Buchanan and Pompeani Win Gold Coast Half Marathon

The winner of Tokyo's Year End Half Marathon in 2019, Andy Buchanan ran a crafty race to beat four sub-61 Japanese men and the debuting Australian Isaac Heyne at the Gold Coast Half Marathon. Smiling most of the way, Heyne led on 2:59/km pace through the turnaround point just before 11 km before Koki Kamata took over. From there it was a series of turnovers that took the lead group down to just Heyne, favorite Shunsuke Shikama, 2:06 marathoner Daisuke Doi, and Buchanan. All of them made moves in the last 2 km, but Buchanan made the definitive one in the last km, pulling away to win in a PB 1:02:20. After falling slightly behind, Heyne fought back for 2nd in 1:02:22 with Doi getting Shikama on the line for 3rd, both clocking 1:02:25. Four other Japanese men including 2:05 marathoner Kenya Sonota made the top 10.

The women's race started out as a trio with Australians Leanne Pompeani and Jessica Stenson, and two-time winner Sara Hall. Hall was the first to drop off, and over the second half of the race Pompeani ground Stenson down to win easily in 1:09:16 unofficially. Tuning up for the Paris Olympics marathon after a controversial Australian selection process, Stenson ran a PB 1:09:54 for 2nd, with Hall almost a minute further back in 3rd in 1:10:48. That time was in range of all three Japanese women in the race, but all three were non-factors and finished in the 1:13-1:14 range. Rinka Hida was first among them at 7th in 1:13:20.

Gold Coast Half Marathon Top Results

Gold Coast, Australia, 6 July 2024

complete results

Men

1. Andy Buchanan (Australia) - 1:02:20 - PB

2. Isaac Heyne (Australia) - 1:02:22 - debut

3. Daisuke Doi (Japan/Kurosaki Harima) - 1:02:25

4. Shunsuke Shikama (Japan/Logisteed) - 1:02:25

5. Koki Kamata (Japan/Yakult) - 1:02:58

6. Cameron Avery (New Zealand) - 1:03:02

7. Naoya Sakuda (Japan/JR Higashi Nihon) - 1:03:03

8. Soshi Suzuki (Japan/Yasukawa Denki) - 1:03:04

9. Kenya Sonota (Japan/JR Higashi Nihon) - 1:03:18

10. Oli Chignell (New Zealand) - 1:03:21

-----

13. Rei Yamahira (Japan/Chuo Univ.) - 1:03:49

15. Haruki Abe (Japan/Chuo Univ.) - 1:04:20

Women

1. Leanne Pompeani (Australia) - 1:09:16 (unoff)

2. Jessica Stenson (Australia) - 1:09:54 - PB

3. Sara Hall (U.S.A.) - 1:10:48

4. Natasha Wodak (Canada) - 1:11:18

5. Andrea Seccafien (Canada) - 1:11:28

6. Vanessa Wilson (Australia) - 1:12:51

7. Rinka Hida (Japan/Daiichi Seimei) - 1:13:20

8. Yukari Nagatomo (Japan/Memolead) - 1:13:41

9. Moe Shimizu (Japan/Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 1:14:30

10. Anneke Grogan (New Zealand) - 1:15:12

Australian YouTuber Handed Lifetime Ban by Ageo City Half Marathon After Running 1:06 with Another Runner's Bib (updated)

After discussion with their race's chief JAAF referee, on Nov. 27 the organizers of the Ageo City Half Marathon handed down a lifetime ban from their event against 36-year-old Australian Matt Inglis Fox for running the Nov. 15 race wearing the bib number of another JAAF-registered runner. The incident came to light after Fox posted on his personal Instagram account that he had run a PB of 1:06:33 and finished 203rd in Ageo with a 10 km split of 31:03, along with photos and video of himself in the race wearing a bib number beginning with 11. Fox did not appear in the results by name or in that time or place, the closest match being a 1:06:54 gross, 1:06:50 net finish time with a 31:21 10 km split for 18th place in the JAAF-registered division and 209th overall by bib number 1129, registered to a non-Japanese Tokyo-resident club runner. The club runner, Harrisson Uk , readily confirmed that he had given his bib to Fox, saying, "I gave my number to Matt. It wasn't me."...

Nat'l University Ekiden Updates Here

Looks like I just went over my update limit on Twitter - sorry, it's the first time I've tried to use it for this. I'll look for another option next time. In the meantime I'll add updates to the comments below. Not sure if that has a max too but I guess we'll find out. Update: Part one of the Nationals commentary can be found here .

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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