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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

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