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Yamaguchi 10th at United Airlines NYC Half

by 18 March 2024 · Running

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2024 national cross-country champion Tomonori Yamaguchi was the top Japanese finisher in the men’s race at the United Airlines NYC Half, taking 10th in 1:04:36. A 2nd-year at Waseda University, Yamaguchi was one of three collegiate runners running New York in the 11th year of JRN’s development program collaboration between the Ageo City Half Marathon and the New York Road Runners, a program that has seen people like future half marathon and marathon NR breaker Yuta Shitara and Paris Olympic team member Akira Akasaki make their international debuts.

Yamaguchi’s Waseda teammate Taishi Ito started fast, going with the leaders through 5 km in 14:29 before losing touch. Hosei University senior Rei Matsunaga went through in 14:42 in his last race before joining the JR Higashi Nihon corporate team in April. Yamaguchi, who caught COVID after winning last month’s National Cross-Country Championships, started more conservatively with a 15:11 first 5km. But where both Ito and Matsunaga slowed, Yamaguchi held more or less even through 15 km, splitting 15:18 and 15:16 for the next two 5 km sections.

By that point he’d overtaken Matsunaga, and around Times Square near 18 km he passed Ito to move into the top Japanese position. “That course was crazy!” he told JRN immediately after finishing. “I had trouble getting ready for this race, and I couldn’t go with the lead pack at all. But even though it wasn’t a good performance, I learned a lot from doing it.” Yamaguchi next races the World Cross-Country Championships at the end of the month.

Ito was 11th in 1:04:54 after slowing to 16:03 from 15 to 20 km. “I gave it a go with the lead pack in the first half, and I think that took some guts,” he said. “But the middle and last part didn’t go well. Still, I’m really glad I had the chance to run against some world-class competition for the first time.” Matsunaga struggled throughout the second half of the race, ending up 17th in 1:06:17. “A lot of things happened when I was getting ready for this,” he said, “but thanks to everyone who cheered me on all the same.” Both the men’s and women’s races were close up front, with Kenya’s Abel Kipchumba winning in 1:00:25 over Moroccan Zouhair Talbi and Norwegian Karoline Bjerkeli Grovdal outrunning Gladys Chepkurui for the women’s title in 1:09:09.

A few hours earlier, another 2nd-year, Komazawa University‘s Keita Sato, took a shot at the 27:09.80 national record at Sound Running’s The TEN in California. One of six Japanese men in the Paris 10000 m fast section, Sato stayed at 12th in the lead group of men pursuing 27-flat pace past 7000 m before starting to slip back. That pace proved too much for NR holder Kazuya Shiojiri (Fujitsu), who dropped out after 7200 m, but in the end all-time JPN #2 Tomoki Ota (Toyota) ran Sato down to take the top Japanese spot at 17th in 27:26.41. Sato finished 20th in 27:34.66, with Kazuki Tamura (Sumitomo Denko) 25th in 27:49.09.

The only Japanese woman in the meet, Mikuni Yada (Edion) was last in the women’s Paris 10000 m in 32:49.62. Shotaro Ishihara (Tokai Univ.) took the top Japanese spot in the 10000 m B-heat in 28:13.34 for 12th, with Itta Tameike (Chuo Univ.) 7th in the C-heat in 29:09.08. Hibiki Obara (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) was last in the men’s 1500 m in 3:42.38. American Grant Fisher won the men’s Paris 10000 m in 26:52.04, with Ethiopia’s Tsigie Gebreselama running an exceptional 29:48.34 ACR to win the women’s race.

The only Japanese athlete at the Sands China Macao International 10K, Shiho Kaneshige (GRlab Yamaguchi) took 6th in the women’s race in 36:31 behind Kenyan winner Betsy Sigei‘s 33:53 CR. “Around 4 km I started getting cramping in my thigh and lost touch with the leaders,” Kaneshige told JRN. David Bett won the men’s race in a 29:02 CR.

United Airlines NYC Half Men’s Race

New York, 17 Mar. 2024

1. Abel Kipchumba (Kenya) – 1:00:25

2. Zouhair Talbi (Morocco) – 1:00:41

3. Yemane Haileselassie (Eritrea) – 1:01:37

4. Hillary Bor (U.S.A.) – 1:01:47

5. Reed Fischer (U.S.A.) – 1:03:06

6. Tristan Woodfine (Canada) – 1:03:50

7. Kenenisa Bekele (Ethiopia) – 1:03:59

8. Matthew Baxter (New Zealand) – 1:04:12

9. Zerei Kbrom (Norway) – 1:04:31

10. Tomonori Yamaguchi (Japan/Waseda Univ.) – 1:04:36

11. Taishi Ito (Japan/Waseda Univ.) – 1:04:54

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17. Rei Matsunaga (Japan/Hosei Univ.) – 1:06:17

text and photo © 2024 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

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