This was one of the busiest weekends of the year for Japanese marathons, with at least five big races across the country. The fastest was the Kanazawa Marathon with a field of 13,000, with Kenta Fukumura winning for the second year in a row in 2:16:51 and Chifumi Ito running an almost 9-minute PB of 2:34:45 to break the women's course record.
At the 10,000-runner Mito Komon Manyu Marathon in Ibaraki, Japan-based Kenyan Benjamin Ngandu won in 2:19:10, the only man to go under 2:20. Kana Numata won the women's race in 2:46:09, Honoka Kurosaki taking 2nd in 2:48:24 and Akiko Maruichi 3rd in 2:49:48.
A total of 6,847 people ran the Shimada Oigawa Marathon in Shizuoka. Shunsuke Matsui won the men's race in 2:22:34, with local Natsumi Yamauchi winning the women's race in 3:00:16.
With a field of 25,000 the Yokohama Marathon was the biggest, if not the fastest of the weekend. Rikuto Okubo won the men's race in 2:23:45, with former corporate leaguer Yukari Yasutome winning the women's race in 2:51:53.
At Fukuoka's Chikugogawa Marathon, Yasutaka Takenouchi was the men's winner in 2:25:48. Masters runner Noriko Sakemi won the women's race in 3:17:15.
© 2023 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
Comments