Yamaguchi 10th at United Airlines NYC Half

Yamaguchi 10th at United Airlines NYC Half - Weekend Overseas Results

2024 national cross-country champion Tomonori Yamaguchi was the top Japanese finisher in the men's race at the United Airlines NYC Half, taking 10th in 1:04:36. A 2nd-year at Waseda University, Yamaguchi was one of three collegiate runners running New York in the 11th year of JRN's development program collaboration between the Ageo City Half Marathon and the New York Road Runners, a program that has seen people like future half marathon and marathon NR breaker Yuta Shitara and Paris Olympic team member Akira Akasaki make their international debuts.

Yamaguchi's Waseda teammate Taishi Ito started fast, going with the leaders through 5 km in 14:29 before losing touch. Hosei University senior Rei Matsunaga went through in 14:42 in his last race before joining the JR Higashi Nihon corporate team in April. Yamaguchi, who caught COVID after winning last month's National Cross-Country Championships, started more conservatively with a 15:11 first 5km. But where both Ito and Matsunaga slowed, Yamaguchi held more or less even through 15 km, splitting 15:18 and 15:16 for the next two 5 km sections.

By that point he'd overtaken Matsunaga, and around Times Square near 18 km he passed Ito to move into the top Japanese position. "That course was crazy!" he told JRN immediately after finishing. "I had trouble getting ready for this race, and I couldn't go with the lead pack at all. But even though it wasn't a good performance, I learned a lot from doing it." Yamaguchi next races the World Cross-Country Championships at the end of the month.

Ito was 11th in 1:04:54 after slowing to 16:03 from 15 to 20 km. "I gave it a go with the lead pack in the first half, and I think that took some guts," he said. "But the middle and last part didn't go well. Still, I'm really glad I had the chance to run against some world-class competition for the first time." Matsunaga struggled throughout the second half of the race, ending up 17th in 1:06:17. "A lot of things happened when I was getting ready for this," he said, "but thanks to everyone who cheered me on all the same." Both the men's and women's races were close up front, with Kenya's Abel Kipchumba winning in 1:00:25 over Moroccan Zouhair Talbi and Norwegian Karoline Bjerkeli Grovdal outrunning Gladys Chepkurui for the women's title in 1:09:09.

A few hours earlier, another 2nd-year, Komazawa University's Keita Sato, took a shot at the 27:09.80 national record at Sound Running's The TEN in California. One of six Japanese men in the Paris 10000 m fast section, Sato stayed at 12th in the lead group of men pursuing 27-flat pace past 7000 m before starting to slip back. That pace proved too much for NR holder Kazuya Shiojiri (Fujitsu), who dropped out after 7200 m, but in the end all-time JPN #2 Tomoki Ota (Toyota) ran Sato down to take the top Japanese spot at 17th in 27:26.41. Sato finished 20th in 27:34.66, with Kazuki Tamura (Sumitomo Denko) 25th in 27:49.09.

The only Japanese woman in the meet, Mikuni Yada (Edion) was last in the women's Paris 10000 m in 32:49.62. Shotaro Ishihara (Tokai Univ.) took the top Japanese spot in the 10000 m B-heat in 28:13.34 for 12th, with Itta Tameike (Chuo Univ.) 7th in the C-heat in 29:09.08. Hibiki Obara (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) was last in the men's 1500 m in 3:42.38. American Grant Fisher won the men's Paris 10000 m in 26:52.04, with Ethiopia's Tsigie Gebreselama running an exceptional 29:48.34 ACR to win the women's race.

The only Japanese athlete at the Sands China Macao International 10K, Shiho Kaneshige (GRlab Yamaguchi) took 6th in the women's race in 36:31 behind Kenyan winner Betsy Sigei's 33:53 CR. "Around 4 km I started getting cramping in my thigh and lost touch with the leaders," Kaneshige told JRN. David Bett won the men's race in a 29:02 CR.

