Skip to main content

22 Men Sub-2:10, 102 Sub-2:20 -- Osaka Marathon Elite Field (updated)


The list of entries has been updated with withdrawals announced Feb. 25.

So it looks like the Osaka Marathon is going to happen. The Osaka International Women's Marathon and mass-participation Osaka Half Marathon just happened the weekend before last, and even as most of the spring's Japanese road races continue to cancel, with less than three weeks to go they've announced the elite fields for the mass-participation Osaka Marathon on Feb. 27. 

On the men's side, Osaka is taking the place of the historic Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon on the calendar. There are a few Japan-based internationals, but with the borders still mostly closed it's another super-deep domestic field. Beppu-Oita just happened yesterday and Tokyo looks like it's also likely to happen, but even so the entry list has ten current 2:07 guys, eight at the 2:08 level, four at 2:09, eight at 2:10, and seven at 2:11. And one guy debuting with a 1:30:38 best for 30km, two debuting sub-61 half marathoners, five 61-minute guys, and Waseda University star senior Yuhi Nakaya, with a 27:54.06 best for 10000 m.

Before we get too excited, a lot of them are also entered in Tokyo or just ran Beppu-Oita, so it's pretty safe to assume that they're just entered here as a backup in case something cancels. But still, it's a deep list, with 102 people on it who've broken 2:20 in the last 3 years. Some notable names include 2020 Fukuoka International Marathon winner Yuya Yoshida (GMO), who will almost definitely be in Tokyo instead, former national record holder Yuta Shitara (Honda), who said on Sunday that he's running Osaka, 2018 Lake Biwa winner Joseph Macharia Ndirangu (Aichi Seiko), and 2021 Fukuoka runner-up James Rungaru (Chuo Hatsujo). 

Osaka is aiming for a platinum label, but without internationals its women's field is disproportionately tiny, probably in deference to Osaka International and March's Nagoya Women's Marathon. Only three women on the list, veterans Misato Horie (Sysmex), Mai Ito (Otsuka Seiyaku) and Mitsuko Ino (Linkstyle) have broken 2:40, but there are two high-potential debuts from Universal Entertainment teammates Azusa Sumi and Rui Aoyama. Sumi has struggled to handle longer distances off the track, making Aoyama the likely favorite.

JRN will be on-site in Osaka throughout race weekend. Check back closer to race date for more on following the race live.

10th Osaka Marathon

Elite Field Highlights
Osaka, 27 Feb., 2022
times listed are best in last three years except where noted

Men
Yuya Yoshida (GMO) - 2:07:05 (Fukuoka Int'l 2020) - withdrawal
Shuho Dairokuno (Asahi Kasei) - 2:07:12 (Lake Biwa 2021) - withdrawal
Yuta Shimoda (GMO) - 2:07:27 (Tokyo 2020) - withdrawal
Yuki Kawauchi (ADHS) - 2:07:27 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Kazuki Muramoto (Sumitomo Denko) - 2:07:36 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Tadashi Isshiki (GMO) - 2:07:39 (Tokyo 2020)
Masaru Aoki (Kanebo) - 2:07:40 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Yuta Shitara (Honda) - 2:07:45 (Tokyo 2020)
Joseph Macharia Ndirangu (Kenya/Aichi Seiko) - 2:07:53 (Lake Biwa 2018) - withdrawal
Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Asahi Kasei) - 2:07:55 (Beppu-Oita 2022) - withdrawal
Natsuki Terada (JR Higashi Nihon) - 2:08:03 (Fukuoka Int'l 2020) - withdrawal
Ichitaka Yamashita (Mitsubishi Juko) - 2:08:10 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Daisuke Doi (Kurosaki Harima) - 2:08:13 (Lake Biwa 2021)
James Rungaru (Kenya/Chuo Hatsujo) - 2:08:25 (Fukuoka Int'l 2021)
Naoki Okamoto (Chugoku Denryoku) - 2:08:37 (Tokyo 2020)
Kenji Yamamoto (Mazda) - 2:08:42 (Lake Biwa 2019)
Keisuke Hayashi (GMO) - 2:08:52 (Lake Biwa 2021) - withdrawal
Kenta Murayama (Asahi Kasei) - 2:08:56 (Berlin 2019)
Yuki Matsumura (Honda) - 2:09:01 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Madoka Tanihara (Osaka Police) - 2:09:15 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Ser-Od Bat-Ochir (Mongolia) - 2:09:26 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Yoshiki Takenouchi (NTT Nishi Nihon) - 2:09:31 (Fukuoka Int'l 2020)
Yuichi Yasui (Toyota) - 2:10:19 (Beppu-Oita 2020)
Masato Imai (Toyota Kyushu) - 2:10:30 (Tokyo 2019)
Jo Fukuda (NN Running Team) - 2:10:32 (Beppu-Oita 2020)
Hiroyuki Yamamoto (Konica Minolta) - 2:10:33 (Lake Biwa 2019)
Yoshihiro Nishizawa (Komori Corp.) - 2:10:37 (Hofu 2020)
Takuma Kumagai (Sumitomo Denko) - 2:10:41 (Fukuoka Int'l 2021)
Yuki Nakamura (Sumitomo Denko) - 2:10:47 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Koshiro Hirata (SGH Group) - 2:10:50 (Lake Biwa 2021)
Asuka Tanaka (Runlife) - 2:11:07 (Fukuoka Int'l 2020) - withdrawal
Yusei Tsutsumi (JFE Steel) - 2:11:07 (Tokyo 2020)
Taiki Yoshimura (Asahi Kasei) - 2:11:13 (Hofu 2019) - withdrawal
Kazuya Azegami (Toyota) - 2:11:15 (Hofu 2020)
Toshinori Watanabe (GMO) - 2:11:17 (Katsuta 2020) - withdrawal
Ryoma Takeuchi (Hitachi Butsuryu) - 2:11:20 (Beppu-Oita 2019) - withdrawal
Fumihiro Maruyama (Asahi Kasei) - 2:11:36 (Kanazawa 2019)

