Skip to main content

Fukatsu 1:01:25 CR at Tamana Half, 200+ Sub-1:06 at National University Half Championships

by Brett Larner
complete results coming soon

Three major half marathons across Japan started off the morning of Mar. 4 in style.  At the 63rd Kanaguri Hai Tamana Half Marathon, Komazawa University graduate Takuya Fukatsu (Team Asahi Kasei) ran a solo 1:01:25 course record, the all-time #8 Japanese mark on an unaided course and bettering the 1:01:31 mark set by Fukatsu's former Komazawa teammate Yusuke Takabayashi (Team Toyota) last month at Marugame.  Fukatsu ran together with Kenyans Kiragu Njuguna (Daiichi Kogyo Univ.) and Dishawn Karukuwa Maina (Team Aisan Kogyo) before dropping them in the second half of the race to win by over a minute.  Hiroko Miyauchi (Team Kyocera) won the women's 10 km in 33:09, with Shuhei Kondo (Oita Tomei H.S.) winning the high school boys' 10 km in 29:38.

At the Shizuoka Sunpu Half Marathon, Shinichi Yamashita (Takigahara SDF Base) won in a conservative 1:04:58 over Teikyo University's Katsunori Watanabe and Takuma Tamura, but the race was most noteworthy for the half marathon debut of 27:38 track ace Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin).  Sato clocked only 1:06:50, saying afterward that he is not in good condition but is hopeful of regaining form in time to earn an Olympic A-standard in the 10000 m this spring.



The deepest-ever half-marathon finish, beginning with Toshikatsu Ebina in 1:02:23.

Fukatsu's CR aside, the biggest half marathon results of the day came in Tachikawa, Tokyo at the National University Men's Half Marathon Championships.  Takushoku University second-year Kenyan Duncan Muthee took the race out fast at 1:00:40 pace, with a large group of Japanese students near 1:01-flat pace not far behind.  Times slowed somewhat, but Teikyo University second-year Toshikatsu Ebina managed to keep it moving well enough to win in an apparent course record of 1:02:23, with teammate Yudai Yamakawa making it a Teikyo 1-2 in 1:02:36.  The top thirteen student athletes all broke 1:03, and the depth of the field was record-setting.  Although complete official results are not yet available, Waseda University reported one of its runners had finished in 1:06:11 in 211th place.  If true, it appears that for the first time in history more than 200 runners may have broken 1:06 in one race.  The previous record of 188 came at the 2005 Ageo City Half Marathon, Japan's major fall university half.  These results will be confirmed and this story updated once complete results are available.

(c) 2012 Brett Larner
all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

Unknown said…
http://danieldiaztecles.blogspot.com/
Someday I will run in Japan. The enthusiasm you see in the video is wonderful
March 5, 2012 at 8:45 PM
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

Saturday at Kanaguri and Nittai

Two big meets happened Saturday, one in Kumamoto and the other in Yokohama. At Kumamoto's Kanaguri Memorial Meet , Benard Koech (Kyudenko) turned in the performance of the day with a 13:13.52 meet record to win the men's 5000 m A-heat by just 0.11 seconds over Emmanuel Kipchirchir (SGH). The top four were all under 13:20, with 10000 m national record holder Kazuya Shiojiri (Fujitsu) bouncing back from a DNF at last month's The TEN to take the top Japanese spot at 7th overall in 13:24.57. The B-heat was also decently quick, Shadrack Rono (Subaru) winning in 13:21.55 and Shoya Yonei (JR Higashi Nihon) running a 10-second PB to get under 13:30 for the first time in 13:29.29 for 6th. Paris Olympics marathoner Akira Akasaki (Kyudenko) was 9th in 13:30.62. South Sudan's Abraham Guem (Ami AC) also set a meet record in the men's 1500 m A-heat in 3:38.94. 3000 mSC national record holder Ryuji Miura made his debut with the Subaru corporate team, running 3:39.78 for 2n
1 comment
Read more

93-Year-Old Masters Track and Field WR Holder Hiroo Tanaka: "Everyone has Unexplored Intrinsic Abilities"

  In the midst of a lot of talk about how to keep the aging population young, there are people with long lives who are showing extraordinary physical abilities. One of them is Hiroo Tanaka , 93, a multiple world champion in masters track and field. Tanaka began running when he was 60, before which he'd never competed in his adult life. "He's so fast he's world-class." "His running form is so beautiful. It's like he's flying." Tanaka trains at an indoor track in Aomori five days a week. Asked about him, that's the kind of thing the people there say. Tanaka holds multiple masters track and field world records, where age is divided into five-year groups. Last year at the World Masters Track and Field Championships in Poland he set a new world record of 38.79 for 200 m in the M90 class (men's 90-94 age group). People around the world were amazed at the time, which was almost unbelievable for a 92-year-old. After retiring from his job as an el
Post a Comment
Read more