Skip to main content

Akaba Defends Sanyo Ladies Half Marathon Title

http://www.excite.co.jp/News/sports_g/20121223/Jiji_20121223F725.html
http://sankei.jp.msn.com/sports/news/121223/oth12122314090010-n1.htm
http://sankei.jp.msn.com/sports/news/121223/oth12122317160013-n1.htm
http://sankei.jp.msn.com/sports/news/121223/oth12122317380016-n1.htm

translated and edited by Brett Larner

At the Dec. 23 Sanyo Ladies Road Race in Okayama, defending champion Yukiko Akaba (Team Hokuren) ran 1:09:56 to successfully claim her second-straight Yuko Arimori Cup Half Marathon title, breaking away at 18 km to redeem her disappointing 8th-place finish at November's Yokohama International Women's Marathon and bad performance at last week's National Corporate Women's Ekiden Championships.  "I didn't want to end the year with nothing but bad runs," she said with a smile.  "There was nothing good about this year, but with this run I make a fresh start."  Aiming for the Moscow World Championships team, she plans to run either Boston or London in April.

Yuko Watanabe (Team Edion) took 2nd in 1:10:06 in preparation for her second shot at the marathon next month in Osaka.  Also aiming for Osaka where she will run her first marathon since giving birth in July last year, past World Championships team member Mari Ozaki (Team Noritz) was 7th in 1:11:36.  "This was training for the Osaka International Women's Marathon," she said.  "My time was better than I expected.  I'm getting stronger."  Ozaki has done little running over 20 km yet in her training and still feels nervous about longer mileage, but a year ago she had trouble running a hard 10 km.  Late in the race today she was all alone, and that leaves her nervous about Osaka.  "I don't know what to do if there's nobody around me in the marathon," she said.  "I don't know if I can handle the loneliness."

Beijing Olympics marathoner Yurika Nakamura (Team Tenmaya) was 34th in the half marathon.  Kenyan Felista Wanjugu of 2012 national champion Team Universal Entertainment won the  Hitomi Kinue Cup 10 km division in 32:16.  Yuka Ando (Mizuno) was the top Japanese finisher in the 10 km, 4th overall.

2012 Sanyo Ladies Road Race
Okayama, 12/23/12
click here for complete results

Yuko Arimori Cup Half Marathon
1. Yukiko Akaba (Team Hokuren) - 1:09:56
2. Yuko Watanabe (Team Edion) - 1:10:06
3. Beatrice Wainaina Murugi (Kenya/Team Toyota Jidoshokki) - 1:10:17
4. Kumi Ogura (Team Shikoku Denryoku) - 1:11:05
5. Chihiro Takato (Team Wacoal) - 1:11:16
6. Yuka Hakoyama (Team Wacoal) - 1:11:32
7. Mari Ozaki (Team Noritz) - 1:11:36
8. Chieko Kido (Canon AC Kyushu) - 1:11:38
9. Misato Horie (Team Noritz) - 1:11:41
10. Hitomi Shimofuji (Canon AC Kyushu) - 1:12:56

Kinue Hitomi Cup 10 km
1. Felista Wanjugu (Kenya/Team Univ. Ent.) - 32:16
2. Sally Chepyego (Kenya/Team Kyudenko) - 32:29
3. Grace Kimanzi (Kenya/Starts) - 32:30
4. Yuka Ando (Mizuno) - 32:37
5. Miho Ihara (Team Shikoku Denryoku) - 32:47
6. Akari Ota (Team Tenmaya) - 32:59
7. Caroline Nyakagua (Team Toto) - 33:12
8. Saki Tabata (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) - 33:17
9. Miho Shimizu (Hakuoh Univ.) - 33:19
10. Anna Hasuike (Team Higo Ginko) - 33:38

Comments

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

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

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