Photo Finishes in Hofu and Sanyo - Weekend Road Race Results

Sunday had the last two big non-ekiden Japanese road races of the year, the 52nd Hofu Yomiuri Marathon and 40th Sanyo Ladies Road Race half marathon and 10 km.

In Hofu, as expected the race was all about whether former Hakone Ekiden uphill star Daichi Kamino (Cell Source), now coached by 2:07 Olympian and past Hofu winner Arata Fujiwara, could finally pull off a good marathon. Despite strong winds, pacers Titus Wambua and Michael Githae, the winner in Fukuoka two weeks ago and Kamino's training partner under Fujiwara, did a stellar job through 30 km, their projected finish time never varying by more than a few seconds at each 5 km split and hitting halfway in 1:04:47.

When they stopped, the debuting Dominic Nyairo (NTT Nishi Nihon), winner of Hakone's most competitive stage in 2018 while at Yamanashi Gakuin University, went to the front. Kamino was the only one to go with him, and they stayed locked together until Nyairo made a break at 41 km. It looked over, but in the home straight on the track Kamino found a sprint in himself and pulled even with Nyairo right before the line. Nyairo responded, just enough, and broke the tape by the narrowest of margins.

Both runners clocked 2:09:34, exactly double their halfway splits. It was a solid start to his marathon career for Nyairo and enough to get Kamino onto the still very short list of qualifiers for MGC II, the 2024 Olympic marathon trials. Following Githae's win in Fukuoka it was also a big boost for Fujiwara's coaching career. Fujiwara also had 2 other runners on the 8-deep podium, Tadashi Suzuki 5th in 2:12:12 and Takumi Oishi 8th in 2:13:09. 4 of the top 9 doubled after running Fukuoka, and enigmatically all of them except 40-year-old Mongolian NR holder Ser-Od Bat-Ochir were faster this time. Most noteworthy was amateur Yusuke Tobimatsu, 4th in a 2-minute PB of 2:10:47 after running 2:13:24 for 15th in Fukuoka. Bat-Ochir took 9th in 2:14:03, just under 2 minutes slower than his 2:12:06 in Fukuoka.

In the women's race, Nana Sato, a training partner of last year's winner Yomogi Akasaka, went out at CR pace while favorite Reia Iwade, who had said she was running Hofu as a training run effort for a serious spring race, stayed around the 2:30~31 line. Sato maintained a lead of over a minute over Iwade most of the way, but between 35 and 40 km she abruptly crashed. Iwade took the win in 2:31:32, Sato finishing over 2 minutes behind in 2:33:42. 47-year-old Mai Fujisawa continued a solid season, taking 3rd in 2:37:43.

Tokyo Paralympics women's marathon gold medalist Misato Michishita negative split a 2:58:06 to win the women's IPC category race, Toshiharu Takai taking the men's IPC race in 2:29:39.

In Sanyo, Ethiopian Denso teammates Zeyituna Husan and Desta Burka ran side-by-side the entire way in the half marathon, clocking identical splits at every 5 km and both finishing in 1:09:31. Husan got the win and Burka 2nd after the pair dropped Kenyan Joan Chepkemoi, 3rd in 1:09:38. Steeplechase specialist Yumi Yoshikawa was the top Japanese woman at 5th in 1:10:07 after lasting with the lead ground through 15 km.

The 10 km was fast from the start, with Kenyan trio Agnes Mwikali Mutuku, Naomi Muthoni Kariuki and Janet Nyiva Mutungi, a student at local Kurashi H.S., going through 5 km in 15:33 versus the Japanese pack's 16:18. All three broke Mwikali's 31:39 course record from last year, the 19-year-old Mwikali winning in again in 31:11, Muthoni 2nd in 31:15, and 17-year-old Nyiva 3rd in 31:21. Mwikali and Nyiva set the two fastest U20 times in the world this year, with Nyiva's also the U18 world leader. Another steeplechase specialist, Chikako Mori, was the fastest Japanese athlete here too, running 32:41 for 4th.

Also on Sunday, the National Junior High School Ekiden had its 29th edition. In the 5-stage, 12.0 km girls' race, Hyogo's Inami J.H.S. led start-to-finish for the win despite anchor Naoko Fujita struggling and finishing only 11th of 48 teams in the race. In the 6-stage, 18.0 km boys' race, Kyoto's Katsura J.H.S. overcame a slow start to move up from 17th to 1st by the Fourth Stage. Katsura ultimately finished with a 29-second lead over Fukushima's Tanaka J.H.S.

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

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

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

japan running news

Search This Blog