Skip to main content

Ten Men Under 1:01, Five Women Under 1:10 at National Corporate Half Marathon Championships



Before last weekend only eight Japanese men had ever gone under 1:01 in the half marathon on record-legal courses, with another four on the old downhill Tokyo Half course. At last Sunday's Marugame Half four did it, two who had done it before and two who went under the national record in the first time clearing 1:01. At today's National Corporate Half Marathon Championships eight more did it, equalling all of Japanese history in the course of eight days and the previous record-legal history in a single race.

Not too much question why, but the racing was still good. Kenyan James Rungaru (Chuo Hatsujo) earned the win, 16 seconds ahead of the pack at 5 km in 14:33 and only going faster from there to his 1:00:27 finish. The main pack had a leisurely 14:49 opening 5 km before getting it in gear, dropping to 14:17 for the next 5 km and getting down as fast as 14:12 splits between 15 and 20 km. Kiyoshi Koga (Yasukawa Denki) was the first Japanese man across the line, dropping Kenyan Patrick Muendo Mwaka (Aisan Kogyo) and twelve other Japanese men to take 2nd overall in 1:00:49.

Hiroki Suzuki (YKK) was 3rd in 1:00:50, with the top ten all clearing 1:01 and the next four within 5 seconds of it. The twelve Japanese men in the top 14 all made the all-time Japanese top 25. Marugame last week set new records for number of finishers under 62 minutes, 63 minutes and 64 minutes. Today's race crushed all of them, with 46 men breaking 62, 71 under 63, and 86 clearing 64. What could March's National University Men's Half Marathon Championships possible bring?

The women's National Championships were divided in two, a 10 km division and a half marathon. The 10 km was mostly notable for its splits, with 26 of the 31 women in the race jogging a 17:35 first half and then blasting a 15:43 second half. Momoka Kawaguchi (Toyota Jidoshokki) won by a stride over Misaki Hayashida (Kyudenko) in 33:18, with Reina Hashino (Hitachi) 3rd in 33:26.

The women's half wasn't as crazily deep as the men's, but was still solid quality for a Japanese race. After a modest 16:46 opening 5 km a lead group of nine separated, going through 10 km skimming just under 1:10 pace in 33:09. The pack thinned to seven by 15 km before things really got moving, and with one km to go it was the proven Sakiho Tsutsui (Yamada Denki) side-by-side with Ayano Ikemitsu (Kagoshima Ginko) with unknown Kaena Takeyama (Daihatsu) right behind.

A teammate of Osaka International Women's Marathon winner Mizuki Matsuda, Takeyama had the gears to get the win, kicking away on the track with 200 m to go to break the tape in 1:09:12 to Tsutsui's 1:09:14, Ikemitsu close behind for 3rd in 1:09:16. All three of them made it into the all-time Japanese top 25. Juri Ichikawa (Yamada Denki) and Ikumi Fukura (Otsuka Seiyaku) also broke 1:10, with the next five under 1:11 and the top 20 all under 1:12. As the most neglected of the major long distances for Japanese women, the depth of the results were encouraging, whatever the boost from the footwear. Now they just need to incorporate the distance into the National Corporate Women's Ekiden to give them parity with the men and the same kind of leg up in marathon-directed development.

48th National Corporate Half Marathon Championships

Yamaguchi, 2/9/20
complete results

Women's Half Marathon
1. Kaena Takeyama (Daihatsu) - 1:09:12
2. Sakiho Tsutsui (Yamada Denki) - 1:09:14
3. Ayano Ikemitsu (Kagoshima Ginko) - 1:09:16
4. Juri Ichikawa (Yamada Denki) - 1:09:55
5. Ikumi Fukura (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 1:09:58
6. Nao Yamamoto (Toyota Jidoshokki) - 1:10:04
7. Maki Izumida (Daiichi Seimei) - 1:10:13
8. Mao Uesugi (Starts) - 1:10:17
9. Wakana Itsuki (Kyudenko) - 1:10:39
10. Natsumi Matsushita (Tenmaya) - 1:10:50
11. Toshika Tamura (Hitachi) - 1:11:13
12. Kanako Takemoto (Daihatsu) - 1:11:25
13. Chiharu Suzuki (Hitachi) - 1:11:28
14. Nana Sato (Starts) - 1:11:36
15. Misaki Kato (Kyudenko) - 1:11:37
-----
20. Miki Hirai (Higo Ginko) - 1:11:53
29. Yuma Adachi (Kyocera) - 1:12:52
35. Ai Ikemoto (Daihatsu) - 1:13:58
37. Yomogi Akasaka (Starts) - 1:14:36
-----
DNF - Yuka Hori (Panasonic)
DNF - Kikuyo Tsuzaki (Noritz)
DNF - Yuki Maehata (Otsuka Seiyaku)

