Skip to main content

Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon Announces 51st Elite Field

by Brett Larner

The organizers of the Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon released the elite field on Jan. 28 for this year's 51st running, scheduled for Feb. 10.  Traditionally an elite developmental race for first- or second-time marathoners, this year's race is capped by 2010 Asian Games marathon silver medalist and 2011 World Championships marathoner Yukihiro Kitaoka (Team NTN).  Kitaoka has been mostly injured since 2010 and will be seeking a return to the kind of form he showed that year.  His main challengers among the marathoners are the Koichi Morishita-coached Kenji Takeuchi (Team Toyota Kyushu) and Etsu Miyata (Team Fujitsu), a teammate of former national record holder Atsushi Fujita.

This year's race is heavy on people making their debuts.  Chief among them are sub-63 men Ayumu Sato (Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki) with a 1:02:33 best from last year's Marugama Half and Nittai University grad Kazuya Deguchi (Team Nissin Shokuhin) with a best of 1:02:46.  2009 Ome 30 km winner Hirokatsu Kurosaki (Team Konica Minolta) will also finally make a long-awaited debut in the marathon after running a half marathon best in 2012.  The talented Ryo Kiname (Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki) will serve as the lone pacer, and with the race expected to go at the 2:11-2:12 level the 2:11:05 course record could fall with the right conditions.  Check back closer to race date for Nobeoka coverage details.

51st Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon Elite Field
Nobeoka, 2/10/13
click here for complete field listing

1. Yukihiro Kitaoka (Team NTN) - 2:10:51 (Lake Biwa 2010)
41. Kenji Takeuchi (Team Toyota Kyushu) - 2:12:44 (Nobeoka 2011)
2. Etsu Miyata (Team Fujitsu) - 2:13:19 (Nagano 2010)
42. Naoki Yamashita (Team NTN) - 2:16:11 (Lake Biwa 2012)
3. Jun Matsumoto (Team Aichi Seiko) - 2:16:35 (Nobeoka 2012)
4. Ryoichi Matsuo (Team Asahi Kasei) - 2:16:55 (Ohtawara 2012)
5. Kenji Sakata (Team Kurosaki Harima) - 2:18:19 (Nobeoka 2011)
43. Sho Matsumoto (Dream AC) - 2:18:59 (Fukuoka 2012)
9. Ayumu Sato (Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki) - 1:02:33 (Marugame Half 2012)
10. Kazuya Deguchi (Team Asahi Kasei) - 1:02:46 (Nossapu Misaki Half 2008)
11. Mitsutaka Imura (Team Komori Corp.) - 1:03:12 (Marugame Half 2010)
6. Takahiro Ozaki (Team Fujitsu) - 1:03:12 (Marugame Half 2008)
12. Yohei Fujiwara (Team Sagawa Express) - 1:03:15 (Marugame Half 2012)
13. Hiroaki Sano (Team Honda) - 1:03:16 (Tachikawa Half 2009)
44. Takashi Goto (Team Nishitetsu) - 1:03:30 (Tachikawa Half 2009)
14. Norimasa Yoshida (Team Subaru) - 1:03:31 (Ageo City Half 2006)
15. Hirokatsu Kurosaki (Team Konica Minolta) - 1:03:32 (National Corporate Half 2012)
7. Satoshi Abe (Team Toenec) - 1:03:34 (Nagoya Half 2009)
45. Hajime Koizumi (Iwaki T&F Assoc.) - 1:04:01 (Ageo City Half 2007)
16. Kazuaki Shimizu (Team Yakult) - 1:04:11 (Marugame Half 2008)
8. Makoto Hasegawa (Team Hitachi Butsuryu) - 1:04:28 (National Corporate Half 2008)
17. Yoshihiro Shimazawa (Team Hitachi Butsuryu) - 1:04:36 (Ageo City Half 2002)
19. Takuya Suzuki (Team Aisan Kogyo) - 1:05:13 (Moriya Half 2012)
18. Keiji Akutsu (Team Subaru) - 1:05:35 (Tachikawa Half 2007)

Pacer
31. Ryo Kiname (Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki)

(c) 2013 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

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