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

Arao Becomes 1st Man in 40 Years to Score Back-to-Back Ome Road Race Wins

30 km is an under-appreciated distance, and both of Japan's big races at that distance happened Sunday. At the Ome Road Race in western Tokyo's mountains, Sydney Marathon 6th-placer Masato Arao (ND Software) became the first man since the great Kunimitsu Ito in 1985-1986 to win back-to-back years. Arao, who finished 39th of 40 on his leg at the New Year Ekiden last month, stayed in the pack through 20 km before going on the attack, putting over a minute on New Year Ekiden Sixth Stage CR breaker Yudai Shimazu (GMO). Sub-1:31 winning times are rare on the tough and hilly Ome course, but Arao's 1:30:54 almost equaled his 1:30:50 from last year, making him the first Japanese man ever to do it twice and second only to CR holder Ezekiel Cheboitibin . Next up Arao races the Tokyo Marathon, where he is targeting sub-2:06. Shimazu was 2nd in 1:31:58 and Yuta Nakayama (JR Higashi Nihon) 3rd in 1:32:07. Cheboitibin was only 9th, running almost 8 minutes off his CR in 1:36:42. Shi...
3 comments
Read more

Osaka Marathon Preview

The Osaka Marathon is Sunday, one of Japan's biggest mass-participation races and the next stop on the calendar for its elite marathoners hoping to qualify for the L.A. Olympics marathon trials in the fall of 2027. Last year it snowed mid-race, but this year is looking warmer than ideal given the season, with sunny skies, almost no wind, and temps forecast to be 11˚ at the start and rising to 19˚ by the time the winners are finishing. NHK is broadcasting Osaka with a heavy emphasis on the men's race, and if you've got a VPN you should be able to watch it from overseas. There's also official streaming on Youtube starting at 8:30 a.m. local time, although it doesn't look like it's the same as what NHK will be showing. Given Osaka's history at the elite level as the continuation of the men-only Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, the women's field is small relative to the men's, just enough to tick World Athletics' label requirements and with almost no do...
1 comment
Read more

Nagoya Women's Marathon Elite Field

Last year's top 3 Sheila Chepkirui , Sayaka Sato and Eunice Chebichii Chumba are back for this year's Nagoya Women's Marathon on Mar. 8, but things are being set up more for it to be a race between Chepkirui, 2:17:49 in Berlin 2023, Aynalem Desta , 2:17:37 in Amsterdam last fall, and Japanese NR holder Honami Maeda , 2:18:59 at the Osaka International Women's Marathon in 2024. Aynalem has the freshest sub-2:20 of the 3, with neither Chepkirui nor Maeda having done it in 2 years. Maeda's only recent result is a 1:10:07 from Houston last month, but when she ran her NR she didn't have any kind of tuneup race to indicate her fitness so it's probably best not to read too much into that. If it goes out as a 2:18 race those are the only 3 who can probably hang with it. If it turns out to be more of a 2:20 race like when Chepkirui won in 2:20:40 last year then there's a group of 7 at the 2:20-2:22 level who will be in the picture, including Chumba, Selly Chep...
Post a Comment
Read more