Skip to main content

Kaori Yoshida Sub-2:30 PB at Chicago Marathon (updated with photos)

by Brett Larner
photos by Dr. Helmut Winter


After years of near-misses, former Second Wind AC and Team Shiseido runner Kaori Yoshida (Amino Vital AC) finally broke through the 2:30 barrier, barely, with a 2:29:45 PB for 8th place at the 2010 Chicago Marathon. After a solid buildup which included wins at July's Gold Coast Marathon and last month's Hakodate Half Marathon, both in times just off her PBs, Yoshida hit Chicago hard with a 1:13:06 first half, just seconds off her winning time in Hakodate. Largely ignored on the Japanese television broadcast which concentrated on cursed Tenmaya runner Naoko Sakamoto's attempt to make a comeback, Yoshida faded in the final kilometers but rallied to just clear her target and mark the best Chicago finish by a Japanese woman since her former Shiseido and Second Wind teammate Kiyoko Shimahara's 3rd-place showing two years ago.

Half-marathon specialist Yuko Machida (Team Nihon ChemiCon) had a middling day, 14th in 2:33:21, while Sakamoto, holder of a 2:21:51 debut, continued her unfortunate slide from the professional level, 29th in 2:44:47.

Japanese coverage of Chicago also included an exclusive interview in Japanese with men's winner Samuel Wanjiru (Kenya), who talked about the importance of gaman, the capacity of calm endurance he learned during his years living in Japan, and wrote the kanji for the word and his Japanized name on a banner for the Japanese TV audience. He also said that his ultimate goal is to defend his Olympic medal in London.

2010 Chicago Marathon - Top Results
click here for complete results
Women
1. Liliya Shobukhova (RUS) - 2:20:25 - NR
2. Atsede Baysa (ETH) - 2:23:40
3. Maria Konovalova (RUS) - 2:23:50 - PB
4. Desiree Davila (U.S.A.) - 2:26:20 - PB
5. Irina Mikitenko (GER) - 2:26:40
6. Mamitu Daska (ETH) - 2:28:29
7. Magdalena Lewy-Boulet (U.S.A.) - 2:28:44
8. Kaori Yoshida (Amino Vital AC) - 2:29:45 - PB
9. Jia Chaofeng (CHN) - 2:30:35
10. Tera Moody (U.S.A.) - 2:30:53 - PB
-----
14. Yuko Machida (Team Nihon ChemiCon) - 2:33:21
29. Naoko Sakamoto (Team Tenmaya) - 2:44:47

Men
1. Samuel Wanjiru (KEN) - 2:06:24
2. Tsegaye Kebede (ETH) - 2:06:43
3. Feyisa Lilesa (ETH) - 2:08:10
4. Wesley Korir (KEN) - 2:08:44
5. Vincent Kipruto (KEN) - 2:09:08
6. Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot (KEN) - 2:09:28
7. Laban Moiben (KEN) - 2:10:48
8. Jason Hartmann (U.S.A.) - 2:11:06 - PB
9. Ridouane Harroufi (MAR) - 2:13:01
10. Mike Sayenko (U.S.A.) - 2:14:27

(c) 2010 Brett Larner
all rights reserved
photos (c) 2010 Dr. Helmut Winter
all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

VavahF said…
does dr. helmut winter have a site where he posts his pics? i'd like to see more wanjiru pics if there any available.
October 13, 2010 at 12:42 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

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