Debut / Do-Over
Kazuto Kawabata (SGH Group) - 1:30:38 (Kumanichi 30 km 2020)
Jun Nobuto (Mazda) - 1:00:56 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2020)
Masashi Nonaka (Osaka Gas) - 1:00:58 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2020)
Shun Yuzawa (SGH Group) - 1:01:19 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2021)
Akito Terui (Subaru) - 1:01:45 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2019)
Masao Kizu (Kanebo) - 1:01:45 (Marugame Half 2019)
Kazuki Uemura (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 1:01:51 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2020)
Shuji Yamamoto (Asahi Kasei) - 1:01:51 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2020) - withdrawal
Yuhi Nakaya (Waseda University) - 27:54.06 (Osaka Nat'l Championships 2020)

Women
Misato Horie (Sysmex) - 2:32:01 (Nagoya 2019)
Mai Ito (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 2:38:07 (Nagoya 2021) - withdrawal
Mitsuko Ino (Linkstyle) - 2:39:04 (Osaka 2019)
Tomomi Nakajima (GRlab) - 2:42:09 (Tokyo 2020)
Mikiko Ota (Kyoto Sumiyama RC) - 2:44:53 (Osaka Int'l 2021)

Debut / Do-Over
Azusa Sumi (Universal Entertainment) - 1:09:21 (Sanyo Ladies Half 2017)
Rui Aoyama (Universal Entertainment) - 1:10:04 (Sanyo Ladies Half 2019)
Nanami Aoki (Iwatani Sangyo) - 1:11:54 (Matsue Ladies Half 2019)

© 2022 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

Andrew Armiger said…
Intriguing fields here!
February 11, 2022 at 10:34 PM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Ngetich and Mutiso Take Down Tokyo Legacy Half CR

In its 5th edition the Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon scored 2 new course records via Kenyans from the Ikaika agency, with 10 km WR holder Agnes Ngetich blasting 3 minutes off the old record to win by over 4 in 1:04:23, and Alexander Mutiso skimming just 1 second under the CR for the win by 5 seconds in 59:51. The 2 races played out completely differently, even if the paydays were the same for the winners. Surrounded by an envelope of male runners all the way to the final 100 m, Ngetich was out hard on the downhill in the first 5 km, hitting it on sub-64 pace in 15:08 before leveling out on the flat middle 10 km. Her next 2 splits projected to 1:04:09 and 1:04:17, and even with the uphill back to the stadium in the last 5 km she didn't fall far off from that, winning in 1:04:23. Runner-up Tabitha Njeri Kamau was nearly a mile back in 1:08:28, with Kamau's Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo teammate Kazuna Kanetomo dropping a 1:10:17 PB for 3rd. Now an independent, track Olympian Kaede Ha...
2 comments
Read more

Waseda Leads Top 7 Teams Under Izumo Ekiden CR, Ivy League Best-Ever 3rd (updated)

3rd last year, Waseda University scored its first Izumo Ekiden win since 2010, taking almost 2 minutes off the CR and leading the top 7 teams under the old record of 2:07:51 for the complete 6-stage, 45.1 km course. Waseda was 16 seconds back in 7th after the First Stage, but its 2nd runner Ojiro Honda made that up easily and put them 6 seconds out front. A massive 22:56 CR for the 8.5 km Third Stage by Shadrack Kipkemei (Nihon Univ.) dropped Waseda back to 2nd even though its runner Ryuki Suzuki broke the old CR too, but back-to-back CR on the next 2 stages by 1st-year Haruki Niizuma and Shunpei Yamaguchi put anchor Shinsaku Kudo out of reach of the rest of the field. Kudo duly won the 10.2 km anchor stage in 29:00, bypassing a 2:06 time entirely for a new 2:05:56 CR, just under 2:48/km average pace for the complete course. Defending champ Koku Gakuin University struggled a bit in the first half of the race but came on strong in the longer second half with 4th and 5th runners...
8 comments
Read more

Route Inn Hotels Win National Corporate Women's Ekiden Qualifier for First Time

After Saturday's Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai qualifying race in Tokyo, 2nd-tier corporate women's teams were in Fukuoka for their own national championships qualifying race, the Princess Ekiden . With Queens Ekiden 19-placer Otsuka Seiyaku a DNS, 30 teams lined up for the 6-stage, 42.195 km race where the top 16 would go on to join the top 8 from last year's Queens Ekiden at next month's national race. Coming right in the middle of the international fall marathon season several teams had people still tired from Berlin and Chicago, with Daihatsu fielding Rika Kaseda and Natsuki Omori from Berlin, Tokyo Metro sending out its own Berlin duo of Mao Uesugi and Ayumi Morita , and Kraftia not playing its top member Yuka Akasaki after her solid run in Chicago last week. After a fast start from eventual 9th-placer Denso 's Rio Matsutani , Daihatsu took over on the Second Stage and held it until the Fifth, where a tired Omori dropped to 3rd. Mayuka Fujita from Route Inn H...
2 comments
Read more