Skip to main content

Nishimura Breaks Kumanichi 30 km CR, Tsurukawa Over Yonemitsu in Men's Race

 

Maybe the next big thing coming down the Tenmaya corporate pipeline, Mizuki Nishimura made good on her pre-race plan for the Kumanichi 30 km to get as close as she could to her Tenmaya teammate Honami Maeda's 1:38:35 NR. Out solo almost on track to break 1:40 in excellent conditions, Nishimura started to slow in the middle third of the race but had enough time and energy to work with to still take almost 2 minutes off the old pre-super shoe era CR, winning easily in 1:41:42.

2nd and 3rd-placers Mio Kuroda and Khishigsaikhan Galbadrakh were together through 20 km before Galbadrakh faded, Kuroda taking 2nd in 1:44:49 and Galbadrakh 3rd in 1:45:44 in a tuneup for next month's Tokyo Marathon.


The men's race started conservatively, keeping a large group of 11 together until 20 km. sub-61 half marathoner Daiki Hattori did a lot of the work up to that point, splitting 30:29 and 1:00:41 at 10 and 20 km, and let the move that broke the lead group in half just past 20 km. But from there the pace only went up, and it quickly shook down to a head-to-head between corporate leaguer Ren Yonemitsu and local boy Masaya Tsurukawa, one of the key players in Aoyama Gakuin University's Hakone Ekiden win this year.

Once he went to the front Yonemitsu did what he could to try to shake off the less experienced Tsurukawa. But Tsurukawa stayed with him, even pulling up next to Yonemitsu in the last km to stare him down before dropping back once to set up for his final kick. That came with less than 300 m to go, and in only that distance Tsurukawa opened 10 seconds to take the win in 1:30:34 to Yonemitsu's 1:30:44.

Makoto Takewari from Tokai University was a surprise 3rd in 1:31:06, with Hattori dropping to 4th in 1:31:18. Sweden's David Nilsson, the first European to run Kumanichi in its 67-year history, meeting his pre-race goals of a top 8 finish and/or sub-1:33 in 1:32:47 for 7th.



67th Kumanichi 30 km Road Race

Kumamoto, 16 Feb. 2025

Women
1. Mizuki Nishimura (Tenmaya) - 1:41:42 - CR
2. Mio Kuroda (Kyocera) - 1:44:49
3. Khishigsaikhan Galbadrakh (Mongolia) - 1:45:44
4. Yuka Gito (Higo Ginko) - 1:46:25
5. Eriko Otsuka (Higo Ginko) - 1:52:49

Men
1. Masaya Tsurukawa (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:30:34
2. Ren Yonemitsu (Konica Minolta) - 1:30:44
3. Makoto Takewari (Tokai Univ.) - 1:31:06
4. Daiki Hattori (Toyota Boshoku) - 1:31:18
5. Ryui Kawano (Toyota Kyushu) - 1:31:28
6. Koya Suzuki (Reitaku Univ.) - 1:32:11
7. David Nilsson (Sweden) - 1:32:47
8. Hiroki Koyama (Jobu Univ.) - 1:33:17
9. Noriaki Oyama (Comodi Iida) - 1:33:33
10. Ryo Yoshida (Soka Univ.) - 1:33:40
11. Takayuki Matsuura (Fukuoka T&F Assoc.) - 1:34:17
12. Anju Murota (Meiji Univ.) - 1:34:44
13. Maharu Ijima (Jobu Univ.) - 1:35:49
14. Hiroki Hashimoto (SG Holdings) - 1:36:25
15. Daito Sonoki (Chuo Univ.) - 1:37:29

text and photos © 2025 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

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."...
82 comments
Read more

Gold Coast Marathon Elite Field (updated)

Australia's Gold Coast Marathon is back for its 45th running with title sponsorship from longtime partner ASICS. Two-time winner Rodah Tanui is the top name in the women's race with a 2:23:14 in Copenhagen two years ago, with her strongest competition coming from Olympian Khishigsaikhan Galbadrakh , who set a Mongolian NR of 2:26:32 in Tokyo last year. Zerihun Alemtsehay and Caroline Kilel both have recent sub-2:30 times, and debuting Ethiopian Tegest Ayalew looks to have a sub-2:30 in her too. Pacing is planned to be a 1:12:00 first half, an ambitious goal for pretty much everyone except maybe Tanui. Up front in the men's race are a solid trio of 2:07 runners made up of Ethiopians Gizealew Ayana and Japan-based Derese Workneh , and Kenyan Mathew Samperu . The top tier of Japanese men come in at the 2:08 level, including Mizuki Higashi , Yuki Takei , and Ryoma Takeuchi , a pacer at Gold Coast last year. Past winner Yuki Kawauchi has only run under 2:20 once in 2024 a...
Post a Comment
Read more

Omuta High School Ekiden Team Helps Clean Up Elderly Alum's Restaurant After Kyushu Flooding

In the MIkawa neighborhood of Omuta, Fukuoka, the udon restaurant Donbeian was among the many victims of the large-scale flooding to strike Kyushu. Despite there being little chance the restaurant will be able to reopen in the foreseeable future, the entire local Omuta H.S. boys' ekiden team turned up on July 10 to help clean it out as a gesture of support for owner and Omuta H.S. alumnus Hirofumi Esaki , 66. Even as the rains continued to fall Esaki said, "Thanks to the kids I can at least see a way forward now. Donbeian will definitely be back." Floodwaters overcame the restaurant midday on July 6, rapidly rising to waist-deep level. Tables and seats from the customer area were strewn everywhere, with cooking utensils and bowls floating in the muddy waters. "I was in the second-floor office," recalled Esaki. "It was all I could do to get the heavy noodle-stretching machine away from the water and up to a higher place." By July 8 the floodwaters...
1 comment
Read more