EN
- Q: Can straight-arm specialist Yuka Ando (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) duplicate her 2:21:36 debut in Nagoya last year after running badly at the London World Championships?
- Q: Can Honami Maeda (Tenmaya), the only Japanese woman to have qualified for the MGC Race so far, run a fast marathon for real after conquering the heat to win August's Hokkaido Marathon in 2:28:48?
- Q: What can last year's 10000 m national champion Mizuki Matsuda (Daihatsu) do in her debut?
A: No. Part of a trio that went through halfway in 1:11:59, Ando dropped off after 25 km and faded to a 2:27:37 for 3rd.
A: Yes. Her Hokkaido win was an almost 4-minute PB over her debut in Osaka last year, and with a 10-second negative split this time she chopped another 5 minutes-plus off her best to take 2nd in 2:23:46, replacing now-retired 2017 Osaka winner Risa Shigetomo as the top marathoner in the Tenmaya stable.
A: Kick some ass, to the tune of a 2:22:44 win with a 1:11:59 first half and a 1:10:45 second half after taking off hard at 30 km and running the rest of the way alone in snow. With a 16:19 split from 30 km to 35 km, 2:17:42 marathon pace, she and her coach are clearing looking at the problem of how to deal with a big surge in a big race, say one about two and a half years over the horizon. More power to them.
- Anja Scherl (Germany), the top non-Japanese finisher at 4th in 2:29:29 after running more conservatively well back in the field in the first half.
- 42-year-old Mari Ozaki (Noritz) came up painfully short of her goal of a sub-2:30 but was still good enough for 6th overall in 2:30:03.
- University student Hitomi Mizuguchi (Osaka Gakuin Univ.) had a solid debut in 2:33:10 for 8th on the 8-deep podium.
- Esther Atkins (U.S.A.) ran almost perfect splits with a 1:18:28 first half and 1:18:29 2nd half for 12th in 2:36:57, her best time on a record-leagl course since 2014.
Not so good were the invited Africans, none of whom finished the race You can't win 'em all. But if the question is how do you win some of 'em, if looks like Matsuda has an idea of the answer.
