Takeuchi Wins Niigata Half in Boston Tune-Up

Running in cold, windy and rainy conditions, Ryoma Takeuchi (ND Software) warmed up for April's Boston Marathon with a win at Wednesday's Niigata Half Marathon. Takeuchi sat behind Nittai University duo Susumu Yamazaki and Ryuga Ishikawa in the early stages, then made a series of pushes to pick up the pace. Each time he tucked in behind whoever went to the front, while behind them others dropped off. Before 15 km only Yamazaki and Riki Koike of Soka University were left, and when Takeuchi went to the front the last time after 15 km only Koike followed.

By 16 he was gone too, leaving Takeuchi to solo it in to the win in 1:03:13 with a 17-second negative split. "This was my last fitness check before the Boston Marathon next month, and my time was right on-target," he said post-race. "Everything went as planned. I'm looking forward to racing some of the world's best in Boston, and my goal there is to place in the single digits."

Just back from training in Kenya, Koike was 2nd a PB 1:03:26, with Yamazaki 3rd in 1:03:47. Also headed to Boston, Kento Otsu (Sunbelx) was 8th in 1:04:19. Running the Copenhagen Marathon on May 5 in one last shot at firming up his Paris Olympics spot, Mongolian national record holder Ser-Od Bat-Ochir was 10th in 1:04:36 after organizers let him enter just a week beforehand. Local college student Neneka Kamitani of Niigata Iryo Fukushi University took the women's race in 1:21:34.

Niigata Half Marathon

Niigata, 20 March 2024

Women

1. Neneka Kamitani (Niigata Iryo Fukushi Univ.) - 1:21:34

2. Mayumi Yoshikawa (unattached) - 1:23:10

3. Haru Fukuhara (Niigata Iryo Fukushi Univ.) - 1:23:53

Men

1. Ryoma Takeuchi (ND Software) - 1:03:13

2. Riki Koike (Soka Univ.) - 1:03:26 - PB

3. Susumu Yamazaki (Nittai Univ.) - 1:03:47

4. Yuta Inage (Press Kogyo) - 1:04:10

5. Ryuga Ishikawa (Nittai Univ.) - 1:04:12

6. Rikuto Ogihara (YKK) - 1:04:15

7. Daisuke Shimojo (ND Software) - 1:04:17

8. Kento Otsu (Sunbelx) - 1:04:19

9. Kazuki Watanabe (Sekino Kosan) - 1:04:35

10. Ser-Od Bat-Ochir (Mongolia/Shin Nihon Jusetsu) - 1:04:36

11. Hiromu Sato (Sekino Kosan) - 1:04:38

12. Kaihei Kitano (Sanyo Tokushu Seiko) - 1:04:38

13. Reo Yoshida (Nittai Univ.) - 1:04:53

14. Hibiki Kikkawa (Meijo Univ.) - 1:04:58

15. Shizuya HIgashiyama (YKK) - 1:05:46

16. Ryoto Mizogami (Meiji Univ.) - 1:05:46

Osako Breaks Marathon NR for 3rd Time - Weekend Roundup

It looked like it was going to be a big weekend, and it delivered. For the 3rd time in his career Suguru Osako broke the men's marathon NR, running 1 second under the standing record to take 4th in the Valencia Marathon in 2:04:55. All the way to 40 km he was steady on 2:58/km, 2:05:10 pace, and like a surprising number of other people in both the men's and women's races, there was a massive jump over the last 2.195 km from his projected finish time to his actual one. His run put Osako back on top of the Japanese charts, put the average of Japan's 10 fastest marathon times of the year under 2:06 for the first time, and got him into the L.A. Olympics marathon trials. Valencia has been trying to get top-tier Japanese athletes to come for years, and now that they finally managed to do it it paid off in a big way. Expect more next year. Back home, former Takushoku University captain Derese Workneh won a 3-way race against Toyota teammates Kazuya Nishiyama and Bedan Ka...

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