2019

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MGC Race Olympic Marathon Trials 2019 – Brett Larner – Japan Running News

Olympia

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MGC Race Olympic Marathon Trials Qualifier – Kenji Yamamoto

Kenji Yamamoto

age: 29
sponsor: Mazda
graduated from: Yugakkan H.S., Toyo University

best time inside MGC window:
2:08:42, 7th, 2019 Lake Biwa Marathon

PB: 2:08:42, 7th, 2019 Lake Biwa Marathon

other PBs:
5000 m: 13:55.42 (2013) 10000 m: 28:26.35 (2015) half marathon: 1:01:47 (2014)

marathons inside MGC window (Aug. 1 2017 – April 30 2019)
7th, 2019 Lake Biwa Marathon, 2:08:42 – PB
9th, 2018 Tokyo Marathon, 2:08:48

other major results:
4th, 2019 San Diego Half Marathon, 1:02:01
20th, 2019 National Corporate Half Marathon, 1:02:34
3rd, New Year Ekiden Fourth Stage (22.4 km), 1:05:30
1st, 2018 Chugoku Corporate Ekiden Third Stage (11.6 km), 35:43
4th, 2018 San Diego Half Marathon, 1:02:45
4th, 2017 San Diego Half Marathon, 1:03:14
10th, 2017 Lake Biwa Marathon, 2:15:19
2nd, 2012 Hakone Ekiden Third Stage (21.5 km), 1:02:43
1st, 2011 Hakone Ekiden Tenth Stage (23.1 km), 1:09:36

Another of the five Toyo University graduates in the MGC Race men’s field, Yamamoto was part of Toyo’s 2012 Hakone-winning lineup alongside Yuta Shitara (Honda). Since graduating he’s been the relatively stable center of the Mazda corporate team, with three 4th-place finishes at the San Diego Half Marathon. After a 2:15:19 at Lake Biwa in 2017 Yamamoto stepped up with a 2:0848 at last year’s Tokyo Marathon to make the MGC Race.

With his place at the trials assured Yamamoto was back in Lake Biwa this year to go for a 2:06, but while he outlasted every other Japanese man the pace proved too much and he faded to a 2:08:42 just 6 seconds better than his time in Tokyo last year. A PB is a PB, but Yamamoto wasn’t satisfied. Not even with becoming the fastest ponytail / man bun marathoner in the world. Fresh off his fastest time in San Diego, look for him to go for it at the MGC Race. And look out for his younger brother Shuji, Toyo’s current star runner, in a couple of years.

MGC Race Olympic Marathon Trials Qualifier – Chihiro Miyawaki

Chihiro Miyawaki

age: 28
sponsor: Toyota
graduated from: Chukyo H.S.

best time inside MGC window:
2:08:45, 8th, 2018 Tokyo Marathon

PB: 2:08:45, 8th, 2018 Tokyo Marathon

other PBs:
5000 m: 13:35.74 (2011) 10000 m: 27:41.57 (2012) half marathon: 1:00:53 (2012)

marathons inside MGC window (Aug. 1 2017 – April 30 2019)
8th, 2018 Tokyo Marathon, 2:08:45 – PB
11th, 2017 Chicago Marathon, 2:13:32

other major results:
12th, 2019 Hakodate Half Marathon, 1:03:31
25th, 2017 Lake Biwa Marathon, 2:16:51
11th, 2015 National Corporate Half Marathon Championships, 1:02:18
15th, 2014 Tokyo Marathon, 2:11:50
3rd, 2013 Kumanichi 30 km, 1:29:51 – PB
4th, 2012 National Corporate Championships 10000 m, 27:41.57 – PB tie
1st, National Corporate Half Marathon Championships, 1:00:53 – PB
3rd, 2011 Hachioji Long Distance Meet 10000 m A-Heat, 27:41.57 – PB

Miyawaki is one of the three men in the field who didn’t go to university. He had the skills to have been one of the top Hakone Ekiden runners, going right to the line against Toyo University star Keita Shitara at the 2013 Kumanichi 30 km when Shitara what was then the collegiate national record, but opted to give it a miss in favor of the corporate leagues.

