Skip to main content

Hokkaido Marathon Elite Field


Next weekend's Hokkaido Marathon has a good men's field lined up, with five sub-2:10 men and some interesting matchups. At the front is 2024 Osaka Marathon winner Kiyoto Hirabayashi, the winners of the 2024 and 2022 Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon Derese Workneh and Yuki Nakamura, and 2023 Beppu-Oita runner-up Atsumi Ashiwa, with threats from two other race winners, 2022 Hokkaido champ Luka Musembi and Tokyo Olympics marathon trials winner Shogo Nakamura. Sub-61 half marathoner Kazuki Matsuyama is scheduled to debut, and if he or Hirabayashi actually start it will give the race a very different dynamic.

The women's field is thinner, but 2018 World Half Marathon Championships bronze medalist Pauline Kamulu is on the list to make her debut. If she's for real nobody else in the field can touch her. If not, it'll probably be a head-to-head between the only sub-2:30 woman in the race, Yuri Mitsune, and Nanami Aoki, 2:30:01 on Osaka last year. Shiho Tachizako is another high-potential first-timer from the Tenmaya corporate team, coming in off a 1:11:16 at February's National Corporate Half Marathon. 

BS Fuji's broadcast of the race starts at 8:28 a.m. local time Sunday and is scheduled to be streamed online. Details on streaming TBA.

Times listed are athletes' best in last 3 years except where noted.

Men
Kiyoto Hirabayashi (Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 2:06:18 (1st, Osaka 2024)
Derese Workneh (Hiramatsu Byoin) - 2:07:58 (1st, Beppu-Oita 2024)
Yuki Nakamura (Sumitomo Denko) - 2:08:29 (1st, Beppu-Oita 2022)
Atsumi Ashiwa (Honda) - 2:08:37 (2nd, Beppu-Oita 2023)
Yuma Morii (Kyoto T&F Assoc.) - 2:09:59 (8th, Boston 2024)
Masaru Aoki (Kao) - 2:10:01 (15th, Osaka 2022)
Shogo Kanezane (Chugoku Denryoku) - 2:10:02 (9th, Beppu-Oita 2022)
Chihiro Ono (GMO) - 2:10:15 (36th, Osaka 2023)
Ren Umezaki (Toyo Univ.) - 2:10:19 (2nd, Nobeoka 2024)
Hiromasa Kumahashi (Sanyo Tokushu Seiko) - 2:10:38 (25th, Tokyo 2024)
Daisuke Hosomori (YKK) - 2:10:40 (28th, Osaka 2024)
Takashi Soma (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 2:10:46 (3rd, Nobeoka 2024)
Luka Musembi (Tokyo T&F Assoc.) - 2:10:49 (1st, Hokkaido 2022)
Haruka Kawamura (SDF Academy) - 2:10:57 (7th, Hofu 2023)
Shogo Nakamura (Fujitsu) - 2:12:10 (36th, Tokyo 2023)
Kazuki Matsuyama (Toyo Univ.) - debut - 1:00:43 (Corporate Half 2022)

Women
Yuri Mitsune (18 Ginko) - 2:29:49 (13th, Nagoya 2024)
Nanami Aoki (Iwatani Sangyo) - 2:30:01 (8th, Osaka 2023)
Yuko Kikuchi (Shimamura) - 2:32:08 (23rd, Nagoya 2022)
Ayano Ikeuchi (Denso) - 2:32:26 (11th, Seoul 2024)
Ai Ikemoto (Tokyo T&F Assoc.) - 2:34:17 (3rd, Hofu 2022)
Asuka Yamamoto (Universal Ent.) - 2:34:36 (9th, Osaka 2024)
Tomomi Sawahata (Sawahatters) - 2:34:46 (27th, Nagoya 2022)
Pauline Kamulu Kaveke (Route Inn Hotels) - debut - 1:07:22 (Marugame Half 2023)
Shiho Tachizako (Tenmaya) - debut - 1:11:16 (Corporate Half 2024)

© 2024 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Endo, Nishikawa and Yamakawa Announce Corporate Team Changes

The SG Holdings men's corporate team announced on Oct. 1 that long-distance athletes Hyuga Endo and Yuichiro Nishikawa have joined its roster after leaving the Sumitomo Denko team. Endo, 28, won the Junior Olympics 3000 m while at Koriyama Nishi J.H.S. before going on to Gakuho Ishikawa H.S. where he was the the top Japanese placer in the 5000 m at the National High School Championships 2 years in a row. After graduating from Gakuho Ishikawa he joined the Sumitomo Denko team, winning the National Championships 5000 m in 2021. He won gold at the 2023 Asian Championships and represented Japan at the 2022 and 2023 World Championships. "I will give everything I have as part of the team and work hard toward helping it win the New Year Ekiden," he said of his new environment. Of his personal goals he said, "I want to focus on the 5000 m and reach new levels to compete internationally." Nishikawa, 28, was a member of Tokai University 's winning teams at the H...
Post a Comment
Read more

3 Athletes Provisionally Suspended After Positive Drug Tests at Asian Games (updated)

The International Testing Agency announced on Oct. 2 that provisional suspensions have been imposed on two athletes, Kazakhstan's Aiana Bolatbekkyzy in track and field, and Tajikistan's Issamjon Sharifov in tennis, after they tested positive for prohibited substances at the Asian Games in Nagoya, Aichi. Bolatbekkyzy, 19, tested positive for the steroid drostanolone in a sample collected during an in-competition test at the Games. A diuretic drug was found in the sample collected from Sharifov, 23. Update:  On Oct. 3 a third athlete, kurash wrestler Yash Kumar Chauhan  of India, was provisionally suspended after an in-competition test detected the steroid metandienone, the metabolic modulator GW1516, and the stimulant mephentermine in his system. source article: https://www.sanspo.com/article/20261002-X4FJLT5MMZKFND6WXPOESAKETQ/ translated by Brett Larner
Post a Comment
Read more