Skip to main content

Shimada and Stenson Break Launceston Half CR


With great conditions at what organizers billed as the highest-label half marathon in the southern hemisphere, the only half marathon in the south with a World Athletics Elite Label or better, Japan's Teruki Shimada and Australian Commonwealth Games champ Jessica Stenson broke the men's and women's course records at the McGrath Launceston Running Festival Peppers Silo Half Marathon Sunday in Tasmania.

The men's race start list read like a rematch of February's Marugame Half Marathon, with most of the 10 fastest men in the race having run there. On the Australian side was an interesting lineup of marathon NR holder Andy Buchanan, half marathon NR holder Brett Robinson, and road 10 km NR holder Sam Clifford, with Teikyo University duo Shimada and Jinya Ozaki and Rikkyo University pair Kento Baba and Hiroto Kuniyasu leading the Japanese contingent in their collective international debuts.

Baba, who ran 1:00:26 to finish 2 seconds ahead of Buchanan, was tasked with pacing through 10 km in 28:50 but struggled to hit that, clocking 29:14 before stepping off. Including Australians Isaac Heyne and Liam Boudin, the pack progressively whittled down as different people took turns at the front. Just before 20 km it was down to Heyne, Robinson and Shimada when Shimada, 5th on the First Stage at this year's Hakone Ekiden and 1:00:56 in Marugame, made the first real surge of the race. Robinson responded and took the lead on a corner just after 20 km, but at a 180˚ turnaround a few hundred meters later Heyne and Shimada went by him again.

Shimada surged just before the final corner and managed to hold Heyne off by 1 second, breaking Robinson's CR by 26 seconds to win in 1:01:12. Heyne was next in 1:01:13 and Robinson 3rd in 1:01:20, with Ozaki running a 1:01:24 PB for 4th and Kuniyasu 5 seconds off his PB in 1:01:35 for 5th. All 5 were under the old CR.

Shimada, who had never been outside Japan before and had to get his first passport to come to the race, missed the Australian all-comers record by just 1 second but didn't care much. "It was a big honor to get invited here, and I wanted to make the most of the chance with a good run," he said post-race. "I was pretty nervous running my first race against really good people like this, but I planned to save as much as I could for the last part of the race and I'm really happy it worked out the way it did." Post-race he presented the other podium finishers with gifts he had brought from Japan.

In the women's race Stenson and the only other sub-70 woman in the field, Japan's Yumi Yoshikawa, went out together with company from Australian Caitlin Adams. Adams dropped off just after 8 km, the trio going through 10 km in 33:11, 33:12 and 33:22, and just past 10 km Stenson started to pull away from Yoshikawa. "It was a bit depressing to watch her inch away and just be like, 'Noooo, don't goooooo!' Yoshikawa laughed post-race.

Stenson ran the 2nd half unchallenged, running the first-ever sub-71 and sub-70 in Launceston with a 1:09:51 CR for the win. Yoshikawa got under the old CR too in 1:10:43 for 2nd, with Adams hanging on for a PB in 3rd in 1:11:14. Running most of the race in 4th just a week after winning the Ulaanbataar Marathon, Mongolian NR holder Khishigsaikhan Galbadrakh faded to 6th in 1:13:54 after getting run down by Australians Sarah Klein and Milly Clark.

McGrath Launceston Running Festival

Peppers Silo Half Marathon
Launceston, Australia, 1 June 2025

Men
1. Teruki Shimada (Japan/Teikyo Univ.) - 1:01:12 - CR
2. Isaac Heyne (Australia) - 1:01:13 (CR), PB
3. Brett Robinson (Australia) - 1:01:20 (CR)
4. Jinya Ozaki (Japan/Teikyo Univ.) - 1:01:24 (CR), PB
5. Hiroto Kuniyasu (Japan/Rikkyo Univ.) - 1:01:35 (CR), PB
6. Liam Boudin (Australia) - 1:01:40 - PB
7. Sam Clifford (Australia) - 1:02:00 - PB
8. Andy Buchanan (Australia) - 1:02:42
9. Ryan Gregson (Australia) - 1:03:10
10. Ryuichi Yoshioka (Japan/Honda Tochigi) - 1:03:19
-----
17. Ser-Od Bat-Ochir (Mongolia/Shin Nihon Jusetsu) - 1:04:53
21. Kento Otsu (Japan/Chuo Hatsujo) - 1:06:56
-----
pacer - Kento Baba (Japan/Rikkyo Univ.) - 29:14 at 10 km