In the corporate leagues he had great early success, running 13:35.74 for 5000 m, 27:41.57 for 10000 m, twice, and 1:00:53 for the half marathon from age 20-21. After his 30 km he made the jump to the marathon with a 2:11:50 debut at the 2014 Tokyo Marathon. The time alone doesn’t show the real quality Miyawaki displayed in that race, where he lost touch with the fast lead group around halfway. Most of the time what someone drops off that early that’s pretty much the last you’ll see of them. But Miyawaki gutted out the second half alone, showing a lot of inner strength and promise.

The only thing that’s held him back since then has been injury after injury. It took another four years for him to improve on his debut with a 2:08:45 at last year’s Tokyo Marathon to qualify for the MGC Race, and again he was out with injury after that. Just about his only race since then was a 1:03:31 for 12th at July’s Hakodate Half Marathon, good enough to show that he’s running but not much more. You get the feeling that he hasn’t really reached his potential in the marathon yet, but if he’s fit and has been training alongside Toyota teammates Yuma Hattori, Taku Fujimoto and Kensuke Horio then Miyawaki should be capable of at least playing a supporting role for Hattori.

MGC Race Olympic Marathon Trials Qualifier – Reia Iwade

Reia Iwade

age: 24
sponsor: Under Armour
graduated from: Toyokawa H.S.

best time inside MGC window:
2:23:52, 5th, 2019 Nagoya Women’s Marathon

PB: 2:23:52, 5th, 2019 Nagoya Women’s Marathon

other PBs:
5000 m: 15:42.50 (2015) 10000 m: 32:13.21 (2015) half marathon: 1:09:45 (U20 NR, 2013)

marathons inside MGC window (Aug. 1 2017 – April 30 2019)
5th, 2019 Nagoya Women’s Marathon, 2:23:52 – PB
4th, 2018 Nagoya Women’s Marathon, 2:26:28
5th, 2017 Sendai International Marathon, 2:31:11

other major results:
1st, 2019 Osaka Half Marathon, 1:09:46
6th, 2018 Sendai International Half Marathon, 1:13:11
9th, 2017 Sanyo Ladies Half Marathon, 1:10:35
4th, 2016 Berlin Marathon, 2:28:16
5th, 2016 Nagoya Women’s Marathon, 2:24:38
5th, 2016 National Corporate Half Marathon Championships, 1:10:53
7th, 2015 Nagoya Women’s Marathon, 2:29:16
3rd, 2015 National Corporate Half Marathon Championships, 1:10:13
3rd, 2014 Yokohama Women’s Marathon, 2:27:21
4th, 2013 Sanyo Ladies Half Marathon, 1:09:45 – PB, U20 NR

Iwade was a teenage wunderkind, going straight from high school to a 1:09:45 half marathon U20 national record right after her 19th birthday in 2013 and on to a 2:27:21 marathon right before her 20th. Japanese women who excel that young rarely last, but in the years after that Iwade made progress, first as part of the Noritz corporate team and then as an independent sponsored by Under Armour.

At last year’s Nagoya Women’s Marathon Iwade qualified for the MGC Race with a 2:26:28 for 4th. This year she came out strong, winning the Osaka Half Marathon 1 second off her PB in 1:09:46 in January and then running the fastest Japanese women’s time of the year so far, a 2:23:52 PB, for 5th in Nagoya. Since then she has focused on training with male training partners, tweeting this week that her last 40 km training run before the MGC Race was the fastest she’d ever done, better than before Nagoya.

The only woman in the field operating outside the corporate team system, with everything seeming to line up perfectly Iwade has to be seen as one of the three heavy favorites to make the team come Sept. 15.

