Skip to main content

Yoshimatsu Wins Eighth Hofu Title, Wong Breaks Hong Kong National Record

Running the Hofu Yomiuri Marathon's 50th anniversary edition the year she turned 40, Hisae Yoshimatsu (Shunan City Hall) soloed a 2:39:22 to pick up her eighth Hofu win and extend her legacy as the winningest champion in Hofu history.

Going out on mid-2:39 pace in the first 5 km, Yoshimatsu picked it up to mid-2:38 and stayed that way until the final kilometers, when she slowed slightly. At 2:39:22 she was over 7 minutes ahead of runner-up Mikiko Ota (KSS RC), in a class of her own. Next up she will run March's Tokyo Marathon.

The men's race was closer right until the end, with a pack of nine plus two pacers going through halfway in 1:05:01 and staying together until Kenyans Matthew Kiprotich and Paul Kiprop broke free at 30 km. At first Shinichi Yamashita (Takigahara SDF Base) was the only Japanese man to try to go with them, but Taiki Yoshimura (Asahi Kasei) quickly rolled up to regain contact with the two leaders by 34 km and then drop Kiprop by 35.

Kiprotich responded with a surge that broke him free from Yoshimura, running unthreatened the rest of the way in to win in 2:10:47. Yoshimura was next in a PB of 2:11:13, with Yasuyuki Nakamura (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) closing fast to pick up 3rd in 2:12:22. Further back, in just his second marathon Wan Chun Wong (Hong Kong) ran a steady low-2:19 pace through 35 km in a bid to break the 1984-era Hong Kong national record of 2:21:10. Fading over the last 5 km, Wong managed to keep it together just enough to set a new 2:20:58 NR.

50th Hofu Yomiuri Marathon

Hofu, Yamaguchi, 12/15/19
complete results

Women
1. Hisae Yoshimatsu (Shunan City Hall) - 2:39:22
2. Mikiko Ota (KSS RC) - 2:46:41
3. Ai Ogo (Himeji T&F Assoc.) - 2:48:34

Men
1. Matthew Kiprotich (Kenya) - 2:10:47
2. Taiki Yoshimura (Asahi Kasei) - 2:11:13
3. Yasuyuki Nakamura (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 2:12:22
4. Hiroki Sugawa (Toyama T&F Assoc.) - 2:13:01
5. Paul Kiprop (Kenya) - 2:13:28
6. Shinichi Yamashita (Takigahara SDF Base) - 2:14:06
7. Yuki Kawauchi (Asics) - 2:14:17
8. Satoru Kasuya (Toyota Boshoku) - 2:14:44
9. Ryo Ishita (SDF Academy) - 2:15:20
10. Shuhei Shirota (Kanebo) - 2:16:55
-----
21. Wan Chun Wong (Hong Kong) - 2:20:58 - NR

© 2019 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

19-Yr-Old Munakata Breaks Miura's U20 NR to Win Ageo City Half Marathon

The Ageo City Half Marathon is always big, the main race that the coaches of Hakone Ekiden-bound university men's teams use for firming up their entry rosters for the big show. That makes what's basically an idyllic small town race into one of the world's great road races, with depth unmatched anywhere. One of the top-tier people on the start list at 1:02:07, Kodai Miyaoka (Hosei Univ.) took the race out fast, but the entire pack was keying off the fastest man in the race, Reishi Yoshida (Chuo Gakuin Univ.), 1:00:31. Yoshida reeled Miyaoka in before 5 km and kept things steady in the low-1:01 range, wearing down the lead group to around 10 including his CGU teammate Taisei Ichikawa , a quartet from Izumo and National University Ekiden runner-up Komazawa University , 2 runners from local Daito Bunka University , 2:07:54 marathoner Atsumi Ashiwa (Honda), and Australian Ed Goddard . Right after 15 km Komazawa went into action, Yudai Kiyama , Hibiki Murakami and Haru Tanin
Post a Comment
Read more

Ageo City Half Marathon Preview and Streaming

This weekend's big race is the Ageo City Half Marathon , the next stop on the collegiate men's circuit. Most of the universities bound for the Jan. 2-3 Hakone Ekiden use Ageo to thin down the list of contenders for their final Hakone rosters, and with JRN's development program that sends the first two Japanese collegiate finishers in Ageo to the United Airlines NYC Half every year a lot of coaches put in some of their A-listers too. That gives Ageo legendary depth and fast front-end speed, with a 1:00:47 course record last year from Kenyan corporate leaguer Paul Kuira (JR Higashi Nihon) and the top 26 all clearing 63 minutes. Since a lot of programs just enter everybody on their rosters you never really know who on the entry list is actually going to show up, but if even a quarter of the people at the top end of this year's list run it'll be a great race, even if conditions are looking likely to be a bit warmer than ideal. Chuo Gakuin University 's Reishi Yoshi
Post a Comment
Read more

10000 m NR Attempt In the Works Saturday at Hachioji Long Distance - Streaming and Preview

There are a bunch of other time trial meets this weekend and next, but Saturday's Hachioji Long Distance is the last big meet for Japanese men, 8 heats of Wavelight-paced 10000 m finely graded from target times of 28:50 down to 26:59 for the fastest heat. Heat 6 at 17:55 local time is effectively the B-race, with 35 Japan-based Kenyans targeting 27:10 at the front end, and in a lot of cases a spot on their teams at the New Year Ekiden national championship on Jan. 1. Corporate teams are only allowed to field one non-Japanese athlete in the New Year Ekiden, and only on its shortest stage, and getting to that has a big impact on African athletes' contracts and renewal prospects. Toyota Boshoku , Yasukawa Denki , Chugoku Denryoku , Aisan Kogyo , JR Higashi Nihon , Subaru and 2024 national champion Toyota are all fielding two Kenyans, and Aichi Seiko three. For people like Toyota's Felix Korir and Samuel Kibathi , getting as close to the 27:10 target time as they can and
Post a Comment
Read more