Mwaura and Ichiyama Break Okukuma Half Marathon Course Records

click photo for complete video of race

3rd two years ago and runner-up last year, Joel Mwaura (Kurosaki Harima) finally got the better of two-time champ Jeremiah Thuku Karemi (Toyota Kyushu), breaking away inside the first 5 km to solo a 1:00:44 for the win and taking more than 30 seconds off Karemi's course record at the Okukuma Road Race half marathon. Hiroshi Ichida (Asahi Kasei) led a small group of Japanese men who tried to follow Mwaura's move, while Karemi initially hung back. Once Karemi caught back up, he and Ichida ran past halfway together before he put on a surge at a water station to drop Ichida and try to close the gap to Mwaura. But a third-straight title in his last race in Japan wasn't to be, as Karemi finished just over a minute behind Mwaura in 1:01:49. Ichida held on to the top Japanese spot at 3rd in a 3-second PB of 1:02:21.

The women's race initially played out as a head-to-head between duos from the Wacoal and Kyocera corporate teams, with Wacoal's Mao Ichiyama and Yuka Ando taking on Kyocera's Anna Matsuda and Yuma Adachi in a lead quartet. Like Mwaura, Ichiyama made the race-breaking move to solo a new 1:10:25 course record for the win, bettering Matsuda's course record from her win last year by over two and a half minutes. Ando, Matsuda and Adachi were also all under Matsuda's old record, with Ando scoring 2nd in 1:11:09, Matsuda 3rd in 1:11:24 and Adachi 4th in 1:11:43.

8th Okukuma Half Marathon

Kumamoto, 1/19/20

Men's Half Marathon
1. Joel Mwaura (Kurosaki Harima) - 1:00:44 - CR
2. Jeremiah Thuku Karemi (Toyota Kyushu) - 1:01:49
3. Hiroshi Ichida (Asahi Kasei) - 1:02:21
4. Takato Suzuki (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:02:49
5. Ryunosuke Hayashi (SGH Group) - 1:02:54
6. Suguru Otagura (Yachiyo Kogyo) - 1:03:01
7. Tomoya Nakamura (Aoyama Gakuin University) - 1:03:08
8. Tatsuya Yamamoto (Yachiyo Kogyo) - 1:03:13
9. Yuma Shimizu (Toyota Kyushu) - 1:03:24
10. Daiki Ando (Asahi Kasei) - 1:03:24

Women's Half Marathon
1. Mao Ichiyama (Wacoal) - 1:10:25 - CR
2. Yuka Ando (Wacoal) - 1:11:09
3. Anna Matsuda (Kyocera) - 1:11:24
4. Yuma Adachi (Kyocera) - 1:11:43
5. Mana Taniguchi (Wacoal) - 1:13:18
6. Erika Honda (Higo Ginko) - 1:13:57
7. Chika Ihara (Higo Ginko) - 1:13:45
8. Aika Murakami (Nittai University) - 1:14:26
9. Mio Kuroda (Nittai University) - 1:15:35
10. Hiroko Tsuruta (Nittai University) - 1:15:55

© 2020 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

'Kobe 2024: Aitchison, Athmani Lead Record-Breaking Thursday'

https://www.paralympic.org/news/kobe-2024-para-athletics-world-championships-aitchison-athmani-lead-record-breaking-thursday Complete results and daily schedule from the Kobe World Para Athletics Championships are here .

Hirayama Breaks Osaka Half CR, Martinez Set Puerto Rican NR

The Osaka Half Marathon took another big step up the domestic half marathon rankings from a mass-participation race run alongside the Osaka International Women's Marathon to one of the country's top-tier races. In the women's race, the debuting Jecinta Nyokabi (Denso) went out fast, only to be run down by veteran Yumi Yoshikawa (Canon AC) by 10 km. Nyokabi faded to 6th in 1:10:41, but Yoshikawa pushed on to a PB 1:09:14 for the win. Rina Shimizu (Noritz), Yuna Takahashi (Shimamura) and Makoto Tsuchiya (Ritsumeikan Univ.) all broke 70 minutes, Tsuchiya taking the Kansai Region collegiate title in 1:09:32 for 4th overall. Everyone in the top 10 who wasn't debuting ran a PB, a mark of how fast the day was even with cold and windy conditions. The men's race went out on sub-61 pace courtesy of Yudai Shimazu (GMO), then got a big injection of speed when Kyuma Yokota (Toyota Kyushu) took off close to 60-flat pace. Yokota opened a 10-second lead by 15 km, but over ...

2026 Tokyo Marathon Elite Field

The Mar. 1 Tokyo Marathon has great fields this year, so let's get right to it. The women's field has 3 of last year's top 10, winner for the 2nd year in a row and Tokyo CR holder Sutume Asefa Kebede , 3rd-placer and 2025 Chicago winner Hawi Feysa , and 5th-placer and 2025 Berlin winner Rosemary Wanjiru , plus 2024 Valencia winner Megertu Alemu , 2025 Prague winner Bertukan Welde , 2024 Paris winner Mestawut Fikir , 2024 Osaka winner Waganesh Mekasha , former WR holder Brigid Kosgei , and a lot more. Japanese hopes pretty much go to all-time #7 Ai Hosoda , 2:20:31 in Berlin 2024 but who announced this month that she is retiring after Tokyo despite having qualified for the 2028 Olympic marathon trials with her 2:23:27 for 6th in Sydney last year. Other internationals include Canadian Malindi Elmore , American Sara Hall , a big Chinese group led by Yuyu Xia , Poland's Aleksandra Brzezińska and Australian Vanessa Wilson . The men's race has 5 of last year's top 1...

japan running news

Search This Blog