Yuasa Goes Sub-2:10 to Win Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon

Almost totally absent its usual winds, great conditions at the Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon produced overall fast times and a sub-2:10 winning time for the second year in a row.

Last year Waseda University's Yota Ifuku became the first man to break 2:10 in Nobeoka with a surprise 2:09:26 debut for the win. Ifuku was back as a pacer with 2:07 man Tetsuya Yoroizaka from the local national champion Asahi Kasei corporate team, taking the lead group through 30 km almost dead on 3:06/km pace. A lead group of 12 was still together at that point, but just over a kilometer later Jin Yuasa, solid at January's New Year Ekiden in his corporate league debut with the Toyota corporate team with a 2nd-place run on the 11.4 km Sixth Stage, went on the attack.

Pre-race Yuasa had said that he planned to bide his time until a strategic uphill between 31 and 32 km, and that's exactly what he did. Pushing on the climb, Yuasa then rolled a 2:52 for the 33rd km to blow the pack apart. From there to the finish he was under 3:00/km for every km except one, getting closer and closer to Ifuku's CR but finding it just out of range. Still his 2:09:43 was a 5 1/2-minute PB that made him the 2nd-fastest man ever on the Nobeoka course, a major improvement and a controlled effort that put him in position to follow up with something bigger.

Almost a minute behind Yuasa, Ryoma Inoue (Chudenko) had a great debut, running 2:10:32 for 2nd. Takuma Takemura (SG Holdings) just made it under 2:11 with a 2:10:59 PB for 3rd. Times were solid far down into the field, with everyone in the top 13 who wasn't debuting running a PB. New Zealand's Caden Shields ran a nearly 2-minute PB of 2:11:35 for 5th, dropping to 11th after Yuasa's move but patiently working his way up through the field over the last 10 km and coming up just short of catching 4th-placer Yoichi Ishikawa (SDF Academy) who ran 2:11:30 in his debut.

Triathlete Akiko Ogawa outran ultramarathoner Miho Nakata to win the women's race 2:40:32 to 2:42:40.

Almost simultaneously with Yuasa's win, his former Chuo University teammate Kazusa Takanuma won the Ehime Marathon in a 2:13:00 PB, while Yuasa's fellow 2024 Chuo grad Shota Nakano won the Karatsu 10-Miler in 47:30.

63rd Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon

Nobeoka, Miyazaki, 9 Feb. 2025

complete results

Men

1. Jin Yuasa (Toyota) - 2:09:43 - PB

2. Ryoma Inoue (Chudenko) - 2:10:32 - debut

3. Takuma Takemura (SG Holdings) - 2:10:59 - PB

4. Yoichi Ishikawa (SDF Academy) - 2:11:30 - debut

5. Caden Shields (New Zealand) - 2:11:35 - PB

6. Akihito Eishin (Osaka Police) - 2:11:45 - PB

7. Taiga Seino (Chugoku Denryoku) - 2:11:50 - PB

8. Shusei Ohashi (Kodaira T&F Assoc.) - 2:12:22 - PB

9. Kota Sugito (Suzuki) - 2:12:49 - PB

10. Fuma Nakamura (Fujitsu) - 2:12:57 - PB

11. Hayato Mera (Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki) - 2:13:10 - debut

12. Taiyo Watanabe (Togami Denki) - 2:13:28 - PB

13. Hiroyuki Kato (Makes) - 2:13:32 - debut

14. Shinji Yoshimoto (Kurosaki Harima) - 2:14:52

15. Kanta Ikeda (Chugoku Denryoku) - 2:15:11 - debut

16. Shunsuke Kanbe (Komori Corp.) - 2:15:37 - debut

17. Yuta Kanno (Waseda Univ.) - 2:16:41 - debut

18. Hiromu Kitamura (Togami Denki) - 2:17:43 - PB

19. Yuma Shimizu (Toyota Kyushu) - 2:18:12

20. Maki Yamada (Asahi Kasei) - 2:18:41

21. Shota Kai (Nishitetsu) - 2:18:47

22. Takato Imai (Asahi Kasei) - 2:19:24 - debut

23. Yuya Tanabe (Asahi Kasei Nobeoka) - 2:20:10 - PB

24. Keisuke Yokota (Tokyo T&F Assoc.) - 2:21:01

25. Kazuhiro Morita (Saitama RC) - 2:24:20

Women

1. Akiko Ogawa (Koyugun T&F Assoc.) - 2:40:32 - PB

2. Miho Nakata (Chiba T&F Assoc.) - 2:42:40

3. Arika Ito (Universal Field) - 3:08:21

Etir Breaks Marugame CR, Catrofe Sets Uruguay NR, Omare 3rd-Straight Win

On the one hand it was too windy for really fast times at the Marugame Half , but on the other it wasn't, apparently. It was pretty much a strong tailwind over the first 10 km and just a strong a headwind over the last 10, so it wasn't a surprise that the lead group of men went through 5 km in 13:59 and 10 km in 27:51. Up front in it were 59:30 collegiate record co-holders Richard Etir and Kotaro Shinohara , and sub-59:30 guy Emmanuel Maru . But with the National University Half Marathon having moved to Marugame last year there were a million fast Hakone kids up in it to, Hiromichi Nonaka from Koku Gakuin University leading the way but lots more right behind. Etir and Maru opened up on the field after the turnaround, and by 15 km Etir was alone, 9 seconds ahead of Maru and on sub-59 pace running into the wind. Like everyone else he struggled to keep pace in the wind, sub-59 slipping away but easily taking the win in 59:07, a CR and new collegiate record by 23 seconds. Maru e...

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