Mathenge Breaks National Corporate Half Marathon Course Record

Patrick Mathenge Wambui (NTT Nishi Nihon) ran a PB of nearly a minute to win the 2021 National Corporate Half Marathon Championships men's race Sunday in Yamaguchi. Wambui had pressure until almost 20 km from 2016 national cross-country champion Takashi Ichida (Asahi Kasei) before kicking away for the win, crossing the line in a world-leading 1:00:12 to take 6 seconds off the course record. Ichida was next in 1:00:19, a PB by almost two minutes, the fastest Japanese time on the corporate nationals course by 13 seconds, and the fourth-fastest ever by a Japanese man.

Benard Kimani (Comody Iida) was the only other man under 61 minutes at 1:00:30 for 3rd, with the top 26 all breaking 62 minutes. Further back, 48-year-old Satoshi Emoto (Mitsubishi Okazaki) ran 1:06:28, bettering Martin Rees' age 48 world record by 1 second.

Last year's Nagoya Women's Marathon runner-up Yuka Ando (Wacoal) dominated the women's race, running each 5 km split progressively faster to win in 1:09:54. Sakiho Tsutsui (Yamada) was 2nd in 1:10:10 with Ayari Harada (Daiichi Seimei) 3rd in 1:10:17. 14 women broke 71 minutes.

49th National Corporate Half Marathon Championships

Yamaguchi, 14 Feb. 2021

complete men's results

complete women's results

Men

1. Patrick Mathenge Wambui (NTT Nishi Nihon) - 1:00:12 - CR

2. Takashi Ichida (Asahi Kasei) - 1:00:19

3. Benard Kimani (Comody Iida) - 1:00:30

4. Kiyoshi Koga (Yasukawa Denki) - 1:01:13

5. Masashi Nonaka (Osaka Gas) - 1:01:14

6. Kyohei Hosoya (Kurosaki Harima) - 1:01:16

7. Yuki Muta (Hitachi Butsuryu) - 1:01:17

8. Sho Nagato (Hitachi Butsuryu) - 1:01:19

9. Shun Yuzawa (SGH Group) - 1:01:19

10. Wataru Tochigi (Hitach Butsuryu) - 1:01:21

------

25. Yusuke Tamura (Kurosaki Harima) - 1:01:53

50. Yusuke Osumi (JR Higashi Nihon) - 1:02:38

75. Kazuya Yamaguchi (Chugoku Denryoku) - 1:03:15

100. Junpei Kanisawa (Toyota Boshoku) - 1:03:48

125. Ryunosuke Hayashi (SGH Group) - 1:04:41

150. Takuya Kumashiro (Sanyo Tokushu Seiko) - 1:05:33

174. Satoshi Emoto (Mitsubishi Okazaki) - 1:06:28

175. Hideaki Ishii (Fujitsu) - 1:06:32

200. Kazuto Arishige (JR Nishi Nihon) - 1:07:40

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DNF - Kota Murayama (Asahi Kasei)

DNF - Biyazen Yeneblo (Yachiyo Kogyo)

Women

1. Yuka Ando (Wacoal) - 1:09:54

2. Sakiho Tsutsui (Yamada) - 1:10:10

3. Ayari Harada (Daiichi Seimei) - 1:10:17

4. Natsumi Matsushita (Tenmaya) - 1:10:18

5. Ikumi Fukura (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 1:10:21

6. Yumi Yoshikawa (Uniqlo) - 1:10:23

7. Wakana Itsuki (Kyudenko) - 1:10:23

8. Kaori Morita (Panasonic) - 1:10:28

9. Saya Nishitani (Route Inn Hotels) - 1:10:38

10. Rei Ohara (Tenmaya) - 1:10:46

-----

25. Hanae Tanaka (Shiseido) - 1:11:50

50. Risa Yokoe (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 1:14:16

75. Kasumi Ogawa (Starts) - 1:19:03

-----

DNF - Miku Daido (Iwatani Sangyo)

Australian YouTuber Handed Lifetime Ban by Ageo City Half Marathon After Running 1:06 with Another Runner's Bib (updated)

After discussion with their race's chief JAAF referee, on Nov. 27 the organizers of the Ageo City Half Marathon handed down a lifetime ban from their event against 36-year-old Australian Matt Inglis Fox for running the Nov. 15 race wearing the bib number of another JAAF-registered runner. The incident came to light after Fox posted on his personal Instagram account that he had run a PB of 1:06:33 and finished 203rd in Ageo with a 10 km split of 31:03, along with photos and video of himself in the race wearing a bib number beginning with 11. Fox did not appear in the results by name or in that time or place, the closest match being a 1:06:54 gross, 1:06:50 net finish time with a 31:21 10 km split for 18th place in the JAAF-registered division and 209th overall by bib number 1129, registered to a non-Japanese Tokyo-resident club runner. The club runner, Harrisson Uk , readily confirmed that he had given his bib to Fox, saying, "I gave my number to Matt. It wasn't me."...

How it Happened

Ancient History I went to Wesleyan University, where the legend of four-time Boston Marathon champ and Wes alum Bill Rodgers hung heavy over the cross-country team. Inspired by Koichi Morishita and Young-Cho Hwang’s duel at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics I ran my first marathon in 1993, qualifying for Boston ’94 where Bill was kind enough to sign a star-struck 20-year-old me’s bib number at the expo. Three years later I moved to Japan for grad school, and through a long string of coincidences I came across a teenaged kid named Yuki Kawauchi down at my neighborhood track. I never imagined he’d become what he is, but right from the start there was just something different about him. After his 2:08:37 breakthrough at the 2011 Tokyo Marathon he called me up and asked me to help him get into races abroad. He’d finished 3rd on the brutal downhill Sixth Stage at the Hakone Ekiden, and given how he’d run the hills in the last 6 km at Tokyo ’11 I thought he’d do well at Boston or New York. “I...

Nat'l University Ekiden Updates Here

Looks like I just went over my update limit on Twitter - sorry, it's the first time I've tried to use it for this. I'll look for another option next time. In the meantime I'll add updates to the comments below. Not sure if that has a max too but I guess we'll find out. Update: Part one of the Nationals commentary can be found here .

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