Zeyituna Husan and Ibrahim Hassan Break Beppu-Oita Mainchi Marathon CR

In its 71st edition the Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon saw new course records in both the women's and men's races. On a cold and slightly windy day Japan-based Ethiopian Zeyituna Husan took advantage of the big crowds of amateur men at her pace, going through halfway in 1:14:44 en route in her debut to win in 2:31:41. Her time took 1:19 off the previous record set in 2018 by Hiroko Yoshitomi.

Excellent pacing that saw every 5 km split through 30 km in the men's race land in the 15:01 to 15:03 range and a big pack that rolled with it set up a tough last 12 km. Djibouti's Ibrahim Hassan inched it up a notch as soon as the pacers were done, covering the next two 5 km in 14:59 each. That gave him a short lead over Kenyan Daniel Kipchumba, but Hassan almost lost it. Deeply in the zone, he didn't notice the turn into the stadium for the track finish and ran into the back of the camera truck. Kipchumba surged to take advantage of Hassan's loss, but Hassan managed to pull it back together and hold on for the win by 5 seconds in a world-leading 2:06:43, a negative split even with the lost time. Hassan's time broke the Djibouti NR, set 9 years before he was born, by 24 seconds, and was the first 2:06 in Beppu-Oita history, beating last year's CR by 1:04.

Wrong turn! pic.twitter.com/A5l1bc1ltn
— Japan Running News (@JRNHeadlines) February 5, 2023

The main Japanese pack couldn't match that closing speed over the last 12 km, but both 3rd-placer Tsubasa Ichiyama, 2:07:44, and 4th-placer Shungo Yokota, 2:07:47, bettered or tied the old CR. The 22-year-old Yokota also had the distinction of breaking the 2:08:12 collegiate marathon record set in 2003 by current Chuo University head coach Masakazu Fujiwara. 5th and 6th-place Kento Kikutani and Shin Kimura made it under 2:08 as well, with the next three under 2:09 and another four sub-2:10.

Ichiyama, Yokota, Kimura and 7th-placer Tsukasa Koyama all joined the ranks of qualifiers for October's MGC Race Olympic marathon trials, with 10th-place Naoya Sakuda and 13th-place Kazuki Muramoto also making it in through the two-race sub-2:10 average option. 9th-place Yuichi Yasui, 11th-place Takashi Ichida and 12th-place Riki Nakanishi all broke 2:10 in Beppu but will have to try one more time before the end-of-May qualifying deadline to hit the two-race standard. The Ottawa Marathon should be packed with Japanese men shooting for that desperate last chance.

71st Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon

Beppu, Oita, 5 Feb. 2023

complete results

Women

1. Zeyituna Husan (Ethiopia/Denso) - 2:31:41 - CR

2. Rieko Koshi (Emoto) - 2:44:00

3. Hisae Yoshimatsu (Shunan City Hall) - 2:47:51

4. Sonoka Nakayama (Uchida AC) - 2:53:06

5. Mai Fushita (Tokyo T&F Assoc.) - 2:53:49

Men

1. Ibrahim Hassan (Djibouti) - 2:06:43 - CR, NR, WL

2. Daniel Kipchumba (Kenya) - 2:06:48

3. Tsubasa Ichiyama (Komori Corp.) - 2:07:44

4. Shungo Yokota (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 2:07:47 - Univ. NR

5. Kento Kikutani (Toyota Boshoku) - 2:07:53

6. Shin Kimura (Honda) - 2:07:55

7. Tsukasa Koyama (Subaru) - 2:08:00

8. Tatsuya Maruyama (Toyota) - 2:08:26

9. Yuichi Yasui (Toyota) - 2:08:48

10. Naoya Sakuda (JR Higashi Nihon) - 2:09:06

11. Takashi Ichida (Asahi Kasei) - 2:09:15

12. Riki Nakanishi (Toenec) - 2:09:34

13. Kazuki Muramoto (Sumitomo Denko) - 2:09:41

14. Kento Otsu (Toyota Kyushu) - 2:10:13

15. Masaki Tsuda (Nishitetsu) - 2:10:40

Koku Gakuin's Hirabayashi Holds Off Komazawa and Aoyama Gakuin in Anchor Stage Showdown at Izumo Ekiden

There was a lot of action at the 36th running of the Izumo Ekiden Monday in Shimane, but it really came down to an anchor stage showdown between three of the biggest names on the university men's collegiate circuit. For the first five legs it was mostly between two-time defending champ Komazawa University and the top four-ranked Ivy League Select Team , Aoyama Gakuin University , Koku Gakuin University and Soka University . All of them except the Ivy League alternate stages up front with the Ivies in the mix in 2nd thanks to excellent runs from its two lead-off runners Kieran Tuntivate and Will Battershill . AGU's Masaya Tsurukawa took the 8.0 km First Stage, Soka's Hibiki Yoshida put them into 1st on the 5.8 km Second Stage, AGU's Asahi Kuroda retook the lead on the 8.5 km Third Stage, Izumo native Aoi Ito put Komazawa out front on the 6.2 km Fourth Stage, and KGU's Ryuto Uehara went to the front on the 6.4 km Fifth Stage. That set up an incredible matchup

101st Hakone Ekiden Qualifier Half Marathon Preview

Ekiden season rolls on, and for everyone who didn't make the top 10 at the Hakone Ekiden's 100th running this past January that means a trip to western Tokyo's Showa Linen Park this Saturday to line up on the runway of the air defense base next door to try to qualify for the 101st Hakone Ekiden . The 43 Tokyo-area universities at the Hakone Ekiden Qualifier Half Marathon , the Yosenkai, each run 10-12 athletes and are scored on the total times of their first 10 finishers. The 10 fastest teams go to Hakone, and the rest go home except for the 10 fastest individuals from non-qualifying universities, who get the privilege of running as part of a select team. NTV will broadcast the Yosenkai and its dramatic announcement ceremony live starting at 9:25 a.m. local time Saturday. If you've got a VPN you should be all set. If not, try mov3.co/ntv . JRN will be on-site at the Yosenkai to cover it live. Chuo University , Tokai University and Tokyo Kokusai University look sure

Rikkyo University Wins Hot and Humid Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai Qualifying Race

With high humidity, mostly sunny skies and temps reported as high as 30˚ it was just too hot for fast times at the Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai, the half marathon qualifying race for January's 101st Hakone Ekiden. Individual winner and last year's 1:00:16 CR setter Shadrack Kipkemei from Nihon University and runner-up Brian Kipyegon of Yamanashi Gakuin University lasting the whole way on sub-1:01 pace and going 1:00:59 and 1:01:02 was really exceptional given the weather, but you could see how tough it was given that only five people went under 1:02 and seven under 1:03 compared to 11 and 38 last year. Top Japanese finisher and 1:00:31 half marathoner Reishi Yoshida of Chuo Gakuin University was only 10th in 1:03:29 and collegiate record holder Richard Etir of Tokyo Kokusai University 11th in 1:03:35. But ultimately the Yosenkai is about team scoring based on the total times of each school's first ten finishers, so while the unseasonal summertime conditions held times b

japan running news

Search This Blog