Shimoda Qualifies for Paris Olympic Trials at Ottawa Marathon

Three Japanese athletes ran Sunday's Tartan Ottawa International Marathon in an effort to score qualifying marks for the 2023 MGC Race, Japan's marathon trials for the 2024 Paris Olympics. In the men's race, Yuta Shimoda (GMO) and Takumi Oishi (Suzuki) went with the leaders all the way until eventual winner Andualem Shiferaw (Ethiopia) made his move before 30 km. Shiferaw, the favorite with a best of 2:05:52, was stellar over the second half, going 1:03:52 / 1:02:12 to set a new course record 2:06:04 for the win.

When Shiferaw attacked, Oishi, coached by 2010 Ottawa winner Arata Fujiwara, immediately dropped off, ultimately finishing 8th in 2:15:50. Shimoda, who ran 2:08:35 at March's Tokyo Marathon and needed to run 2:11:25 here to qualify for the trials, hung on to 3rd, overtaken by Abdi Ali Gelchu (Bahrain) and dropping to 4th at one point but running down Leonard Langat (Kenya) just before the finish to retake 3rd.

Yamaguchi went out in a pack of 6 women that ignored early leaders Juliet Chekwel (Uganda) and Rebecca Chesire (Kenya), both of whom eventually dropped out. By halfway that group was down to just Yamaguchi and Kinsey Middleton (Canada), but when Middleton surged on the climb across a bridge near 25 km Yamaguchi lost touch. Middleton went on to win in 2:30:09, but Yamaguchi struggled to keep it together and faded to 5th in 2:35:57.

In his victory interview Shiferaw said through an interpreter, "With the exception of the inconvenience caused by the visa application process, everything was great after I arrived here in Ottawa." This year's elite race was hard-hit by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada's new online visa application system, which resulted in at least 12 men and 13 women from Mongolia, Kenya, Ethiopia and Bahrain not receiving their visas or visa-containing passports back from the IRCC in time to travel for the race.

Malcolm Anderson, head of the Moyo Sports agency, said 5 people from his group, 3 athletes and 2 pacers, had been affected. "The passports were in the Addis processing centre with visas approved, but we could not get them to be released in time for travel," Anderson said. "Immensely frustrating for all." Only 8 African athletes in the two races, not including pacers, did get their visas in time for the race. Elite athlete coordinator Dylan Wykes had assembled what would have been the strongest elite fields ever on Canadian soil to run in the nation's capital, but despite gladly taking nearly $200 per athlete in application and processing fees the IRCC apparently had other priorities than letting that happen.

2022 Tartan Ottawa International Marathon

Ottawa, Canada, 29 May 2022

complete results

Men

1. Andualem Shiferaw (Ethiopia) - 2:06:04 - CR

2. Abdi Ali Gelchu (Bahrain) - 2:09:24

3. Yuta Shimoda (GMO) - 2:09:50

4. Leonard Langat (Kenya) - 2:09:56

5. Teshome Mekonen (Ethiopia) - 2:13:27 - debut

6. Justin Kent (Canada) - 2:13:34

7. Albert Kangogo (Kenya) - 2:13:57

8. Takumi Oishi (Suzuki) - 2:15:50

9. John Mastandrea (U.S.A.) - 2:17:28

10. Ben Kendell (U.S.A.) - 2:18:28

Women

1. Kinsey Middleton (Canada) - 2:30:09

2. Elissa Legault (Canada) - 2:33:27

3. Katja Goldring (U.S.A.) - 2:33:58

4. Anne-Marie Blaney (U.S.A.) - 2:34:38

5. Haruka Yamaguchi (AC Kita) - 2:35:57

6. Dayna Pidhoresky (Canada) - 2:36:22

7. Lanni Marchant (Canada) - 2:39:42

8. Megan O'Neil( U.S.A.) - 2:39:55

9. Isabel Vazquez (Mexico) - 2:43:54

10. Chirine Njeim (Lebanon) - 2:46:08

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."...

Batt-Doyle and Strintzos Break Records at Launceston Half

Australians Isobel Batt-Doyle and Haftu Strintzos turned in record-breaking performances to win the McGrath Launceston Running Festival Peppers Silo Half Marathon in Tasmania. Running with a private male pacer, NR holder Batt-Doyle dusted the field with the fastest half marathon ever by an Australian woman on Australian soil, a 1:08:46 CR that put her 2 and a half minutes ahead of runner-up Genevieve Gregson . Last year's runner-up Yumi Yoshikawa was almost a minute back from Gregson in 3rd in 1:12:03, but was almost run down by club runner Ayaka Shimoyamada . Starting slow in her international debut, Shimoyamada moved up from 7th over the 2nd half of the race to finish 4th in 1:12:06, kicking hard in the home straight to try to catch Yoshikawa and momentarily blacking out after finishing. Kaho Onishi was 7th in 1:12:45 in her own international debut. The men's half had pacing set at 2:53/km to try to deliver the first-ever sub-61 half marathon on Australian soil. CR holde...

CHN and JPN National Records Go Down - Weekend Track Update

There weren't any Japanese athletes in action at the Rabat Diamond League meet Sunday, but 2 lower-tier domestic meets produced new national records. At the Nittai University Time Trials meet in Yokohama, Samuel Kibathi (Toyota) led the top 5 in the men's 10000 m under 28 minutes in 27:39.97. In 3rd, China's Wenjie Wang took just over a second off his own NR from the same meet last year, setting a new record of 27:47.53. His teammate Haoran Tang was 6th in a 28:27.44 PB, with the top Japanese time in the race being a 28:33.39 for 8th from Jin Yuasa (Toyota). Amazingly, Wang and Tang were back the next day on day 2 of the Nittai meet, Wang running a PB of 13:35.58 for 4th in the A-heat and Tang winning the B-heat in a PB of 13:38.80. Isaac Ndiema took the A-heat in 13:26.49, with the fastest Japanese time going to Yuhei Urano (Fujitsu) with a 13:35.94 for 5th behind Wang. Other Nittai highlights: Deborah Chemutai (Univ. Ent.) won a photo finish against Yua Nagamori ...

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