Skip to main content

Uchida 4th at Chevron Houston Marathon

Making his international debut with support from JRN, Kenta Uchida (SID Group) took 4th in the Chevron Houston Marathon in a tight pack race to the end. The debuting Frank Lara (U.S.A.) did most of the work throughout the race, leading the front group through halfway in 1:05:30 before things slowed to mid-2:12 territory. When another first-timer, Luke Caldwell (Great Britain) caught up just after 25 km and went right by into the lead the pace picked up, but at 40 km it was still a group of 6 all right together.

James Ngandu (Kenya), yet another runner doing his first marathon, had the strongest kick, finishing in 2:11:03 to run almost even splits. 2nd placer Abdi Abdo (Bahrain) was 8 seconds behind by the end, but just 9 seconds separated him from 5th. Elisha Barno (Kenya) edged Uchida for 3rd by 3 seconds 2:11:16 to 2:11:19, with 2020 winner Kelkile Gezahegn (Ethiopia) another second behind Uchida. Both Lara and Caldwell cleared 2:12 in 6th and 7th.

"For his first time racing overseas this was pretty good," said Uchida's coach Junichi Shibata. "He was right there until the end and didn't drop off or go too early. I'm happy with how he did." "I'm happy with how I did," said Shibata, "but more than happy I'm just really tired." Shibata's result moved him up to 5th in the Japan Marathon Championship rankings, where a top-8 ranking at the end of March qualifies the athletes for the 2024 MGC Olympic marathon trials.

In the women's race Keira D'Amato (U.S.A.) soloed a male-paced 2:19:12 national record, winning by almost 10 minutes over runner-up Alice Wright (Great Britain) and exactly tying Olympic gold medalist Mizuki Noguchi's Japanese national record. The American record also fell in the accompanying half-marathon where Sara Hall ran 1:07:15 for 2nd behind Vicoty Chepngeno (Kenya), who set an American all-comers record of 1:05:03. Milkelsa Tolosa (Ethiopia) won the men's race in 1:00:24 by 3 seconds over John Korir (Kenya). 8th-placer Rory Linkletter set a Canadian national record of 1:01:08.

50th Chevron Houston Marathon

Houston, Texas, U.S.A., 16 Jan., 2022

Men
1. James Ngandu (Kenya) - 2:11:03 - debut
2. Abdi Abdo (Bahrain) - 2:11:11
3. Elisha Barno (Kenya) - 2:11:16
4. Kenta Uchida (Japan/SID Group) - 2:11:19
5. Kelkile Gezahegn (Ethiopia) - 2:11:20
6. Frank Lara (U.S.A.) - 2:11:32 - debut
7. Luke Caldwell (Great Britain) - 2:11:33 - debut
8. Josh Izewski (U.S.A.) - 2:12:45 - PB
9. Augustus Maiyo (U.S.A.) - 2:13:17
10. Rodgers Ondati Gesabwa (U.S.A.) - 2:14:46

Women
1. Keira D'Amato (U.S.A.) - 2:19:12 - NR, CR
2. Alice Wright (Great Britain) - 2:29:08
3. Maggie Montoya (U.S.A.) - 2:29:08
4. Roberta Groner (U.S.A.) - 2:32:02
5. Atsede Tesema (Ethiopia) - 2:32:38
6. Brittney Feivor (U.S.A.) - 2:32:39
7. Kathya Mirell Garcia Barrios (Mexico) - 2:32:54
8. Christina Welsh (U.S.A.) - 2:33:00
9. Molly Bookmyer (U.S.A.) - 2:33:19
10. Andrea Pomaranski (U.S.A.) - 2:33:35

Men's Half Marathon
1. Milkelsa Tolosa (Ethiopia) - 1:00:24
2. John Korir (Kenya) - 1:00:27
3. Wilfred Kimitei (Kenya) - 1:00:44
4. Kirubel Erassa (U.S.A.) - 1:00:44
5. Shadrack Kimining (Kenya) - 1:00:53
6. Patrick Tiernan (Australia) - 1:00:55
7. Biya Simbassa (U.S.A.) - 1:01:03
8. Rory Linkletter (Canada) - 1:01:08 - NR
9. Sydney Gidabuday (U.S.A.) - 1:01:09
10. Scott Fauble (U.S.A.) - 1:01:11

Women's Half Marathon
1. Vicoty Chepngeno (Kenya) - 1:05:03 - ACR
2. Sara Hall (U.S.A.) - 1:07:15 - NR
3. Dominique Scott (South Africa) - 1:07:32
4. Fiona O'Keefe (U.S.A.) - 1:07:42
5. Jessica Judd (Great Britain) - 1:07:52
6. Emily Durgin (U.S.A.) - 1:07:54
7. Caren Maiyo (Kenya) - 1:08:41
8. Dakotah Lindwurm (U.S.A.) - 1:09:36
9. Nell Rojas (U.S.A.) - 1:09:42
10. Annie Frisbie (U.S.A.) - 1:10:27

© 2022 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Murayama and Sasaki Making U.S. Debut at New York Mini 10 km

Every year since 2012 that there's been a United Airlines NYC Half , JRN has partnered with the NYRR and November's Ageo City Half Marathon to bring two top-tier collegiate Japanese men to the NYC Half for what's usually been their international debuts. For years we've wanted to extend that program to include top collegiate women, but that has always faced 2 problems. For one, while the half marathon distance is the main focus for Japanese collegiate men due to the stage lengths at the Hakone Ekiden, few collegiate women run it. Those that do run the National University Women's Half Marathon in Matsue, held the same day as the NYC Half. This year, though, we're finally making it happen in a slightly different way. Amisa Murayama and Nazuki Sasaki of 2025 Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden national collegiate championship runner-up Tohoku Fukushi University are joining the field for the NYRR's Mastercard New York Mini 10 km on June 6. After running an 18:14 CR ...
Post a Comment
Read more

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."...
82 comments
Read more

Some Reflections on the Ekiden

by Brett Larner This ekiden season I've had a few thoughts kicking around, and watching this week's Hakone Ekiden a few of them became clearer.  These are still in progress, but at the moment this is what I'm thinking in terms of running as a spectator sport and about the quality of Japanese men's distance running right now. Quality: Japanese men's running is coming up very, very quickly.  I was in the lead car at November's Ageo City Half Marathon , where 18 men, 17 of them university runners, broke 63 minutes.  As it was going on we all thought it was a slow race because there were so many people running that pace all the way, no separation at all in the mass of the pack. See the JRN header photo above, taken just past halfway.  That's pretty unusual in Japan, especially at the university level; generally you'll get a handful of guys who run an aggressive pace and a mass running dead on a safe pace, 3:00/km in a half marathon, for example. Th...
18 comments
Read more