Skip to main content

Japan's Biggest Marathon Weekend Since Pre-Pandemic


This was Japan's biggest marathon weekend since pre-pandemic, with at least four major races going off as scheduled. With 11,597 finishers the Kanazawa Marathon was the fastest of them. Last year's women's winner Mai Fujisawa, 48, ran her fastest time of her six certified marathons so far this year, winning again in 2:38:29. Erika Omi led 8 other women under 2:50, 2nd to Fujisawa in 2:42:55. The men's race was closer, with Kenta Fukumura edging last year's winner Junichi Ushiyama by 17 seconds to win in 2:16:20. 3rd-placer Hayato Sugimoto was the only other runner under 2:20, running 2:19:27.

The Mito Komon Manyu Marathon in Ibaraki also saw a close men's race. Former Nihon University star and longtime Japan resident Benjamin Ngandu returned from a 4-year drug suspension to win in a course record 2:18:02, outkicking this year's 100 km World Championships silver medalist Jumpei Yamaguchi by 12 seconds. Shinobu Ayabe won the women's race in 2:44:40, Kana Kurosawa running 2:45:46 to beat Yuki Mizuseda for 2nd by 18 seconds. 6,965 people finished the race.

With 5,681 starters Shizuoka's Shimada Oikawa Marathon was missing its usual contingent of athletes from the local Suzuki corporate team. In its absence Toru Somiya took the top spot in the men's race in 2:26:26, with Miku Matsui winning the women's race in 2:56:18.

The biggest of the four with 21,839 starters, the Yokohama Marathon had the slowest women's winning time of the day. Yukari Yasutome won in 2:59:11, Tomoo Sakamoto taking the men's race in 2:24:23.
© 2022 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Saku Chosei H.S. Makes It 2 In a Row - National High School Ekiden Boys' Race

While the girls' race was a blowout by 2022 champ Nagano Higashi H.S. , the boys' race at Sunday's National High School Ekiden was a tense battle of turnover that saw all of the final top four teams take a stab at leading. 2023 3rd-placer Yachiyo Shoin H.S. handled the first 2 of the 7 stages in the 42.195 km race, with lead runner Rui Suzuki delivering a bold run on the 10.0 km First Stage that produced the fastest-ever time by a Japanese runner on the stage, 28:43, and put Yachiyo Shoin 29 seconds out front. Last year's Fifth Stage CR breaker Tetsu Suzuki ran Yachiyo Shoin down to put 2023 champ Saku Chosei H.S. into 1st on the 8.1075 km Third Stage, but Genta Sugano of last year's 8th-placer Sendai Ikuei H.S. had other plans and took the lead on the 8.0875 km Fourth Stage. Smiling and fist pumping to the crowd almost the entire way, Taketo Tsukada of last year's 6th-placer Omuta H.S. moved up from 3rd to 1st by 2 seconds over Saku Chosei on the 3.0 k...
Post a Comment
Read more

Japan Post Holds Off Sekisui Kagaku to Win Queens Ekiden National Title

  Japan Post  was back on top at the Queens Ekiden corporate women's national championships Sunday in Sendai, holding off last year's winner Sekisui Kagaku  over the second half of a race that came as close as 1 second to take 1st with a final margin of victory of 27 seconds. Sekisui Kagaku was out fast with a win on the 7.0 km opening leg by Erika Tanoura  and a new CR for the 12:56 second leg by Yuma Yamamoto , 17 seconds better than her own CR from last year. Last year's 4th-placer Shiseido  briefly led on the 10.6 km third leg with an excellent 33:17 stage win from Rino Goshima , but behind her Japan Post's Ririka Hironaka  returned from her latest injury problems to pass Sekisui Kagaku's Sayaka Sato  and hand off 6 seconds ahead. New recruit Caroline Kariba  ran Shiseido down on the 3.6 km fourth leg and put Japan Post 22 seconds ahead of Sekisui Kagaku, but a duel of marathoners between JP's  Ayuko Suzuki  and Sekisui's Hitomi Niiy...
1 comment
Read more

Nagano Higashi Girls Lead Start to Finish to Win National High School Ekiden

2022 National High School Ekiden girls' champion Nagano Higashi H.S. was back in force after a 5th-place finish last year, leading start to finish to win this year's national title Sunday in Kyoto. Lead runner Airi Mashiba kicked it off with a 19:30 stage win on the 6.0 km opening leg, something that head coach Fumio Yokouchi said later that he hadn't been expecting. That ended up being Nagano Higashi's only individual stage win in the 5-leg, 21.0975 km race, but the rest of its team ran well enough to hold a lead that was never less than 11 seconds but never more than 21. Last year's 4th-placer Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S. spent most of the race in 2nd, but over the second half of the race Sendai Ikuei H.S. , 2nd last year by just 1 second, came from further back to run Kunei down on the anchor stage thanks in big part to a critical stage win on the 4th leg by Tsubomi Tezuka that put anchor Aoi Hosokawa in position to catch Kunei's Mizuki Oda . Nagano Higashi ...
Post a Comment
Read more