Women
1. Jessica Stenson (Australia) - 1:09:51 - CR
2. Yumi Yoshikawa (Japan) - 1:10:43 (CR)
3. Caitlin Adams (Australia) - 1:11:14 - PB
4. Sarah Klein (Australia) - 1:13:19
5. Milly Clark (Australia) - 1:13:44
6. Khishigsaikhan Galbadrakh (Mongolia) - 1:13:54
7. Breanna Golub (Australia) - 1:15:16 - PB
8. Isobel Hume (Australia) - 1:15:22 - debut
9. Eve Mure (Australia) - 1:17:40
10. Natasha Richards (Australia)- 1:19:14

© 2025 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

National University Championships Entry Lists and Streaming

The 95th National University Track and Field Championships run Friday through Monday at Nissan Stadium in Yokohama. The complete meet schedule and live results are here . The 10000 m races were already held separately earlier this season. Streaming starts at 9:00 a.m. Saturday Japan time, with separate field event channels and Day 2 and 3 streaming here . Top entries in each event with best performance in the qualifying window: Men 100 m Shoma Yamamoto (Hiroshima Univ.) - 10.04 Fukuto Komuro (Chuo Univ.) - 10.07 Naoki Nishioka (Tsukuba Univ.) - 10.09 Riku Oishi (Toyo Univ.) - 10.13 Kaito Kuroki (Chuo Univ.) - 10.14 Ryunosuke Mizuno (Waseda Univ.) - 10.14 Yugo Haitamataira (Juntendo Univ.) - 10.17 Shun Miyashita (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 10.19 200 m Akira Hayashi (Keio Univ.) - 20.36 Tomoru Funaki (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 20.39 Oma Asai (Tsukuba Univ.) - 20.47 Reishin Yamamoto (Toyo Univ.) - 20.49 Shingo Suzuki (Tokai Univ.) - 20.54 Haruto Nakamura (Fukuoka Univ.) - 20.55 400 m Shinya Hayashi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Yuasa and Niiya Win Hokkaido Marathon, 6 Qualify for Olympic Trials

  Six more people picked up qualifying spots for next year's MGC Race at yesterday's Hokkaido Marathon in Sapporo, guaranteeing themselves places at Japan's 2028 Los Angeles Olympics marathon trials. In the men's race, Hibiki Yoshida tried to break away from the massive lead group at 30 km, opening a 25-second lead between there and 35 km before getting cut down by the chase trio of Jin Yuasa , Ken Tansho and Masato Arao . All three stayed together until the very end, Yuasa showing the same kind of closing speed he had in winning 2025 Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon and pulling away to win in 2:10:46. The debuting Tansho was next in 2:10:55, with Arao, 6th at last year's Sydney Marathon in an excellent 2:07:42, 3rd here in 2:10:59. By clearing 2:12:00 all three picked up MGC qualifying spots, freeing them up to go overseas next spring. Continuing a great season, Soka University 's Shoki Yamaguchi was 4th in 2:11:47, missing out on trials qualification but bea...
1 comment
Read more

Monterey Welcomes Student-Athletes from Sister City Nanao, Japan

a press release by the Monterey-Nanao Cross Country Exchange Project photos here Fourteen student-athletes from Nanao High School in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, recently completed a weeklong visit to the Monterey Peninsula as part of the Monterey–Nanao Cross Country Exchange Project , bringing together young people from the two Sister Cities through running, education, environmental stewardship, cultural exchange, and friendship. The seven boys and seven girls from Nanao were paired with 14 members of the Monterey High School cross country team and stayed in their homes throughout the visit. The week marked the first half of a reciprocal exchange that will continue when the Monterey students travel to Nanao later this year. The visitors received their first introduction to Monterey shortly after arriving at Monterey High School, walking with their hosts to Sister City Park and gathering for photographs beside the sign honoring Nanao — a fitting beginning for a week devoted to bringin...
Post a Comment
Read more