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

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...

japan running news

Search This Blog