Skip to main content

Berlin Marathon - Japanese Results

by Brett Larner

With decent performances in Chicago and Frankfurt and a 2:09:21 PB at this year's Tokyo Marathon behind him, Koji Gokaya (Team JR Higashi Nihon) turned in the fastest marathon of the year by a Japanese man outside Japan, running 2:10:58 for 9th at the Berlin Marathon.  Gokaya, sub-2:10 men Tomoyuki Morita (Team Kanebo) and Masanori Sakai (Team Kyudenko) and track star Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin) ran the entire race inside the third pack just under 2:10 pace, Morita and Sakai tending toward the front of the group and Gokaya and Sato relaxing out back.  A late-race move by Reid Coolsaet in a bid for the Canadian national record pulled Sato along, but after 40 km he faded badly and was easily run down by Gokaya.  Sato, in his third marathon, still managed a sizable PB of 2:12:32 for 14th, while Sakai and Morita dropped to 22nd and 33rd in 2:14:52 and 2:15:57.

In the women's race, 2014 Asian Games team member Eri Hayakawa (Team Toto) started near PB pace in the second group, with 2014 Yokohama International Women's Marathon winner Tomomi Tanaka (Team Daiichi Seimei) leading off more conservatively on high 2:27 pace.  Tanaka ran evenly throughout the race and overtook Hayakawa early in the second half, looking like she might make top 5th but stalling in her advance at 8th and crossing the finish line in 2:28:00.  Hayakawa ended up 14th in 2:31:27, with Mayumi Uchiyama (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) taking the third Japanese women's spot in 2:44:30 for 39th.

Berlin Marathon
Berlin, Germany, 9/27/15
click here for complete results

Men
1. Eliud Kipchoge (Kenya) - 2:04:00
2. Eliud Kiptanui (Kenya) - 2:05:21
3. Feyisa Lilesa (Ethiopia) - 2:06:57
4. Emmanuel Mutai (Kenya) - 2:07:46
5. Geoffrey Mutai (Kenya) - 2:09:29
6. Reid Coolsaet (Canada) - 2:10:28
7. Koen Naert (Belgium) - 2:10:31
8. Yared Shegumo (Poland) - 2:10:47
9. Koji Gokaya (Japan/JR Higashi Nihon) - 2:10:58
10. Scott Overall (Great Britain) - 2:11:24
-----
14. Yuki Sato (Japan/Nissin Shokuhin) - 2:12:32
22. Masanori Sakai (Japan/Kyudenko) - 2:14:52
33. Tomoyuki Morita (Japan/Kanebo) - 2:15:57

Women
1. Gladys Cherono (Kenya) - 2:19:25
2. Aberu Kebede (Ethiopia) - 2:20:48
3. Meseret Hailu (Ethiopia) - 2:24:33
4. Tadelech Bekele (Ethiopia) - 2:25:01
5. Andrea Deelstra (Netherlands) - 2:26:46
6. Maja Neuenschwander (Switzerland) - 2:26:49
7. Lisa Nemec (Croatia) - 2:27:57
8. Tomomi Tanaka (Japan/Daiich Seimei) - 2:28:00
9. Sonia Samuels (Great Britain) - 2:28:04
10. Fate Tola (Ethiopia) - 2:28:24
-----
14. Eri Hayakwa (Japan/Toto) - 2:31:27
39. Mayumi Uchiyama (Japan/Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) - 2:44:30

(c) 2015 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