K. Ken Nakamura for the IAAF
15 March 2002 - Tomoo Tsubota and Yuko Kawakami won the men’s
and women’s division respectively of the 30th annual All Japan corporate team
Half Marathon Championships in Yamaguchi. While Tsubota won the race by leading from the
start to finish, Kawakami won with her blazing kick on the track.
Traditionally, the deepest half marathon performances in Japan, especially on the men’s side, are recorded in this race in Yamaguchi in March. Last year, for example, 13 men broke 62 minutes while six women were under 70 minutes for the half marathon. What may be more impressive is that 27 men broke 63 minutes while twelve women broke 72 minutes for the distance.
This year’s race did not quite match the last year’s race, but still four women broke 70 minutes, while six men broke 62 minutes for the half marathon.
For Konica track team fans, Tomoo Tsubota is a hero of the All Japan corporate team ekiden championships on New Year’s day. In the fifth stage of the New Year Ekiden, Tsubota covered the 15.9Km stage in 44:57, 48 seconds faster than the Asian marathon record holder Atsushi Fujita. In the process he turned a minute and three seconds deficit into 32 seconds advantage for his team, Konica.
In Yamaguchi, he took off early.
“I started near the back of the pack and worked my way up. By the time I was up near the front, 2 to 3Km into the race, Tsubota was already way ahead of us,” said Toshinari Takaoka, an Asian record holder at the 5000m and 10000m.
Tsubota covered the first 5Km in 14:24, 16 seconds ahead of the chase pack which included some of the biggest names in Japanese distance running including Toshinari Takaoka, Shigeru Aburaya, Atsushi Sato, and Koichiro Nagata among others.
For Aburaya who finished fifth at the marathon in Edmonton, Yamaguchi was the site of his breakthrough. In 1998 he finished fifth and in the following year he was a runner up. Koichiro Nagata and Atsushi Sato are two of the most promising young runner in Japan. Nagata, a 27:53.19 10,000m runner won the 2001 Kyoto Half marathon in 1:01:09, while Sato is the collegiate marathon record holder.
Tsubota, who said “I wanted to run a different type of race because I usually lost contact with the leaders when the pace shifted in the mid-race,” continued to push the pace. He passed 10Km in 28:52. His lead over the chase pack was 28 seconds, which increase to 41 seconds by 15Km. Meanwhile in the chase pack, Takaoka who later said, “Of course I was hoping to win, but I have not quite recovered from the hard training sessions in February. Since I could not go after him, I was hoping that Tsubota will come back to us, but that was not to be.”
Tsubota never came back to the pack and he won going away in 1:01:16, the ninth fastest half marathon time in history by a Japanese. It should be noted that five of the eight performances faster than Tsubota were recorded on the net downhill Tokyo Half marathon course, which was used until 1999.
After the race Tsubota told Tatsuo Terada, “My goal for the season is to better the 10,000m “A” standard for the 2003 World Championships.”
Takaoka who said, “In the later part of the race, I was concentrating to finish second” won the race of the chase pack. “I am training now for the Lisbon Half Marathon. I am going after the record.” The Japanese national half marathon record is 1:00:30 by Ken-ichi Takahashi, which is over a minute faster than Takaoka’s time in Yamaguchi. However, Takaoka who may still be considered a novice at the half marathon, is much faster than Takahashi at the 10,000m.
The women’s race, as it often does in Yamaguchi, came down to a sprint on the track. After anearly even pace of 16:35, 16:26, 16:41 and 16:30 for the each 5Km split, four runners came onto the track together. Although Kawakami did not look comfortable in the final stage of the race, it was almost a foregone conclusion that she was going to prevail, and she did.
After the race Kawakami, who was troubled with injuries and took most of the 2001 off said, “The purpose of my race today was to see where I am in training currently. I did not have any specific goal or strategy for the race. I wanted to see how long I can stay with the lead pack.
“When running with three other runners late in the race, I knew they were in better shape than I am. The reason I won the race is because I have a better change of speed.” A national 10,000m record holder Yuko Kawakami is on her way back.
Men
1) Tomoo Tsubota 1:01:16
2) Toshinari Takaoka 1:01:49
3) Tsuyoshi Ogata 1:01:50
4) Atsushi Sato 1:01:53
5) Shigeru Aburaya 1:01:54
6) Koichiro Nagata 1:01:54
Women
1) Yuko Kawakami 1:09:38
2) Kiyomi Ogawa 1:09:39
3) Miki Takanaka 1:09:42
4) Yumiko Hara 1:09:43
5) Hiromi Fujii 1:10:05
6) Rina Oishi 1:10:23
