Skip to main content

UTMF Returns


Spanning three days beginning Friday, Apr. 22, the Ultra-Trail Mt. Fuji returned this weekend after cancelations the last two years during the pandemic, with great weather across the course around the foot of Mt. Fuji through Shizuoka and Yamanashi prefectures. 1,808 people ran the UTMF 165 km long course, with another 489 in the KAI 69 km short course, all of them enjoying spectacular views of Mt. Fuji as they ran its trails. Among them were some of the country's best trail athletes, making for the first elite-level trail race in Japan in a long time.

Covering 157.9 km with 6388 km total elevation gain, the UTMF 165 km division race started at Fujisan Kodomonokuni park in Fuji, Shizuoka and finished at the Fujikyu Highlands amusement park in Yamanashi in Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi. With a course change announced on Apr. 20 that cut out some of the hilliest sections and kept runners on shorter and flatter forest roads, 2019 4th-placer Masatoshi Obara took the lead in the early stages. But after leaving the U2 checkpoint at 43.2 km Obara slowed as he hit the true mountain trails.

Hirokazu Nishimura was quick to overtake him for the lead. After the U4 checkpoint at 65.6 km and the paved roads of the Fuji Panorama Line section, Nishimura moved into 1st near Narusawa Ice Cave and never looked back, reaching the finish in a total time of 18:15:32. It was his first Ultra-Trail Mt. Fuji victory.

Dueling for 2nd were Takashi Doi and Hajime Mamba. Mamba overtook Doi at one point, but just before the U9 checkpoint at 142.4 km he took a wrong turn, giving Doi the chance to retake 2nd before Mamba could get back on course. Doi crossed the finish line 2nd in 18:45:45, Mamba a short distance back in 18:52:02. Former elite-level marathoners Tomonori Onitsuka and Seiji Kobayashi were 4th and 5th.

2018 women's 8th-placer Kimino Miyazaki was 19th overall in 22:14:15 to take the win in the women's race. After starting slow, Miyazaki picked up her pace aggressively after the U2 checkpoint and held 1st the rest of the way, running down male competitors one by one en route to victory. Shunko Yano ran conservatively over the 2nd half to take 2nd in 23:35:55, with Yukari Hoshino taking 3rd in 23:55:15 in her 8th UTMF appearance. Yukiko Sawada and Makiko Imada were 4th and 5th.


A new addition to the event this year, the KAI 69 km short course covered 69.4 km over the 2nd half of the UTMF 165 km course, with a total elevation gain of 3675 m. In the men's race Hiroki Kai and Yutaro Yokouchi battled head-to-head the entire way until the final climb up Mt. Shimo. Kai proved the stronger, taking the win in 7:32:00 as Yokouchi faded to 7:43:48 for 2nd. 3rd-placer Miki Ushida was close behind in 7:53:13, with Kazuhisa Muneishi 4th and Shintaro Hirasawa 5th. 

National team member Yuri Yoshizumi beat both Muneishi and Hirasawa to cross the finish line 4th, winning the women's race in an outstanding 8:12:29. 2nd-place woman Maria Nakazono was over 2 hours behind in 10:13:13, 3rd-placer Natsumi Yamauchi another 35 minutes back in 10:48:39. Nami Ishihara and Yukari Tanaka took 4th and 5th.


source article:
translated by Brett Larner

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Morii Surprises With Second-Ever Japanese Sub-2:10 at Boston

With three sub-2:09 Japanese men in the race and good weather conditions by Boston standards the chances were decent that somebody was going to follow 1981 winner Toshihiko Seko 's 2:09:26 and score a sub-2:10 at the Boston Marathon . But nobody thought it was going to be by a 2:14 amateur. Paris Olympic team member Suguru Osako had taken 3rd in Boston in 2:10:28 in his debut seven years ago, and both he and 2:08 runners Kento Otsu and Ryoma Takeuchi were aiming for spots in the top 10, Otsu after having run a 1:01:43 half marathon PB in February and Takeuchi of a 2:08:40 marathon PB at Hofu last December. A high-level amateur with a 2:14:15 PB who scored a trip to Boston after winning a local race in Japan, Yuma Morii told JRN minutes before the start of the race, "I'm not thinking about time at all. I'm going to make top 10, whatever time it takes." Running Boston for the first time Morii took off with a 4:32 on the downhill opening mile, but after that  Sis
Post a Comment
Read more

Saturday at Kanaguri and Nittai

Two big meets happened Saturday, one in Kumamoto and the other in Yokohama. At Kumamoto's Kanaguri Memorial Meet , Benard Koech (Kyudenko) turned in the performance of the day with a 13:13.52 meet record to win the men's 5000 m A-heat by just 0.11 seconds over Emmanuel Kipchirchir (SGH). The top four were all under 13:20, with 10000 m national record holder Kazuya Shiojiri (Fujitsu) bouncing back from a DNF at last month's The TEN to take the top Japanese spot at 7th overall in 13:24.57. The B-heat was also decently quick, Shadrack Rono (Subaru) winning in 13:21.55 and Shoya Yonei (JR Higashi Nihon) running a 10-second PB to get under 13:30 for the first time in 13:29.29 for 6th. Paris Olympics marathoner Akira Akasaki (Kyudenko) was 9th in 13:30.62. South Sudan's Abraham Guem (Ami AC) also set a meet record in the men's 1500 m A-heat in 3:38.94. 3000 mSC national record holder Ryuji Miura made his debut with the Subaru corporate team, running 3:39.78 for 2n
1 comment
Read more

93-Year-Old Masters Track and Field WR Holder Hiroo Tanaka: "Everyone has Unexplored Intrinsic Abilities"

  In the midst of a lot of talk about how to keep the aging population young, there are people with long lives who are showing extraordinary physical abilities. One of them is Hiroo Tanaka , 93, a multiple world champion in masters track and field. Tanaka began running when he was 60, before which he'd never competed in his adult life. "He's so fast he's world-class." "His running form is so beautiful. It's like he's flying." Tanaka trains at an indoor track in Aomori five days a week. Asked about him, that's the kind of thing the people there say. Tanaka holds multiple masters track and field world records, where age is divided into five-year groups. Last year at the World Masters Track and Field Championships in Poland he set a new world record of 38.79 for 200 m in the M90 class (men's 90-94 age group). People around the world were amazed at the time, which was almost unbelievable for a 92-year-old. After retiring from his job as an el
Post a Comment
Read more