United Airlines NYC Half Men's Race

New York, 17 Mar. 2024

1. Abel Kipchumba (Kenya) - 1:00:25

2. Zouhair Talbi (Morocco) - 1:00:41

3. Yemane Haileselassie (Eritrea) - 1:01:37

4. Hillary Bor (U.S.A.) - 1:01:47

5. Reed Fischer (U.S.A.) - 1:03:06

6. Tristan Woodfine (Canada) - 1:03:50

7. Kenenisa Bekele (Ethiopia) - 1:03:59

8. Matthew Baxter (New Zealand) - 1:04:12

9. Zerei Kbrom (Norway) - 1:04:31

10. Tomonori Yamaguchi (Japan/Waseda Univ.) - 1:04:36

11. Taishi Ito (Japan/Waseda Univ.) - 1:04:54

-----

17. Rei Matsunaga (Japan/Hosei Univ.) - 1:06:17

Chepkirui Over Sato Again to Win 2nd-Straight Nagoya Women's Marathon, Chen Breaks Malaysian NR (updated)

This year's Nagoya Women's Marathon felt like a changing of the guard, with some the bigger domestic names over the last few years fading early and a lot of newer faces stepping up with quality debuts or second marathons. The front group was set to be paced for 2:20 flat with the 2nd group at 2:23:30 to hit the auto-qualifying time for the 2027 MGC Race, Japan's L.A. Olympics marathon trials race in Nagoya. Up front things went out OK, but after a 33:10 split at 10 km Ayuko Suzuki , 2:21:22 here 2 years ago, lost touch, ultimately finishing 23rd in 2:33:28. Windy conditions started to play with pacers' ability to keep things steady and the pace slowed majorly over the next 10 km, but even with a 34:05 second 10 km there were big-name casualties. 2024 Nagoya winner Yuka Ando was next to drop, ending up 17th in 2:30:32. NR holder Honami Maeda was next, followed quickly by Bahraini Kenyan Eunice Chumba and debuting Wakana Kabasawa . Maeda faded to 21st in 2:31:21, whil...

Nagoya Women's Marathon Preview and Streaming (updated)

Japan's winter marathon season of 6 major races in 7-straight weekends wraps up Sunday with the world's largest women-only marathon, the Nagoya Women's Marathon . The weather is looking pretty good, 6˚ at the start rising to 10˚ by the finish and sunny skies, but a moderate 7 m/s NW wind means a headwind finish that might impact the potential for some fast times. Official streaming kicks off at 9:00 a.m. local time. Live results will be here . Sheila Chepkirui won last year in 2:20:40, breaking away from Sayaka Sato and Eunice Chebichii Chumba at 30 km and hanging on for the win. Sato negative split a 2:20:59 PB for 2nd, Chumba fading to 3rd in 2:21:36. All 3 are back this time, but they have pretty serious competition from Aynalem Desta , 2:17:37 in Amsterdam last fall, and Selly Chepyego Kaptich , 2:20:03 in Barcelona 2023. And of course, Japanese NR holder Honami Maeda . Maeda ran 2:18:59 at the Osaka International Women's Marathon in 2024 to make the Paris Oly...

How it Happened

Ancient History I went to Wesleyan University, where the legend of four-time Boston Marathon champ and Wes alum Bill Rodgers hung heavy over the cross-country team. Inspired by Koichi Morishita and Young-Cho Hwang’s duel at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics I ran my first marathon in 1993, qualifying for Boston ’94 where Bill was kind enough to sign a star-struck 20-year-old me’s bib number at the expo. Three years later I moved to Japan for grad school, and through a long string of coincidences I came across a teenaged kid named Yuki Kawauchi down at my neighborhood track. I never imagined he’d become what he is, but right from the start there was just something different about him. After his 2:08:37 breakthrough at the 2011 Tokyo Marathon he called me up and asked me to help him get into races abroad. He’d finished 3rd on the brutal downhill Sixth Stage at the Hakone Ekiden, and given how he’d run the hills in the last 6 km at Tokyo ’11 I thought he’d do well at Boston or New York. “I...

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