Defending Champions Hara, Njui to Return to Hokkaido Marathon

by Brett Larner

This year's Hokkaido Marathon is set for Sunday, Aug. 28, directly opposite the Daegu World Championships. With a 12:10 start time Hokkaido is always hot and has some of the most strategic racing on the Japanese calendar. The men's race features both defending champion Cyrus Njui (Kenya/Team Hitachi Cable) and 2009 winner Daniel Njenga (Kenya/Team Yakult) along with sub-2:12 domestic men Seiji Kobayashi (Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki), Masaya Shimizu (Team Asahi Kasei) and Masashi Hayashi (Team Yakult). Njui is in good shape to defend his title after his second-straight win at last month's Sapporo International Half Marathon. A number of competitive men are also entered in the general division, the best among these being 2:11:44 marathoner Kenichiro Setoguchi (Team Asahi Kasei) and Yu Mitsuya (Team Toyota Kyushu), Samuel Wanjiru's main training partner during Wanjiru's pro years in Japan.

The women's race likewise features the 2010 and 2009 winners, defending champ Yumiko Hara (Team Univ. Ent.) and course record holder Kiyoko Shimahara (Second Wind AC), along with 2006 winner Kaori Yoshida (Amino Vital AC), who returns to Hokkaido off a sub-2:30 PB at last fall's Chicago Marathon. Also in the race are former national record holder Yoko Shibui and two-time World Championships marathon medalist Reiko Tosa (both Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo), Tosa seeking to make a comeback after giving birth to her first baby last year. The strongest challenge may come from 2011 Asian Marathon champion Noriko Higuchi (Team Wacoal), who finished 2nd at February's Tokyo Marathon.

2011 Hokkaido Marathon Elite Field Highlights

click here for complete elite field listing

Men

Daniel Njenga (Kenya/Team Yakult) - 2:06:16 (Chicago 2002)

Cyrus Njui (Kenya/Team Hitachi Cable) - 2:09:10 (Tokyo 2011)

Seiji Kobayashi (Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki) - 2:10:38 (Beppu-Oita 2009)

Masaya Shimizu (Team Asahi Kasei) - 2:10:50 (Biwako 2009)

Masashi Hayashi (Team Yakult) - 2:11:17 (Beppu-Oita 2010)

Harun Njoroge (Kenya/Team Komori Corp.) - 2:11:43 (Beppu-Oita 2011)

Chiharu Takada (Team JR Higashi Nihon) - 2:12:44 (Fukuoka 2010)

Mekubo Mogusu (Kenya/Team Aidem) - 2:14:44 (Tokyo 2011)

Women

Yoko Shibui (Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 2:19:41 (Berlin 2004)

Reiko Tosa (Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 2:22:46 (Boston 2002)

Yumiko Hara (Team Univ. Ent.) - 2:23:48 (Osaka 2007)

Tomo Morimoto (Team Tenmaya) - 2:24:33 (Vienna 2006)

Kiyoko Shimahara (Second Wind AC) - 2:25:10 (Hokkaido 2009)

Noriko Higuchi (Noriko Higuchi) - 2:28:49 (Tokyo 2011)

Kaori Yoshida (Amino Vital AC) - 2:29:45 (Chicago 2010)

Sumiko Suzuki (Team Hokuren) - 2:32:02 (Tokyo 2011)

Chinami Fukaminato (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) - 2:34:16 (Hokkaido 2009)

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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

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