Skip to main content

Kawauchi Takes Six Minutes Off Kitakyushu Marathon Course Record to Lead Weekend Results



After a seven-week break from the marathon, Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) scored his third-straight marathon win, second-straight course record and came just shy of a third-straight negative split as he ran a completely solo 2:11:46 to take almost six minutes off the Kitakyushu Marathon course record. Following up on negative split wins at December's Hofu Yomiuri Marathon and January's Marshfield New Year's Day Marathon, the latter a course record by half an hour, Kawauchi was on his own in the first 100 m in Kitakyushu and never looked back.

In the hilly first 10 km his pace fluctuated from high-2:12 to high-2:10, but once Kawauchi got into the flatter section of the course he settled out on track for a high-2:11 to low-2:12 time. After a 1:05:51 split at halfway he slowed slightly on the outbound trip to the turnaround near 31 km, but picking it up again after 35 km he marked a 6:34 from 40 km to the finish to stop the clock at 2:11:46,  a 1:05:55 second half that put him 5:56 under the previous course record of 2:17:42 set by Shinji Tateishi in Kitakyushu's first running in 2014. Along with the course record, Kawauchi extended his record for most career sub-2:12 marathons to 26.


Both of Kawauchi's younger brothers were also in the race. Middle brother Yoshiki Kawauchi (Jaybird) was 3rd in 2:22:44, with youngest brother Koki Kawauchi (Mediafoam) 6th in 2:30:05. In the women's race, Linda Janthachit (Thailand) was a surprise winner in 2:49:56, only the seventh Thai woman to ever break 2:50 in the marathon.


Just across the island of Kyushu in Kumamoto, the Kumanichi 30 km, the world's most competitive race at its distance, saw an exciting race that came down to a sprint finish. Favorite Yuki Oshikawa (Toyota Kyushu), winner of the 2016 edition of the tougher Ome 30 km, found himself up against newcomer Keisuke Hayashi (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) who last month broke future half marathon national record holder Yuta Shitara's Seventh Stage record at the Hakone Ekiden and helped give AGU a fourth-straight Hakone title.


Oshikawa and Hayashi ran in a large pack through 15 km on a solid low-1:29 pace before an early break from Katsuya Kawasumi (Daito Bunka Univ.) shook things up. Trailed by others the pair ran Kawasumi down by 25 km, raising the pace bit by bit to burn off their other competition. In the home straight Hayashi got the edge on Oshikawa to cross the finish line in 1:29:47, the fastest winning time at Kumanichi since 2014. Oshikawa was a step behind in 1:29:48, with 3rd-place Gen Hachisuka (Konica Minolta) the only other man to clear 1:30 at 1:29:56.


Women's winner Yuko Watanabe (Edion) also emerged on top in a close race, winning in 1:47:17 by a margin of 11 seconds over Nanayo Okamoto (Osaka Gakuin Univ.). Veteran Hiroko Miyauchi (Hokuren) was another 4 seconds back in 3rd in 1:47:32. Watanabe's time was the slowest women's winning time at Kumanichi since 2010. In the accompanying mass-participation Kumamotojo Marathon, Hiroaki Fukukawa (Kumamoto Univ.) took the top men's spot in 2:20:50 with 2016 women's winner Yumi Sakai (Memolead) breaking her own course record for the win in 2:48:24.

Next behind Kumanichi on the world 30 km road race rankings, the Ome 30 km went off just after Kumanichi wrapped. With a slow first half on the tough net uphill section of the Ome course a group of 9 or 10 men stayed together through 20 km before the action began. Among them was Takayuki Matsumiya (Aichi Seiko), course record holder in Kumanichi, Japanese national record holder and former world record holder for 30 km, running Ome three days before his 38th birthday.

Oshikawa's teammate Kento Otsu (Toyota Kyushu) went to the front after 20 km to cut the lead pack down to five including Matsumiya, but on the flatter final 5 km it was another veteran, Naoki Okamoto (Chugoku Denryoku), who got away for the win in 1:33:09. Matsumiya was just 5 seconds short of a miracle, 2nd in 1:33:14 by 1 second over the much younger Koki Tanaka (Kanebo).


