Skip to main content

Rio Silver Medalist Kirwa Returns to Nagoya Women's Marathon

by Brett Larner

The Nagoya Women's Marathon is the largest women-only marathon in the world, with 19,112 finishers last year.  It was also the deepest elite women's marathon in the world next to the Rio Olympics, with more women sub-2:27 than in Rio and only three fewer under 2:30.  Many of the main people who made it what it was last year are set to return, led by course record holder and two-time defending champion Eunice Kirwa (Bahrain) who comes back to Nagoya as an Olympic silver medalist.  Japan's Rei Ohara (Team Tenmaya), Mao Kiyota (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC), Reia Iwade (Team Noritz), Sayaka Kuwahara (Team Sekisui Kagaku) and Shiho Takechi (Team Yamada Denki) all ran sub-2:26 PBs in Nagoya last year, Ohara's 2:23:30 just missing her a place on the Rio Olympic team.  Ohara is Kirwa's closest competition, but with a nearly two-minute difference in their recent half marathon wins Ohara will have a very tough battle facing her to stay in contact.  At stake for her and for the other top Japanese woman is a place at the London World Championships, Nagoya serving as the last selection race for the Japanese women's team.

Fatuma Sado (Ethiopia), 2nd in Toronto in 2015, is the other main front-end contender.  Mid-pack, interesting names include 2015 Rotterdam Marathon winner Asami Kato (Team Panasonic), Janet Cherobon-Bawcom (U.S.A.) and 2016 Osaka Marathon winner Yoshiko Sakamoto (Y.W.C.).  Kaori Yoshida (Team RxL), Cassie Fien (Australia) and Sakie Arai (Osaka Gakuin Univ.)  are all set to double after having run January's Osaka International Women's Marathon, Arai off a win at last weekend's Kumanichi 30 km and Yoshida also entered in this weekend's Tokyo Marathon.  2016 and 2017 National Corporate Half Marathon champions Miho Shimizu (Team Hokuren) and Ai Utsunomiya (Miyazaki Ginko) are down to make their marathon debuts, as are equally talented half marathoners Yuka Ando (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) and Hisami Ishii (Team Yamada Denki).

The Nagoya Women's Marathon will be broadcast live on March 12.  JRN will cover the race live on @JRNLive.  Check back closer to race date for livestreaming details and other info.

Nagoya Women's Marathon Elite Field Highlights
Nagoya, 3/12/17
click here for detailed field listing
times listed are best within last three years except where noted

Eunice Kirwa (Bahrain) - 2:22:08 (Nagoya 2015)
Rei Ohara (Japan/Tenmaya) - 2:23:20 (Nagoya 2016)
Fatuma Sado (Ethiopia) - 2:24:16 (Toronto Waterfront 2015)
Mao Kiyota (Japan/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 2:24:32 (Nagoya Women's 2016)
Reia Iwade (Japan/Noritz) - 2:24:38 (Nagoya Women's 2016)
Sayaka Kuwahara (Japan/Sekisui Kagaku) - 2:25:09 (Nagoya Women's 2016)
Valeria Straneo (Italy) - 2:25:27 (Zurich European Championships 2014)
Shiho Takechi (Japan/Yamada Denki) - 2:25:29 (Nagoya Women's 2016)
Eri Hayakawa (Japan/Toto) - 2:25:31 (Nagoya Women's 2014)
Asami Kato (Japan/Panasonic) - 2:26:30 (Japan/Rotterdam 2015)
Monica Jepkoech (Kenya) - 2:27:26 (Toronto Waterfront 2015)
Keiko Nogami (Japan/Juhachi Ginko) - 2:28:19 (Nagoya Women's 2015)
Yuko Watanabe (Japan/Edion) - 2:28:36 (Osaka Int'l 2015)
Kaori Yoshida (Japan/Team RxL) - 2:28:43 (Saitama Int'l 2015)
Alessandra Aguilar (Spain) - 2:29:45 (London 2015)
Aki Otagiri (Japan/Tenmaya) - 2:30:24 (Nagoya Women's 2015)
Janet Cherobon-Bawcom (U.S.A.) - 2:31:14 (L.A. Olympic Trials 2016)
Haruna Takada (Japan/Yamada Denki) - 2:31:17 (Nagoya Women's 2016)
Yukiko Okuno (Japan/Shiseido) - 2:31:17 (Tokyo 2016)
Winfridah Kebaso (Kenya/Nitori) - 2:32:08 (Saitama Int'l 2015)
Yui Okada (Japan/Otsuka Seiyaku) - 2:32:10 (Hokkaido 2015)
Kikuyo Tsuzaki (Japan/Noritz) - 2:32:23 (Nagoya Women's 2016)
Cassie Fien (Australia) - 2:33:01 (Osaka Int'l 2017)
Hiroko Yoshitomi (Japan/Memolead) - 2:33:04 (Nagoya Women's 2016)
Kana Orino (Japan/Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 2:33:51 (Nagoya Women's 2014)
Mayumi Fujita (Japan/Nagasaki T&F Assoc.) - 2:34:13 (Yokohama Int'l 2014)
Sinead Diver (Australia) - 2:34:15 (Melbourne 2014)
Mei Matsuyama (Japan/Noritz) - 2:34:35 (Nagoya Women's 2016)
Sakie Arai (Japan/Osaka Gakuin Univ.) - 2:34:40 (Osaka Int'l 2017)
Anna Nosenko (Ukraine) - 2:34:57 (Krakow 2016)
Yoko Miyauchi (Japan/Hokuren) - 2:35:09 (Nagoya Women's 2016)
Yoshiko Sakamoto (Japan/Y.W.C.) - 2:36:02 (Osaka 2016)
Ai Inoue (Japan/Noritz) - 2:36:35 (Nagoya Women's 2016)

Debut
Miho Shimizu (Japan/Hokuren) - 1:09:41 (Nat'l Corporate Half 2016)
Yuka Ando (Japan/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 1:09:51 (Sanyo Women's Half 2015)
Hisami Ishii (Japan/Yamada Denki) - 1:10:09 (Nat'l Corporate Half 2016)
Ai Utsunomiya (Japan/Miyazaki Ginko) - 1:10:47

© 2017 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

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
Post a Comment
Read more

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
Post a Comment
Read more