooperate to cover both the women's and men's races in a single marathon. Do the same for Tokyo and give its women's race the coverage it deserves and has never gotten. With December freed up, take the Osaka International Women's Marathon race and stage it as part of the Osaka Marathon. Move Fukuoka to Osaka International's date at the end of January, eliminating the problem with Japanese corporate league men not being able to run Fukuoka because of the New Year Ekiden four weeks later. Voila, all domestic calendar problems solved. All that remains then is how to keep them relevant against Valencia, Dubai, and the other races coming up all around.

Osaka Marathon

Osaka, 12/1/19

Women
1. Aberu Mekuria (Ethiopia) - 2:26:29 - CR
2. Monica Jepkoech (Bahrain) - 2:28:37
3. Soud Kanbouchia (Morocco) - 2:28:56
4. Veronica Nyaruai (Kenya) - 2:29:03
5. Maryna Damantsevich (Belarus) - 2:31:58
6. Clementine Mukandanga (Rwanda) - 2:32:45
7. Joan Jepchirchir (Kenya) - 2:32:59
8. Olha Kotovska (Ukraine) - 2:33:55
9. Yumiko Kinoshita (Japan) - 2:35:16
10. Mitsuko Ino (Japan) - 2:39:04

Men
1. Asefa Tefera (Ethiopia) - 2:07:47 - CR
2. Mohamed El Aaraby (Morocco) - 2:09:31
3. Mohamed Ziani (Morocco) - 2:09:44
4. Husen Muhammed Amin Esmael (Ethiopia) - 2:09:53
5. Duncan Maiyo (Kenya) - 2:11:43
6 Ketema Bekele Negasa (Ethiopia) - 2:12:09
7. Berhane Tsegay Tekle (Eritrea) - 2:12:44
8. Gizachew Hailu (Ethiopia) - 2:14:06

© 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