Skip to main content

Sakai and Yoshida Lead Hokkaido Marathon Field

by Brett Larner

The Hokkaido Marathon has released the elite field for its 30th anniversary running on Aug. 28. The men's field features Masanori Sakai (Team Kyudenko), a 2:09:10 performer at the 2014 Tokyo Marathon but with little success since then, and Ryo Yamamoto (Team SGH Group), a member of the 2012 London Olympics marathon squad with a 2:08:37 best from 2012. An interesting dark horse is the Barcelona Olympics silver medalist Koichi Morishita-coached 2:13 man Yuki Oshikawa (Team Toyota Kyushu), winner of February's tough Ome 30 km and 2nd at last month's Shibetsu Half Marathon.  Something of an eyebrow raiser is Kenyan Cyrus Njui (SEV Sports), who underwent a six-month suspension after testing positive at last year's Hokkaido Marathon when he took cold medicine from a local pharmacists a few days before the race.  In today's environment it's hard to imagine many races inviting back someone who tested positive at the same race a year earlier, but Hokkaido's policy seems to be forgive and forget.

Underlining that policy is the number one seed in the women's race, Kaori Yoshida (Team RxL), Japan's sole public EPO bust after testing positive at the 2012 Honolulu Marathon.  Yoshida returned from her suspension stronger than ever, running a PB of 2:28:43 at last fall's inaugural Saitama International Marathon that positions her as the only sub-2:30 woman in the field.  Her best domestic competition is Aki Otagiri (Team Tenmaya) with a 2:30:24 best at last year's Nagoya Women's Marathon.  Japan-based Kenyan Winfridah Kebaso (Team Nitori) also looks to have potential to improve on her 2:32:08 best behind Yoshida in Saitama.  A dark horse pick is Sakiko Matsumi (Team Daiichi Seimei), a training partner of Rio Olympian Tomomi Tanaka and coached by 1991 World Championships silver medalist Sachiko Yamashita.

30th Hokkaido Marathon Elite Field
Sapporo, Hokkaido, 8/28/16
click here for complete field listing
all times listed are best in last three years

Men
Masanori Sakai (Kyudenko) - 2:09:10 (Tokyo 2014)
Cyrus Njui (Kenya/SEV Sports) - 2:09:35 (Tokyo 2014)
Ryo Yamamoto (SGH Group) - 2:10:59 (Vienna 2014)
Ryoichi Matsuo (Asahi Kasei) - 2:12:11 (Nobeoka 2014)
Ryo Kiname (Mitsubishi HPS) - 2:12:48 (Beppu-Oita 2014)
Yuki Oshikawa (Toyota Kyushu) - 2:13:24 (Biwako 2014)

Women
Kaori Yoshida (Team RxL) - 2:28:43 (Saitama International 2015)
Aki Otagiri (Tenmaya) - 2:30:24 (Nagoya Women's 2015)
Yuka Takemoto (Canon AC Kyushu) - 2:31:02 (Kitakyushu 2014)
Yuko Mizuguchi (Denso) - 2:31:39 (Nagoya Women's 2014)
Winfridah Kebaso (Kenya/Nitori) - 2:32:08 (Saitama International 2015)
Sakiko Matsumi (Daiichi Seimei) - 2:32:09 (Nagoya Women's 2016)
Megumi Amako (Canon AC Kyushu) - 2:34:28 (Seoul International 2015)

© 2016 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

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

Three Japanese Men Running 128th Boston Marathon

Back in Japan's golden years Boston was a big draw for its top talent in the marathon, but for a long time it was off the list of first-choice marathons as the preoccupation shifted to times. That started changing again in 2017 when 5000 m NR holder Suguru Osako made his debut there with a 2:10:28 for 3rd, following in the footsteps of other Waseda University alum who ran well in Boston including two-time winner Toshihiko Seko and the late Tomoyuki Taniguchi . Osako was 3rd at October's Paris Olympic marathon trials, putting him in position to be on the Paris team unless someone runs 2:05:50 or better at February's Osaka Marathon or March's Tokyo Marathon. Having run 2:06:13 in Tokyo last year but beaten by two Japanese men who both went under 2:06, there wasn't really any upside to Osako doing Tokyo this time. Osaka seemed like the logical choice, but like he has for most of his life Osako is following his own motivations and opting to return to the 128th Boston
2 comments
Read more