Skip to main content

Waseda University 3rd-Year Yota Ifuku Breaks Nobeoka Marathon CR in 2:09:26 Debut

The Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon is the least well-known of the four big Japanese men's marathons in five weeks, traditionally a place for debuts and 2nd-tier talent. And for the second year in a row a debuting Waseda University runner took the top spot this time, Yota Ifuku making history as the first runner ever to break 2:11 in Nobeoka with a 2:09:26 school record for the win.

5th on the Hakone Ekiden's Eighth Stage for Waseda six weeks ago, Ifuku was at the front of the pack of 19 at halfway in an ambitious 1:05:02. Just past 25 km he took off with a 15:10 split to 30 km that put him out front by 28 seconds, then went even faster with a 15:06 to 35 km. With a 38-second negative split Ifuku broke the tape in 2:09:26, one minute 39 seconds under the older CR of 2:11:05 set by Yuichi Washio back in 2006.


6th on Hakone's competitive Second Stage for Toyo University, Ren Umezaki was 2nd in his debut in 2:10:19. Corporate leaguer Takashi Soma (Otsuka Seiyaku) joined Ifuku and Umezaki under the old CR at 3rd in a PB 2:10:46. Results were good far down into the field, with five of the top 15 running PBs and the other 10 all debuting at 2:15:11 or better.

Nobeoka only introduced a women's field in 2015, Saori Sugawa setting the CR of 2:44:40 in 2019. This year amateur Akiko Ogawa just missed bettering that record, running a big 1:15 negative split to win in 2:45:31 off a 1:23:23 first half. The top four were all under 3 hours, with a total of 22 women finishing the race versus 339 men.

62nd Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon

Nobeoka, Miyazaki, 11 Feb. 2024

Women
1. Akiko Ogawa (Koyugun T&F Assoc.) - 2:45:31
2. Reina Hayashida (Asahi Yukizai) - 2:50:57
3. Yuki Tomitaka (Izumo AC) - 2:56:14

Men
1. Yota Ifuku (Waseda Univ.) - 2:09:26 - CR, debut
2. Ren Umezaki (Toyo Univ.) - 2:10:19 - debut
3. Takashi Soma (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 2:10:46 - PB
4. Tatsuya Sumide (Aichi Seiko) - 2:11:29 - PB
5. Yuya Yamashita (Sunbelx) - 2:11:37 - PB
6. Takeshi Nishida (Toyota) - 2:11:41 - debut
7. Yuya Kawata (Subaru) - 2:12:31 - debut
8. Kira Migita (Toyota Kyushu) - 2:12:32 - debut
9. Shusei Ohashi (Kodaira T&F Assoc.) - 2:12:34 - PB
10. Takuma Takemura (SGH) - 2:12:39 - debut
11. Taisei Kato (Asahi Kasei) - 2:13:58 - debut
12. Suguru Otaguro (Nishi Nippon Tetsudo) - 2:14:18 - debut
13. Atsushi Yamato (Toyota) - 2:14:29 - debut
14. Yuta Suzuki (Yasukawa Denki) - 2:15:06 - debut
15. Kazuto Kawabata (SGH) - 2:15:11 - PB
16. Taiyo Watanabe (Togami Denki) - 2:15:40
17. Yusei Yoshida (Mitsubishi Juko) - 2:17:55
18. Tatsuya Yamamoto (Komori Corp.) - 2:18:22
19. Hiroto Uesugi (Soka Univ.) - 2:18:37 - debut
20. Ryoya Sakurai (JFE Steel) - 2:19:15

© 2024 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

'Kobe 2024: Aitchison, Athmani Lead Record-Breaking Thursday'

  https://www.paralympic.org/news/kobe-2024-para-athletics-world-championships-aitchison-athmani-lead-record-breaking-thursday Complete results and daily schedule from the Kobe World Para Athletics Championships are here .
Post a Comment
Read more

Hirayama Breaks Osaka Half CR, Martinez Set Puerto Rican NR

The Osaka Half Marathon took another big step up the domestic half marathon rankings from a mass-participation race run alongside the Osaka International Women's Marathon to one of the country's top-tier races. In the women's race, the debuting Jecinta Nyokabi (Denso) went out fast, only to be run down by veteran Yumi Yoshikawa (Canon AC) by 10 km. Nyokabi faded to 6th in 1:10:41, but Yoshikawa pushed on to a PB 1:09:14 for the win. Rina Shimizu (Noritz), Yuna Takahashi (Shimamura) and Makoto Tsuchiya (Ritsumeikan Univ.) all broke 70 minutes, Tsuchiya taking the Kansai Region collegiate title in 1:09:32 for 4th overall. Everyone in the top 10 who wasn't debuting ran a PB, a mark of how fast the day was even with cold and windy conditions. The men's race went out on sub-61 pace courtesy of Yudai Shimazu (GMO), then got a big injection of speed when Kyuma Yokota (Toyota Kyushu) took off close to 60-flat pace. Yokota opened a 10-second lead by 15 km, but over ...
Post a Comment
Read more

2026 Tokyo Marathon Elite Field

The Mar. 1 Tokyo Marathon has great fields this year, so let's get right to it. The women's field has 3 of last year's top 10, winner for the 2nd year in a row and Tokyo CR holder Sutume Asefa Kebede , 3rd-placer and 2025 Chicago winner Hawi Feysa , and 5th-placer and 2025 Berlin winner Rosemary Wanjiru , plus 2024 Valencia winner Megertu Alemu , 2025 Prague winner Bertukan Welde , 2024 Paris winner Mestawut Fikir , 2024 Osaka winner Waganesh Mekasha , former WR holder Brigid Kosgei , and a lot more. Japanese hopes pretty much go to all-time #7 Ai Hosoda , 2:20:31 in Berlin 2024 but who announced this month that she is retiring after Tokyo despite having qualified for the 2028 Olympic marathon trials with her 2:23:27 for 6th in Sydney last year. Other internationals include Canadian Malindi Elmore , American Sara Hall , a big Chinese group led by Yuyu Xia , Poland's Aleksandra Brzezińska and Australian Vanessa Wilson . The men's race has 5 of last year's top 1...
4 comments
Read more