Skip to main content

Higashino, Makishima, Watanabe, Ichida Twins Win on Roads in Kyushu

http://www.oita-press.co.jp/localNews/2012_132608542166.html
http://www.373news.com/modules/pickup/index.php?storyid=37548
http://www.nagasaki-np.co.jp/kiji/20120110/05.shtml

translated and edited by Brett Larner

Japan's southernmost main island Kyushu was the site of most of the long weekend's road action.

The 49th South Japan Long Distance Meet took place Jan. 8 in Kagoshima on a road loop course inside Kagoshima Sports Park.  A track 10000 m until last year, the open men's 10 km division saw  Takashi Ichida (Daito Bunka Univ., formerly of 2010 national champion Kagoshima Jitsugyo H.S.) take the win in 29:35.  His identical twin brother Hiroshi Ichida (also Daito Bunka Univ. / Kagoshima Jitsugyo H.S.) was close behind in 2nd in 29:38 with Chihiro Suzuhigashi (Kokubu SDF Base) also cracking 30 minutes as he took 3rd in 29:59.  Click here for top results.

A record 951 people competed in the Oita City Half Marathon on Jan. 9 on a course starting and finishing at the Oita Civic Track and Field Grounds.  In the men's half-marathon division Kenji Higashino (Team Asahi Kasei) won a close three-way sprint finish to take 1st in 1:05:19.  His teammate Ryoichi Matsuo (Team Asahi Kasei) was just behind in 2nd in 1:05:21 with amateur Hiroki Nonaka (Usuki Fire Dep't) 3rd in 1:05:23.  Saori Makishima (Canon AC Kyushu) won the women's division in 1:15:19.  Three local high schoolers broke 30 minutes in the men's 10 km, led by Shuhei Kondo (Oita Tomei H.S.) in 29:47.  Sayaka Kuribayashi (Uwa H.S.) likewise won the women's 10 km, clocking 36:22.  The half-marathon started at 10:00 a.m., with the 10 km getting underway at 10:08.  772 people finished the half-marathon, 179 people the 10 km.  The runners travelled along Oita's waterfront highway and took in many of the sights of downtown Oita on a course conducive to fast times.  Click here for complete results.

Further west in Nagasaki at the 41st Unsen Obama Half-Marathon, Masahiko Watanabe (Team Sumco) took his first win in the men's open division in 1:05:54.  A total of 1046 people from elementary school students to adults took part in the different divisions.  Tomoya Oda (Isahaya H.S.) won the high school boys' 10 km in 30:58, while Kana Matsuzoe (Nagasaki Shogyo H.S.) won the high school girls' 5 km in 17:12.

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Japan's Olympic Marathon Team Meets the Press

With renewed confidence, Japan's Olympic marathon team will face the total 438 m elevation difference hills of Paris this summer. The members of the women's and men's marathon teams for August's Paris Olympics appeared at a press conference in Tokyo on Mar. 25 in conjunction with the Japan Marathon Championship Series III (JMC) awards gala. Women's Olympic trials winner Yuka Suzuki (Daiichi Seimei) said she was riding a wave of motivation in the wake of the new women's national record. When she watched Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) set the record at January's Osaka International Women's Marathon on TV, Suzuki said she was, "absolutely stunned." Her coach Sachiko Yamashita told her afterward, "When someone breaks the NR, things change," and Suzuki found herself saying, "I want to take my shot." After training for a great run in Paris, she said, "I definitely want to break the NR in one of my marathons after that." Mao

Weekend Racing Roundup

  China saw a new men's national record of 2:06:57 from  Jie He  at the Wuxi Marathon Sunday, but in Japan it was a relatively quiet weekend with mostly cold and rainy amateur-level marathons across the country. At the Tokushima Marathon , club runner Yuhi Yamashita  won the men's race by almost 4 1/2 minutes in 2:17:02, the fastest Japanese men's time of the weekend, but oddly took 22 seconds to get across the starting line. The women's race saw a close finish between the top two, with Shiho Iwane  winning in 2:49:33 over Ayaka Furukawa , 2nd in 2:49:46.  At the 41st edition of the Sakura Marathon in Chiba, Yukie Matsumura  (Comodi Iida) ran the fastest Japanese women's time of the weekend, 2:42:45, to take the win. Club runner Yuki Kuroda  won the men's race in 2:20:08.  Chika Yokota  won the Saga Sakura Marathon women's race in 2:49:33.  Yuki Yamada  won the men's race in 2:21:47 after taking the lead in the final 2 km.  Naoki Inoue  won the 16th r

Takeuchi Wins Niigata Half in Boston Tune-Up

Running in cold, windy and rainy conditions, Ryoma Takeuchi (ND Software) warmed up for April's Boston Marathon with a win at Wednesday's Niigata Half Marathon . Takeuchi sat behind Nittai University duo Susumu Yamazaki and Ryuga Ishikawa in the early stages, then made a series of pushes to pick up the pace. Each time he tucked in behind whoever went to the front, while behind them others dropped off. Before 15 km only Yamazaki and Riki Koike of Soka University were left, and when Takeuchi went to the front the last time after 15 km only Koike followed. By 16 he was gone too, leaving Takeuchi to solo it in to the win in 1:03:13 with a 17-second negative split. "This was my last fitness check before the Boston Marathon next month, and my time was right on-target," he said post-race. "Everything went as planned. I'm looking forward to racing some of the world's best in Boston, and my goal there is to place in the single digits." Just back from tr