MGC Race Olympic Marathon Trials Qualifier – Yuki Sato

Yuki Sato

age: 32
sponsor: Nissin Shokuhin
graduated from: Saku Chosei H.S., Tokai University

best time inside MGC window:
2:08:58, 10th, 2018 Tokyo Marathon

PB: 2:08:58, 10th, 2018 Tokyo Marathon

other PBs:
5000 m: 13:13.60 (2013) 10000 m: 27:38.25 (2009) half marathon: 1:02:30 (2019)

marathons inside MGC window (Aug. 1 2017 – April 30 2019)
16th, 2019 Tokyo Marathon, 2:15:07
6th, 2018 Berlin Marathon, 2:09:18
10th, 2018 Tokyo Marathon, 2:08:58 – PB
DNF, 2017 Fukuoka International Marathon

other major results:
6th, 2019 HDC Abashiri Meet 10000 m, 28:08.34
2nd, 2019 Gold Coast Half Marathon, 1:02:36
2nd, 2019 Sendai International Half Marathon, 1:02:30 – PB
DNF, 2019 Marugame Half Marathon
13th, 2019 New Year Ekiden Fourth Stage (22.4 km), 1:06:03
2nd, 2018 East Japan Corporate Ekiden Fifth Stage (7.8 km), 23:00
DNF, 2018 National Championships 10000 m
16th, 2018 Marugame Half Marathon, 1:02:33
15th, 2017 Valencia Half Marathon, 1:02:53
4th, 2017 National Championships 10000 m, 28:09.01
DNF, 2017 Tokyo Marathon
11th, 2016 London Marathon, 2:12:14
14th, 2015 Berlin Marathon, 2:12:32
20th, 2015 Tokyo Marathon, 2:14:15
30th, 2013 Tokyo Marathon, 2:16:31
2nd, 2009 Hakone Ekiden Third Stage (21.5 km), 1:02:18
1st, 2008 Hakone Ekiden Seventh Stage (21.3 km), 1:02:35 – CR
1st, 2007 Hakone Ekiden First Stage (21.4 km), 1:01:06 – CR
1st, 2006 Hakone Ekiden Third Stage (21.5 km), 1:02:12 – CR

Sato has taken his time transitioning into the marathon, a superstar at the Hakone Ekiden and one of Japan’s all-time greats on the track but taking five years to progress from a 2:16:31 debut to the 2:08:58 that got him into the MGC Race. A graduate of Saku Chosei H.S., the only high school with three male graduates in the field, and of Tokai University, where he set new Hakone stage records three out of four years, fans had expected marathon success from Sato pretty much from day one. But as the years went by and a new generation started to take over Sato’s presence faded into the general background of the corporate scene. If he’d run 2:08 even a year or two earlier it would have been big news, but by the time he did get there he was a kilometer behind Yuta Shitara (Honda).

Sato followed that up with a solid 2:09:18 in Berlin, then went for it in Tokyo this year. Along with Berlin 4th-placer Shogo Nakamura (Fujitsu) and fellow Saku Chosei grad Suguru Osako (Nike Oregon Project) Sato went through halfway in 1:02:04, well faster than his half marathon PB. All three ended up paying for it, but the belief and ambition were there. Since then Sato has run two good half marathons, including beating Fukuoka winner Yuma Hattori (Toyota) at July’s Gold Coast Half Marathon, and finished high up in the field against a lot of other MGC qualifiers at the Hokuren Distance Challenge Abashiri 10000 m in late July before heading to St. Moritz for altitude training.

As a marathoner he’s still short on credentials, but there’s no question about his talent or fitness. And when Nissin Shokuhin disbanded its corporate team earlier this year he was one of the only runners they kept on board, specifically to get him to the Olympics, so you know his motivation is high. Like Kayoko Fukushi (Wacoal) in the women’s race, Sato isn’t one of the favorites, but it would be a mistake to count him out.

Brett Larner – Japan Running News