Skip to main content

Imai and Ito Win Shibetsu Half Marathon in 29-Degree Temperatures

http://www.niigata-nippo.co.jp/world/sports/20130721055950.html
http://www.sanspo.com/sports/news/20130721/ath13072115580000-n1.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

Former Hakone Ekiden Fifth Stage star Masato Imai (Team Toyota Kyushu) won the July 21 Suffolkland Shibetsu Half Marathon, tying the course record of 1:03:24.  Defending champion Mai Ito (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) won the women's race in 1:12:27, with rookie Sayuri Oka (Team Daihatsu) taking the women's 10 km in 33:24. Last year's men's winner, Moscow World Championships marathon team member Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't), ended his day in 22nd after running only 1:06:45.

With temperatures climbing to 29 degrees, Kawauchi lost touch with the lead pack after 7 km.  By halfway he was 15 seconds behind, and in the second half he rapidly lost speed.  "My legs felt a little heavy," said Kawauchi.

Having done the race as part of his training it was something of a miss for the amateur runner.  "My goal here was not to completely blow it, but I blew it entirely.  I have to find a way to beat the heat," he added unhappily.  Including June's Okinoshima 50 km Ultramarathon where he suffered dehydration, Kawauchi has shown weakness running hot conditions.  Temperatures in Moscow in August average 22 degrees.  "That's better than other summer races," Kawauchi said.  "I'm glad they put it somewhere cool."

Following an acupuncture session to aid his recovery this week Kawauchi plans to run the July 28 Kushiro Shitsugen 30 km road race for his final pre-Worlds tuneup.  But with less than a month to go to the big day on August 17 his result in Shibetsu has to have left him with his share of uncertainty.

27th Suffolkland Shibetsu Half Marathon and 10 km
Shibetsu, Hokkaido, 7/21/13
click here for complete results

Men's Half Marathon
1. Masato Imai (Team Toyota Kyushu) - 1:03:24 - CR tie
2. Leul Gebreselassie (Ethiopia/Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) - 1:03:41
3. Ryuji Watanabe (Team Toyota Kyushu) - 1:04:01 - PB
4. Shingo Mishima (Team Toyota) - 1:04:03
5. Masaki Shimoju (Team Konica Minolta) - 1:04:04
6. Tomohiro Tanigawa (Team Konica Minolta) - 1:04:13
7. Yuya Konishi (Team Toyota Kyushu) - 1:04:57
8. Kazuki Ikenaga (Team Konica Minolta) - 1:04:58
9. Shoya Kurokawa (Komazawa Univ.) - 1:05:06
10. Masaki Toda (Tokyo Nogyo Univ.) - 1:05:19
-----
22. Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) - 1:06:45

Women's Half Marathon
1. Mai Ito (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) - 1:12:27
2. Yoko Miyauchi (Team Kyocera) - 1:12:52
3. Yuki Mitsunobu (Team Kyocera) - 1:13:54
4. Hiroko Miyauchi (Team Kyocera) - 1:14:16
5. Rika Shintaku (Team Shimamura) - 1:14:24
6. Shino Saito (Team Shimamura) - 1:14:27
7. Yuka Hakoyama (Team Wacoal) - 1:14:52
8. Ayaka Hitomi (Team Shimamura) - 1:15:24
9. Saki Tabata (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) - 1:16:22
10. Eri Hayakawa (Team Toto) - 1:16:45

Women's 10 km
1. Sayuri Oka (Team Daihatsu) - 33:24
2. Reia Iwade (Team Noritz) - 33:50
3. Misato Tanaka (Team Sysmex) - 33:53
4. Shoko Mori (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) - 33:56
5. Yui Okada (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) - 34:03

Comments

Most-Read This Week

World Championships Medalist Racewalking Coach Mizuho Sakai Recognized With Highest Coaching Honor

The 2023 Mizuno Sports Mentor Awards recognizing excellence in coaching were held Apr. 23 in Tokyo. Toyo University assistant coach and race walking coach Mizuho Sakai was given a gold award, the program's highest honor, and expressed her thanks and joy in a speech at the award ceremony. The coach of 2023 Budapest World Championships men's 35 km race walk bronze medalist Masatora Kawano , Sakai said, "This is an incredible honor and I'm truly grateful. As a child I wanted to be in the sporting world and I've spent my life in that world. My end goal was always to play a supporting role for other athletes, so I'm honored to be recognized in this way." Sakai's husband Toshiyuki Sakai , head coach of Toyo's three-time Hakone Ekiden champion team, attended the awards gala with her and was also introduced to the audience. After bowing he took a seat in front of her and watched with warmth as she received recognition for her outstanding work. The Mizun

Hirabayashi Runs PB at Shanghai Half, WR Holder Nakata Dominates Fuji Five Lakes - Weekend Road Roundup

Returning to the roads after his 2:06:18 win at February's Osaka Marathon, Kiyoto Hirabayashi (Koku Gakuin University) took 5th at Sunday's Shanghai Half Marathon in a PB 1:01:23, just under a minute behind winner Roncer Kipkorir Konga (Kenya) who clocked a CR 1:00:29. After inexplicably running the equivalent of a sub-59 half marathon to win the Hakone Ekiden's Third Stage, Aoi Ota (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) was back to running performances consistent with his other PBs with a 1:02:30 for 8th. His AGU teammate Kyosuke Hiramatsu was 10th in 1:04:00. Women's winner Magdalena Shauri (Tanzania) also set a new CR in 1:09:57. Aoyama Gakuin runners took the top four spots in the men's half marathon at the Aomori Sakura Marathon , with Hakone alternate Kosei Shiraishi getting the win in 1:04:32 and B-team members Shunto Hamakawa and Kei Kitamura 2nd and 3rd in 1:04:45 and 1:04:48. Club runners took the other division titles, Hina Shinozaki winning the women's half

The Ivy League at the Izumo Ekiden in Review

Last week I was contacted by Will Geiken , who I'd met years ago when he was a part of the Ivy League Select Team at the Izumo Ekiden . He was looking for historical results from Izumo and lists of past team members, and I was able to put together a pretty much complete history, only missing the alternates from 1998 to 2010 and a little shaky on the reverse transliterations of some of the names from katakana back into the Western alphabet for the same years. Feel free to send corrections or additions to alternate lists. It's interesting to go back and see some names that went on to be familiar, to see the people who made an impact like Princeton's Paul Morrison , Cornell's Max King , Stanford's Brendan Gregg in one of the years the team opened up beyond the Ivy League, Cornell's Ben de Haan , Princeton's Matt McDonald , and Harvard's Hugo Milner last year, and some of the people who struggled with the format. 1998 Team: 15th of 21 overall, 2:14:10 (43