Skip to main content

Hokkaido Marathon Announces Elite Field

by Brett Larner

The Hokkaido Marathon has announced the elite field for this year's race, scheduled for Aug. 30 on a new course. The premier summer Japanese marathon, Hokkaido has attracted a top field of domestic athletes not running the World Championships a week prior.

The women's race promises to be the highlight of the event, with this year's Tokyo Marathon winner Mizuho Nasukawa (Team Aruze), inexplicably omitted from the World Championships marathon team, squaring off against teammate and defending champ Yukari Sahaku (Team Aruze) who is running the 10000 m in the Berlin World Championships, 2008 Tokyo Marathon winner Claudia Dreher (Germany), 2008 Honolulu Marathon winner Kiyoko Shimahara (Second Wind AC), 2006 Hokkaido winner Kaori Yoshida (Amino Vital AC) and more.

In the men's race, defending champ Masaru Takamizawa (Saku Chosei H.S.) will face former teammates Yuzo Onishi (Team Nissin Shokuhin) and Toshinari Suwa (Team Nissin Shokuhin), Kenyan great Daniel Njenga (Team Yakult), 2009 Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon runner-up Seiji Kobayashi (Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki) who narrowly missed making the Berlin World Championships team, and others.

2009 Hokkaido Marathon - Elite Field
Women
Naoko Sakamoto (Team Tenmaya) - 2:21:51 (Osaka 2003)
Mizuho Nasukawa (Team Aruze) - 2:25:38 (Tokyo 2009)
Kiyoko Shimahara (Second Wind AC) - 2:26:14 (Hokkaido 2005)
Aki Fujikawa (Team Shiseido) - 2:27:06 (Nagoya 2004)
Claudia Dreher (Germany) - 2:27:55 (Hannover 1999)
Akemi Ozaki (Second Wind AC) - 2:28:39 (Tokyo Int'l 2007)
Yukari Sahaku (Team Aruze) - 2:28:55 (Tokyo 2009)
Kaori Yoshida (Amino Vital AC) - 2:30:58 (Nagoya 2008)
Naoko Ota (Saku AC Hokkaido) - 2:48:52 (Nagoya 2008)
Mai Fujisawa (Hokkaido City Hall) - 2:50:23 (Nagoya 2009)

Men
Daniel Njenga (Team Yakult) - 2:06:16 (Chicago 2002)
Toshinari Suwa (Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 2:07:55 (Fukuoka 2003)
Yuzo Onishi (Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 2:08:54 (Biwako 2008)
Tomoya Shimizu (Team Sagawa Express) - 2:09:23 (Biwako 2008)
Laban Kagika (Team JFE Steel) - 2:10:24 (Fukuoka 2001)
Seiji Kobayashi (Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki) - 2:10:38 (Beppu-Oita 2009)
Yuri Hyuchun (Ukraine) - 2:10:59 (Debuno 2008)
Masaru Takamizawa (Saku Chosei H.S.) - 2:12:10 (Hokkaido 2008)
Toyoshi Ishige (Team Yakult) - 2:12:45 (Biwako 2008)
Hiroshi Matsuda (Saku AC Hokkaido) - 2:23:38 (Fukuoka 1999)

(c) 2009 Brett Larner
all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

TokyoRacer said…
Wait a minute...a Japanese high school kid ran a 2:12 last year...as a HS junior??
August 7, 2009 at 11:00 PM
Brett Larner said…
No, he's a teacher there. Young, but not that young. Takamizawa ran for Nissin for a year or two then quit last year to take a job at Saku Chosei where he'd gone to high school. He ran in a SC singlet last year and I remember the announcers repeatedly saying that he was not actually a high school student.
August 7, 2009 at 11:32 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