Skip to main content

Matsumiya and Tanaka Top Entry Lists at Volksbank Muenster Marathon

by Brett Larner

For the second year in a row, Germany's Volksbank Muenster Marathon features Japanese athletes in its elite field through the support of JRN.  Yuko Matsumiya (Team Hitachi Butsuryu), identical twin brother of 5000 m and 30 km Japanese national record holder Takayuki Matsumiya (Team Konica Minolta), and veteran Chihiro Tanaka (AthleC AC) are the fastest athletes in the field on paper, Matsumiya with a best of 2:09:18 and amateur Tanaka holding a 2:29:30.  But both ran these times several years ago and will face tough challenges from the best-quality fields Muenster has yet assembled.  Kenyans Bertram Kimutai Keter, Joel Kipsang Kositany and John Kyalo have all run under the course record of 2:10:25 within the last two years, and with favorable conditions forecast for Sunday it may well take a new course record to win.  Pre-race Matsumiya was optimistic, saying, "I'm here to win.  I'm not focused on a time, just whatever it takes to win." Komazawa University graduate Yuya Shiokawa (Team Subaru), in his European debut, said, "My training has been good, and I'm looking to go sub-2:12 for the first time."  In most years that would put him first in Muenster, but this year it may only be good enough for top five.

The ageless Tanaka has consistently run at the 2:37~2:40 level since 2007 but has yet to go under 2:40 this year, with a season best of 2:40:06 at February's Senshu International Marathon.  "I want to run about 2:38 this time," she told reporters pre-race, "and hopefully that will get me into the top three."  Top five may be more realistic, with last year's champion Joan Rotich (Kenya) returning and her countrywomen Frasiah Nyambura Waithaka and Valerie Chemeli Aiyabei and favorite Eleni Gebrehiwot, an Ethiopian who recently acquired German citizenship, all holding bests under the 2:34:58 course record.  Gebrehiwot in particular is hoping to make history with Muenster's first sub-2:30 women's clocking, the time set out by the German federation as the standard for next year's European Athletics Championships.  If the weather turns out right Muenster could move up substantially in the European marathon ranks with this year's race.  Check back for more exclusive coverage of the 12th Volksbank Muenster Marathon as the weekend progresses.

12th Volksbank Muenster Marathon Elite Field Highlights
Muenster, Germany, 9/8/13

Men
Yuko Matsumiya (Japan/Team Hitachi Butsuryu) - 2:09:18 (Biwako 2005)
Bertram Kimutai Keter (Kenya) - 2:09:27 (Carpi 2011)
Joel Kipsang Kositany (Kenya) - 2:09:50 (Tiberias 2012)
John Kyalo (Kenya) - 2:10:00 (Zurich 2011)
Kirui Kiprotich (Kenya) - 2:11:34 (Verona 2012)
Peter Kariuki Wanjiru (Kenya) - 2:12:11 (Krakow 2012)
Tamrat Girma Elanso (Ethiopia) - 2:14:17 (Muenster 2011)
Yuya Shiokawa (Japan/Team Subaru) - 2:14:49 (Tokyo 2013)
Evans Kipkorir Taiget (Kenya) - 2:14:53 (Bonn 2013)
Elijah Chelelgo Chebet (Kenya) - debut

Women
Chihiro Tanaka (Japan/AthleC AC) - 2:29:30 (Nagoya Int'l Women's 2002)
Eleni Gebrehiwot (Germany) - 2:32:31 (Carpi 2010)
Frasiah Nyambura Waithaka (Kenya) - 2:33:31 (Brighton 2013)
Valerie Chemeli Aiyabei (Kenya) - 2:33:40 (Kisumu 2012)
Joan Rotich (Kenya) - 2:35:37 (Linz 2013)
Meseret Eshetu Deme (Ethiopia) - 2:42:** (Abebe Bikila 2012)
Mahlet Melese Behailu (Ethiopia) - 2:44:43 (Toulouse 2011)
Christi Dorschel (Germany) - 2:45:34 (Essen 2012)

text and photo (c) 2013 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

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