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

Measuring Marathon Courses by Bicycle

http://news.searchina.ne.jp/disp.cgi?y=2013&d=0110&f=column_0110_034.shtml translated by Brett Larner The full marathon is a sport where you compete over 42.195 km, but how do they go about measuring that distance?  Today we're going to look a little bit at how they go about certifying the distance of a marathon. The reality is that major international marathons use a bicycle to measure the distance.  This rule is an international standard, and the same method of measurement is used everywhere.  It was put into place in 1986.  In order to ensure that the same method is used everywhere, a bicycle that meets IAAF specifications must be used for measurement. In the case of Japan's major marathons, to be certain that the distance is correct a provisional measurement is first made.  Before the course is certified using a bicycle the course is measured using a 50 m-long length of wire to determine that it is in fact 42.195 km.  When a bicycle is u...
2 comments
Read more

Ai Hosoda Announces Retirement

photo © 2025 Victah Sailer/Photo Run, all rights reserved On Jan. 8 the Edion women's corporate team announced that Ai Hosoda , 30, will retire at the end of March this year. The Tokyo Marathon will be her last race. At Nagano Higashi H.S. Hosoda ran in the National High School Ekiden her 2nd and 3rd years. During her 3rd year at Nittai University she won both the 5000 m and 10000 m at the Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships, going on to win the bronze medal in the 10000 m at the World University Games in her 4th year at Nittai. After graduating she joined the Daihatsu corporate team, debuting at the 2019 Nagoya Women's Marathon in 2:29:27. 2 years later she transferred to Edion. She qualified for the Paris Olympics marathon trials at the 2022 Nagoya Women's Marathon and finished 3rd in the trials in the fall of 2023, but was later bumped down to Olympic alternate after another athlete ran a faster time. Instead of the Olympics, Hosoda ran the 2024 Ber...
2 comments
Read more

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 .
77 comments
Read more