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NR Holders Maeda and Ogura Lead Hokkaido Marathon Elite Field

Corona numbers in Japan are at record-breaking levels right now, some of the highest in the world, but at least a few races are throwing caution to the wind, in their own highly controlled way, and trying to go ahead. The Hokkaido Marathon is one of them, an end-of-summer regular making a comeback this year in order to give a shortcut to 2024 MGC Race olympic trials qualification to anyone who can handle hot conditions. It announced its elite field today.

Honami Maeda, was the first woman to qualify for the pre-Tokyo Olympics MGC, winning Hokkaido back in 2017 and going on to win the trials. She broke the 30 km NR without wearing super shoes after that, but things haven't been great for her for a long time. But while every other good marathoner from the Tenmaya team has never pulled back up once they start the downward spiral, Maeda has re-emerged this spring with two good half marathons, the better a 1:08:28 PB and CR win in nearby Hakodate a month ago.

That's all good, but she has competition from two people with solid times in Osaka this past January, Mao Uesugi (Starts), 2nd in Osaka in 2:22:29, and Maeda's teammate Natsumi Matsushita, 3rd in 2:23:05. There are another four women in the 2:26~2:30 range, so with conditions likely to be not that favorable for fast times the big three will probably have to deal with hot weather specialists.

Half marathon NR holder Yusuke Ogura and Ryu Takaku, both 2:06 men from the Yakult team, front the men's race, which includes five other men with recent bests between 2:07:05 and 2:07:41. Deeper entry lists haven't been announced yet but there are sure to be a lot more just a step or two down the ladder. In both races, the winner will have the chance to pick up MGC qualification if they hit the required time standards.

Held in Sapporo, where the Tokyo Olympics marathons were forcibly relocated, Hokkaido is leaning into the Paralympic movement too even though Tokyo managed to hang on to the marathons at the Paralympic Games last fall. Women's gold medalist Misato Michishita (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) and men's bronze medalist Tadashi Horikoshi (NTT Nishi Nihon) lead the visually-impaired field, and there's a wheelchair field of six led by men's NR holder Kota Hokinoue (Yahoo!).

2022 Hokkaido Marathon Elite Field Highlights

Sapporo, Hokkaido, 28 Aug. 2022
times listed are best in last 3 years except where noted

Women
Mao Uesugi (Starts) - 2:22:29 (2nd, Osaka Int'l 2022)
Natsumi Matsushita (Tenmaya) - 2:23:05 (3rd, Osaka Int'l 2022)
Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) - 2:23:30 (2nd, Osaka Int'l 2021)
Haruka Yamaguchi (AC Kita) - 2:26:35 (7th, Osaka Int'l 2020)
Chiharu Ikeda (Hitachi) - 2:26:50 (10th, Nagoya 2022)
Miharu Shimokado (SID Group) - 2:29:20 (12th, Tokyo 2022)
Yui Okada (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 2:30:03 (14th, Tokyo 2022)
Yuko Kikuchi (Hokuren) - 2:32:08 (23rd, Nagoya 2022)
Misato Michishita (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 2:54:13 (Hofu 2022) - visually impaired

Men
Ryu Takaku (Yakult) - 2:06:45 (8th, Tokyo 2020)
Yusuke Ogura (Yakult) - 2:06:51 (5th, Lake Biwa 2021)
Toshiki Sadakata (Mitsubishi Juko) - 2:07:05 (10th, Tokyo 2020)
Shun Yuzawa (SG Holdings) - 2:07:31 (8th, Tokyo 2021)
Kazuki Muramoto (Sumitomo Denko) - 2:07:36 (11th, Lake Biwa 2021)
Masaru Aoki (Kanebo) - 2:07:40 (12th, Lake Biwa 2021)
Tsubasa Ichiyama (Komori Corp.) - 2:07:41 (13th, Lake Biwa 2021)
Tadashi Horikoshi (NTT Nishi Nihon) - 2:21:21 (Kasumigaura 2022) - visually impaired

Wheelchair Men
Masazumi Soejima (Socio Soejima) - 1:18:50 (Boston 2011)
Hiroyuki Yamamoto (unattached) - 1:19:32 (Boston 2017)
Hiroki Nishida (Baccarat Pacific) - 1:20:28 (Boston 2017)
Kota Hokinoue (Yahoo!) - 1:20:52 (Seoul 2013) - NR
Sho Watanabe (Toppan) - 1:24:00 (Oita 2019)
Keisuke Shiroma (C's Athlete) - debut

© 2022 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

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Stefan said…
The first full marathon run for Honami Maeda post Olympics. My expectations are high as she usually thrives in the heat. I'm curious how fast she can run in the new Asics 'super' shoes but irrespective of time, I believe she will win the race. A PB would be amazing. She seems injury free and in top form. This event is highlighted on my calendar. I hope it is live streamed. Only just over 3 weeks away. Exciting! Thanks for this news!!!
August 5, 2022 at 7:09 AM
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