In the women's race a lead trio made up of Yuri Nozoe (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo), Maki Ashi (Kyudenko) and Kaori Yoshida (RxL) worked together in the initial stages, Danna Herrick (U.S.A.) alone in 4th ahead of two-time winner Asami Kato (Panasonic). Yoshida soon lost touch, leaving Ashi to take control after 20 km and run the last third of the race alone for the win in 1:44:14. Nozoe fell far behind but kept hold of 2nd in 1:47:29 ahead of Yoshida's 1:48:02 for 3rd. Herrick's position stayed unchanged at 4th in 1:49:31, Kato more than 10 minutes off her previous winning times in 1:54:45 for 5th. Yuka Sarumida (Univ. Ent.) won the accompanying women's 10 km in 33:18.

© 2018 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Morii Surprises With Second-Ever Japanese Sub-2:10 at Boston

With three sub-2:09 Japanese men in the race and good weather conditions by Boston standards the chances were decent that somebody was going to follow 1981 winner Toshihiko Seko 's 2:09:26 and score a sub-2:10 at the Boston Marathon . But nobody thought it was going to be by a 2:14 amateur. Paris Olympic team member Suguru Osako had taken 3rd in Boston in 2:10:28 in his debut seven years ago, and both he and 2:08 runners Kento Otsu and Ryoma Takeuchi were aiming for spots in the top 10, Otsu after having run a 1:01:43 half marathon PB in February and Takeuchi of a 2:08:40 marathon PB at Hofu last December. A high-level amateur with a 2:14:15 PB who scored a trip to Boston after winning a local race in Japan, Yuma Morii told JRN minutes before the start of the race, "I'm not thinking about time at all. I'm going to make top 10, whatever time it takes." Running Boston for the first time Morii took off with a 4:32 on the downhill opening mile, but after that  Sis
Post a Comment
Read more

Fujitsu and Toyoda Issue Statement on Circumstances of His Two-Year Suspension for Trenbolone

  Following 400 m hurdler Masaki Toyoda 's suspension for a violation of anti-doping regulations , the Fujitsu corporate team published a statement on its website, including comments from Toyoda's legal team , explaining the ruling and the circumstances surrounding the case. Toyoda was a member of the 2019 Doha World Championships team and holds a best of 48.87. Early in the morning of May 19, 2022, the Japan Anti-Doping Agency (JADA) conducted a doping test of Toyoda. The prohibited substance trenbolone was detected in urine taken during the test, resulting in a two-year suspension that began May 21, 2022. He did not compete at the National Track and Field Championships the next month. The amount of trenbolone detected in Toyoda's urine sample was 1.4 ng/ml, well below the minimum analytical precision of 2.5 ng/ml required by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) for analytical equipment. As a general rule, if a non-specified prohibited substance such as trenbolone is dete
Post a Comment
Read more

“The Miracle in Fukuoka” - Real Talk From Yuki Kawauchi on “Taking on the World” (part 1)

http://sports.yahoo.co.jp/column/detail/201701120002-spnavi translated by Brett Larner Ahead of his nomination to the London World Championships Marathon team, Sportsnavi published a three-part series of writings by Yuki Kawauchi on what it took for him to make the team, his hopes for London, and his views on the future of Japanese marathoning.  With his place on the London team announced on Mar. 17 , JRN will publish an English translation of the complete series over the next three days. See Sportsnavi's original version linked above for more photos. Click here for part two, " Bringing All My Experience Into Play in London ," or here for part three, " The Lessons of the Past Are Not 'Outdated.' " The Fukuoka International Marathon was held on Dec. 4 last year. Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov’t) took part despite nursing injuries he had sustained in training. Falling rain contributed to less than ideal conditions during the race, but from th
6 comments
Read more