Skip to main content

Okayama and Maruichi Win Shibamata 100 km



2022 100 km World Championships gold medalist Haruki Okayama (Comodi Iida) and club runner Akiko Maruichi (GRlab) took the top spots in the Shibamata 100 km ultramarathon in Tokyo, Saitama and Ibaraki. The men's race was set up as an aggressive shot at the first-ever sub-6-hour time, with three pacers leading a group including Okayama, '22 silver medalist Jumpei Yamaguchi (Eldoreso), 5th-placer Guillaume Ruel (France), sub-2:10 marathoner Jo Fukuda (Hoka) and others out at a pace of around 3:34/km. Yamaguchi survived the longest at that pace, holding it until almost 70 km before starting to slow. Okayama, who had fallen off pace after 50 km, passed him not long past 80 km and pushed on to win in 6:23:16.

Yamaguchi, Ruel and Fukuda all DNFd, Fukuda after only 50 km, Ruel after 60 km, and Yamaguchi not making it to 90 km. Having ignored the early fast pace and stuck to a steady 4:00/km, Masato Takahashi (Track Tokyo) was 2nd in 6:43:01. Veteran Hideo Nojo (Mitsui Fudosan) went out at around 3:45/km and held it until almost 40 km before slowing, finishing 3rd just behind Takahashi in 6:43:53. Along with Okayama, Ryoya Takabayashi, Masato Tanaka and Masato Namai all survived the lead group's pace to finish, Takabayashi taking 4th, Tanaka 6th and Namai 7th.

Maruichi was alone from the gun, starting out at around 4:25/km and speeding up at fast as 4:18/km before slowing to finish 8th overall in 7:53:16 for the women's win and improving on her runner-up performance two years ago by over 20 minutes. Aiko Kanematsu (Team Oligol) and Yuka Adachi (Honjo RC) started off together closer to 4:30/km, Kanematsu ending up 2nd in 7:58:27 and Adachi 3rd in 8:40:31. 4th-placer Yuka Seki was the only other woman to go under 10 hours at 9:15:31.

Shibamata 100 km Ultramarathon

Tokyo, Saitama, Ibaraki, 21 May 2023

Men
1. Haruki Okayama (Comodi Iida) - 6:23:16
2. Masato Takahashi (Track Tokyo) - 6:43:01
3. Hideo Nojo (Mitsui Fudosan) - 6:43:53
4. Ryoya Takabayashi - 6:58:42
5. Naoki Kawashima - 7:16:43
6. Masato Tanaka - 7:18:54
7. Masato Namai - 7:28:17
-----
DNF - Jo Fukuda (Hoka)
DNF - Guillaume Ruel (France)
DNF - Jumpei Yamaguchi (Eldoreso)

Women
1. Akiko Maruichi (GRlab) - 7:53:16
2. Aiko Kanematsu (Team Algol) - 7:58:27
3. Yuka Adachi (Honjo RC) - 8:40:31
4. Yuka Seki - 9:15:31

photo © Eldoreso, all rights reserved
text © 2023 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Chien Breaks TPE NR, Iwata Betters ID-Class WR - Weekend Track Roundup

The last weekend of the academic and fiscal year saw at least 5 meets with good results domestically and abroad. Kicking things off Friday was the Maurie Plant Meet in Melbourne, where Tomohiro Shinno and Naoto Hasegawa took 1st and 3rd in the men's high jump, both of them only clearing 2.18 m along with 2nd-placer Roman Anastasios . 12 other Japanese athletes were in action on the second day of the meet on Saturday, where 3000 mSC NR holder Ryuji Miura ran 3:42.84 for 6th in the men's 1500 m. Nagiya Mori had a better one in the men's 3000 m with a 7:45.40 for 4th. Both Yota Mashiko and Rui Suzuki cleared 8:00 too, Mashiko's 7:53.84 the 2nd-fastest ever by a Japanese-born high schooler. Abigail Fuka Ido and Nagisa Takahashi both placed 3rd in their events, Ido going 23.85 (-0.9) in the women's 200 m and Takahashi clearing 1.82 m in the women's high jump. 8 Japanese men were at The TEN in California to run 10000 m. In the B-heat won by Edward Marks in ...
2 comments
Read more

Updates on Transfers

April 1 is the start of Japan's new academic and fiscal year, and there's always a wave of transfer announcements to go with it. Some notable ones yesterday: 800 m NR holder Rin Kubo skipped university to go straight to 2023 Queens Ekiden national champion Sekisui Kagaku after her graduation from Higashi Osaka Keiai H.S. Multiple NR holder Nozomi Tanaka rejoined the Toyota Jidoshokki women's team after having left it to pursue a solo pro career as a New Balance athlete. Already on the team for this fall's Nagoya Asian Games in the 10000 m, Ririka Hironaka announced a switch from her longtime home at Japan Post to the Uniqlo women's team. Collegiate marathon record holder Asahi Kuroda joined the 2026 national champion GMO corporate team after graduating from 2026 Hakone Ekiden champ Aoyama Gakuin University last week. Hakone Ekdien First Stage CR holder Rui Aoki joins the Sumitomo Denko corporate team after running his final race for 2025 Izumo Ekiden w...
Post a Comment
Read more

JAAF Announces Marathon Teams for Nagoya Asian Games

On Mar. 25 the JAAF announced Japan's marathon team lineups for this fall's Nagoya Asian Games. Yuya Yoshida (GMO) and Ichitaka Yamashita (Mitsubishi Juko) make up the men's team, with Sayaka Sato (Sekisui Kagaku) and Mikuni Yada (Edion) representing Japan in the women's marathon. Each country can field up to 2 men and 2 women per marathon team at the Asian Games. The top-ranked male and female athletes in the 2025-26 MGC Series rankings were given first priority, with the second slots going to people with high-level performances in the 2025-26 MGC Series. Yoshida ran 2:05:16 to win the 2024 Fukuoka International Marathon, and at February's Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon ran an excellent 2:06:59 to take the top Japanese spot in the race and in the MGC rankings. After having run the Tokyo World Championships marathon last fall this will be his second-straight marathon national team in a major international championships. Yamashita ran 2:06:18 at February's Osak...
Post a Comment
Read more