Maeda and Nakayama Win Sendai International Half Marathon

Conditions at Sunday's Sendai International Half Marathon were too hot for fast times, but for Paris Olympics marathon team members Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) and Naoki Koyama (Honda) it was a pretty good test run for what they'll up against come August. Marathon NR holder Maeda had no problems soloing the win, running 1:11:17 to finish 1:17 ahead of 2nd-placer Yuki Nakamura (Panasonic). Rie Kawauchi (Otsuka Seiyaku) was 3rd in 1:12:58.

Koyama was a little shakier at 6th in 1:03:23 in the men's race, not exactly a bad day but not up to the no-miss form he's had over the last two years either. In his place, Koyama's Honda teammate Ken Nakayama scored the men's win, out kicking Kenyans Paul Kuira (JR Higashi Nihon) and Benard Kimeli (Fujitsu) on the track to take the win in 1:02:31. Kuira was 2nd in 1:02:32 and Kimeli 3rd in 1:02:36.

Sendai International Half Marathon

Sendai, Miyagi, 12 May 2024

complete results

Women

1. Honami Maeda 1:11:17

2. Yuki Nakamura 1:12:34

3. Rie Kawauchi 1:12:58

4. Madoka Nakano 1:13:22

5. Chiharu Ikeda 1:14:30

6. Mao Kiyota 1:15:20

7. Mirai Waku 1:15:23

8. Misato Horie 1:17:46

9. Saya Furumoto 1:18:02

10. Hinako Suzuki 1:19:18

Men

1. Ken Nakayama 1:02:31

2. Paul Kuira (KEN) 1:02:32

3. Benard Kimeli (KEN) 1:02:36

4. Patrick Wambui (KEN) 1:02:44

5. Shunsuke Nagata 1:02:50

6. Naoki Koyama 1:03:23

7. Akihiro Kaneko 1:03:52

8. Kiyohito Akiyama 1:03:54

9. Haruka Kawamura 1:04:06

10. Ryoma Inoue 1:04:23

11. Hiromasa Kumahashi 1:04:36

12. Kenji Yamamoto 1:04:42

13. Yuta Shitara 1:04:54

14. James Bunuka (KEN) 1:04:54

15. Ryota Natori 1:05:04

16. Sota Morohoshi 1:05:16

17. Hayato Miyashita 1:05:22

18. Shoma Hosoya 1:05:25

19. Shun Sadakata 1:05:32

20. Atsumu Yoshida 1:05:36

21. Tatsuya Furukawa 1:05:44

22. Hirosuke Sato 1:05:56

23. Shinya Ohashi 1:05:57

24. Takayuki Matsuura 1:06:12

25. Yuta Shimoda 1:06:20

26. Kyota Iwashima 1:06:22

27. Kenta Murayama 1:06:40

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Saku Chosei H.S. Makes It 2 In a Row - National High School Ekiden Boys' Race

While the girls' race was a blowout by 2022 champ Nagano Higashi H.S. , the boys' race at Sunday's National High School Ekiden was a tense battle of turnover that saw all of the final top four teams take a stab at leading. 2023 3rd-placer Yachiyo Shoin H.S. handled the first 2 of the 7 stages in the 42.195 km race, with lead runner Rui Suzuki delivering a bold run on the 10.0 km First Stage that produced the fastest-ever time by a Japanese runner on the stage, 28:43, and put Yachiyo Shoin 29 seconds out front. Last year's Fifth Stage CR breaker Tetsu Suzuki ran Yachiyo Shoin down to put 2023 champ Saku Chosei H.S. into 1st on the 8.1075 km Third Stage, but Genta Sugano of last year's 8th-placer Sendai Ikuei H.S. had other plans and took the lead on the 8.0875 km Fourth Stage. Smiling and fist pumping to the crowd almost the entire way, Taketo Tsukada of last year's 6th-placer Omuta H.S. moved up from 3rd to 1st by 2 seconds over Saku Chosei on the 3.0 k...

Japan Post Holds Off Sekisui Kagaku to Win Queens Ekiden National Title

Japan Post was back on top at the Queens Ekiden corporate women's national championships Sunday in Sendai, holding off last year's winner Sekisui Kagaku over the second half of a race that came as close as 1 second to take 1st with a final margin of victory of 27 seconds. Sekisui Kagaku was out fast with a win on the 7.0 km opening leg by Erika Tanoura and a new CR for the 12:56 second leg by Yuma Yamamoto , 17 seconds better than her own CR from last year. Last year's 4th-placer Shiseido briefly led on the 10.6 km third leg with an excellent 33:17 stage win from Rino Goshima , but behind her Japan Post's Ririka Hironaka returned from her latest injury problems to pass Sekisui Kagaku's Sayaka Sato and hand off 6 seconds ahead. New recruit Caroline Kariba ran Shiseido down on the 3.6 km fourth leg and put Japan Post 22 seconds ahead of Sekisui Kagaku, but a duel of marathoners between JP's Ayuko Suzuki and Sekisui's Hitomi Niiy...

Nagano Higashi Girls Lead Start to Finish to Win National High School Ekiden

2022 National High School Ekiden girls' champion Nagano Higashi H.S. was back in force after a 5th-place finish last year, leading start to finish to win this year's national title Sunday in Kyoto. Lead runner Airi Mashiba kicked it off with a 19:30 stage win on the 6.0 km opening leg, something that head coach Fumio Yokouchi said later that he hadn't been expecting. That ended up being Nagano Higashi's only individual stage win in the 5-leg, 21.0975 km race, but the rest of its team ran well enough to hold a lead that was never less than 11 seconds but never more than 21. Last year's 4th-placer Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S. spent most of the race in 2nd, but over the second half of the race Sendai Ikuei H.S. , 2nd last year by just 1 second, came from further back to run Kunei down on the anchor stage thanks in big part to a critical stage win on the 4th leg by Tsubomi Tezuka that put anchor Aoi Hosokawa in position to catch Kunei's Mizuki Oda . Nagano Higashi ...

japan running news

Search This Blog