Skip to main content

Yokohama International Women's Marathon Elite Field

by Brett Larner

The organizers of the Nov. 17 Yokohama International Women's Marathon have released this year's elite field and it is looking pretty okay.  2012 Nagoya Women's Marathon winner Albina Mayorova (Russia) is back in Japan for more and leads the way among the internationals with her 2:23:52 best from Nagoya, joined at the 2:24 level by Yamanashi Gakuin graduate and longtime Hokuren corporate team member Philes Ongori (Kenya) and Jessica Augusto (Portugal).  Top Japanese elite Remi Nakazato (Team Daihatsu) with a best of 2:24:28 is something of a question mark after bailing on last month's Berlin Marathon.

Should she falter, #3-ranked domestic woman Mizuho Nasukawa (Team Univ. Ent.), the top Japanese woman last year in an anaemic performance that saw her left off the Moscow World Championships team in favor of an empty seat, is the best bet to pick up the reins.  Azusa Nojiri (Hiratsuka Lease) and Eri Okubo (Miki House), both athletes swelling the growing ranks of competitive Japanese athletes forging careers as independents outside the corporate system, fill in the #2 and #4 spots on the domestic roster, with another, talented club runner Maki Inami (AC Kita), in the general division.

Look for detailed coverage, race previews and info on how to follow the race live closer to race date.

Yokohama International Women's Marathon
Yokohama, Kanagawa, 11/17/13

22. Yumiko Hara (AASP Running Club) - 2:23:48 (Osaka Int'l 2007)
1. Albina Mayorova (Russia) - 2:23:52 (Nagoya Women's 2012)
2. Philes Ongori (Kenya) - 2:24:20 (Rotterdam 2011)
11. Remi Nakazato (Team Daihatsu) - 2:24:28 (Nagoya Women's 2012)
3. Jessica Augusto (Portugal) - 2:24:33 (London 2011)
12. Azusa Nojiri (Hiratsuka Lease) - 2:24:57 (Osaka Int'l 2012)
13. Mizuho Nasukawa (Team Univ. Ent.) - 2:25:38 (Tokyo 2009)
14. Eri Okubo (Miki House) - 2:26:08 (Tokyo 2012)
4. Nadia Ejjafini (Italy) - 2:26:15 (Frankfurt 2011)
5. Tetyana Filonyuk (Ukraine) - 2:26:24 (Rome 2010)
6. Freya Ross (Great Britain) - 2:28:10 (London 2012)
15. Noriko Higuchi (Team Wacoal) - 2:28:49 (Tokyo 2011)
7. Rene Kalmer (South Africa) - 2:29:59 (Yokohama Int'l 2011)
16. Hiroko Shoi (Team Nihon ChemiCon) - 2:33:21 (Tokyo 2013)
24. Maki Inami (AC Kita) - 2:37:34 (Tokyo 2011)

(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

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

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