Women's 10 km
1. Momoka Kawaguchi (Toyota Jidoshokki) - 33:18
2. Misaki Hayashida (Kyudenko) - 33:19
3. Reina Hashino (Hitachi) - 33:26
4. Nagisa Shimotabira (Daihatsu) - 33:29
5. Shuri Ogasawara (Denso) - 33:30
6. Rina Miyata (Kyudenko) - 33:33
7. Mei Kanemaru (Miyazaki Ginko) - 33:41
8. Hina Kawakita (Denso) - 33:44
9. Rika Ichihara (Miyazaki Ginko) - 33:50
10. Sumire Honda (Juhachi Ginko) - 33:51

Men's Half Marathon
1. James Rungaru (Chuo Hatsujo) - 1:00:27
2. Kiyoshi Koga (Yasukawa Denki) - 1:00:49
3. Hiroki Suzuki (YKK) - 1:00:50
4. Patrick Muendo Mwaka (Aisan Kogyo) - 1:00:53
5. Shin Kimura (Honda) - 1:00:54
6. Yusuke Nishiyama (Toyota) - 1:00:55
7. Jun Nobuto (Mazda) - 1:00:56
8. Takahiro Nakamura (Kyocera Kagoshima) - 1:00:57
9. Masashi Nonaka (Osaka Gas) - 1:00:58
10. Daisuke Horiai (Yakult) - 1:00:59
11. Ryota Sato (Tokyo Police Dep't) - 1:01:01
12. Yusuke Baba (Komori Corp.) - 1:01:02
13. Noritoshi Hara (Honda) - 1:01:03
14. Daisuke Hosomori (YKK) - 1:01:05
15. Naoki Koyama (Honda) - 1:01:08
16. Tsubasa Ichiyama (Saitama Ika Univ. Group) - 1:01:14
17. Tsuyoshi Bando (Osaka Gas) - 1:01:18
18. Tatsuya Oike (Toyota Boshoku) - 1:01:23
19. Kenta Murayama (Asahi Kasei) - 1:01:26
20. Takumi Kiyotani (Chugoku Denryoku) - 1:01:27
21. Kenta Uchida (Saitama Ika Univ. Group) - 1:01:37
22. Yusuke Osumi (JR Higashi Nihon) - 1:01:41
23. Naoki Aiba (Chudenko) - 1:01:42
24. Koki Yoshioka (Chuo Hatsujo) - 1:01:42
25. Fumihiro Maruyama (Asahi Kasei) - 1:01:45
-----
46. Hiroki Tsujiyoko (Osaka Gas) - 1:01:58
71. Chihiro Fujie (Press Kogyo) - 1:02:59
86. Kansuke Morihashi (Raffine) - 1:03:55
95. Ayumu Hisaibaru (Kurosaki Harima) - 1:04:55
105. Eikichi Kazaoka (JFE Steel) - 1:05:56
-----
DNF - Jonathan Ndiku (Hitachi Butsuryu)

© 2020 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Arao Becomes 1st Man in 40 Years to Score Back-to-Back Ome Road Race Wins

30 km is an under-appreciated distance, and both of Japan's big races at that distance happened Sunday. At the Ome Road Race in western Tokyo's mountains, Sydney Marathon 6th-placer Masato Arao (ND Software) became the first man since the great Kunimitsu Ito in 1985-1986 to win back-to-back years. Arao, who finished 39th of 40 on his leg at the New Year Ekiden last month, stayed in the pack through 20 km before going on the attack, putting over a minute on New Year Ekiden Sixth Stage CR breaker Yudai Shimazu (GMO). Sub-1:31 winning times are rare on the tough and hilly Ome course, but Arao's 1:30:54 almost equaled his 1:30:50 from last year, making him the first Japanese man ever to do it twice and second only to CR holder Ezekiel Cheboitibin . Next up Arao races the Tokyo Marathon, where he is targeting sub-2:06. Shimazu was 2nd in 1:31:58 and Yuta Nakayama (JR Higashi Nihon) 3rd in 1:32:07. Cheboitibin was only 9th, running almost 8 minutes off his CR in 1:36:42. Shi...
3 comments
Read more

Nagoya Women's Marathon Elite Field

Last year's top 3 Sheila Chepkirui , Sayaka Sato and Eunice Chebichii Chumba are back for this year's Nagoya Women's Marathon on Mar. 8, but things are being set up more for it to be a race between Chepkirui, 2:17:49 in Berlin 2023, Aynalem Desta , 2:17:37 in Amsterdam last fall, and Japanese NR holder Honami Maeda , 2:18:59 at the Osaka International Women's Marathon in 2024. Aynalem has the freshest sub-2:20 of the 3, with neither Chepkirui nor Maeda having done it in 2 years. Maeda's only recent result is a 1:10:07 from Houston last month, but when she ran her NR she didn't have any kind of tuneup race to indicate her fitness so it's probably best not to read too much into that. If it goes out as a 2:18 race those are the only 3 who can probably hang with it. If it turns out to be more of a 2:20 race like when Chepkirui won in 2:20:40 last year then there's a group of 7 at the 2:20-2:22 level who will be in the picture, including Chumba, Selly Chep...
Post a Comment
Read more

'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 .
Post a Comment
Read more