Skip to main content

2020 Olympic Marathon Trials Winner Shogo Nakamura Wins First Race of Year in PB Time

2020 Olympic marathon trials winner Shogo Nakamura (27, Fujitsu) ran a course record 1:01:40 to win the Jan. 12 Takanezawa Genki Up Half Marathon in Tochigi. His time bettered his 2016 PB of 1:01:53 by 13 seconds. "I ran pretty much according to plan," he commented afterward.

Nakamura's sponsor team Fujitsu finished 17th at November's East Japan Corporate Ekiden, failing to qualify for the Jan. 1 New Year Ekiden national championships. As a result, Takanezawa was his first race of the Olympic year. Alongside him were members of 2020 Hakone Ekiden champion Aoyama Gakuin University, runner-up Tokai University and other top collegiate programs. Most fielded 3rd-year and younger team members who didn't make this year's Hakone lineups, giving them valuable experience for the buildup to next year's 97th running.

Next up Nakamura plans to run in the Mar. 29 World Half Marathon Championships. His coach Hiroaki Oyagi, 61, commented, "At the World Half we will be targeting a time under 1:01." Honing his speed, Nakamura continues to prepare for the Aug. 9 Sapporo Olympic marathon.

In the 10 km race, Tokai head coach Hayashi Morozumi, 53, ran 35:40, breaking the 50+ course record but finishing 2nd in his division. "The last 3 km were hard," he said. "I felt like this summed up this season. A course record but 2nd, just like at Hakone." Morozumi plans to run March's Tokyo Marathon, his first time running one since the 1995 Fukuoka International Marathon. "I aim not to get hurt," he said. With a PB of 2:18:37, his goal this time is to go sub-3.

47th Takanezawa Genki Up Half Marathon

Takanezawa, Tochigi, 1/12/20

1. Shogo Nakamura (Fujitsu) - 1:01:40 -CR, PB
2. Daisuke Momozawa (San Kogyo) - 1:01:58 - PB
3. Hironobu Nakakura (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:02:26 - PB
4. Taiki Miyasaka (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:02:26 - PB
5. Ryo Nishikubo (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:02:26 - PB
6. Takeshi Shingo (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:02:30 - PB
7. Yuito Nakamura (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:02:43 - PB
8. Keita Honma (Tokai Univ.) - 1:02:59 - PB
9. Shoya Hayata (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:03:00 - PB
10. Torazo Kai (Chuo Univ.) - 1:03:07 - PB

source articles:
https://hochi.news/articles/20200112-OHT1T50040.html
https://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/202001120000308.html
translated and edited by Brett Larner

Buy Me A Coffee

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Everything You Need to Know About the 2026 Hakone Ekiden

The Hakone Ekiden is the world's biggest road race, 2 days of road relay action with Japan's 20 best university teams racing 10 half marathon-scale legs from central Tokyo to the mountains east of Mount Fuji and back. The level just keeps going higher and higher , hitting the point this year where there are teams with 10-runner averages of 13:33.10 for 5000 m, 27:55.98 for 10000 m, and 1:01:20 for the half marathon. It's never been better, and with great weather in the forecast it's safe to say this could be one of the best races in Hakone's 102-year history, especially on Day One. If you've seen it then you know NTV's live broadcast is the best sports broadcast in the world, with the pre-race show kicking off at 7:00 a.m. Japan time on the 2nd and 3rd and the race starting at 8:00 a.m. sharp. If you've got a VPN you should be able to watch it on TVer starting at 7:50 a.m. on the 2nd , and again at 7:50 a.m. on the 3rd . There's even a 2-hour high...

Federation Tells World Championships Marathoner Horibata To Go On Diet

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/news/20110307-OHT1T00258.htm translated by Brett Larner Having made the 2011 World Championships marathon team by running a PB of 2:09:25 to come in 3rd overall and as the top Japanese finisher at the Mar. 6 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, Hiroyuki Horibata (24, Team Asahi Kasei), talked to the media at Osaka Airport on Mar. 7. Following Sunday's race Rikuren director Keisuke Sawaki , 67, told Horibata, "Let's cut things down a bit until the World Championships," directing him to go on a diet. The 189 cm Horibata weighs 72 kg [~6'3", 160 lbs]. When he joined Team Asahi Kasei in 2005 at age 18 he weighed 65 kg, and this weight is still generally listed on his profile at races and in the media. "For some reason it never changes," he said with a grin. His coach Takeshi Soh , 58, commented, "If he was hungrier for glory his world would change completely," slapping the 'heavyweight division runner...

Kawauchi Wins Inaugural Kawauchi Half Marathon

http://www.minyu-net.com/sports/running/FM20160501-070419.php translated by Brett Larner 川内優輝ロード pic.twitter.com/rEJk7CQPFV — みとっぽ (黒) (@mitoppo_tmyk) April 30, 2016 Yuki Kawauchi Road in Kawauchi, Fukushima Held to inspire former residents to return to the area after the nearby TEPCO Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident five years ago, the village of Kawauchi held the first " Kawauchi no Sato Kaeru Half Marathon - From Reconstruction to Creation " on April 30.  The course started and finished at the village heliport.  1188 runners from across the country gathered to celebrate the village's revival as they ran through its springtime streets. The event's organizing committee was made up of local government and board of education members with support from the Fukushima Minyu Newspaper and other sponsors.  The race's purpose was to transmit the vitality and charm of the reconstructing Kawauchi village to the rest of the nation in hopes of helpin...