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News25 Aug 2002


Chika Horie wins the Hokkaido Marathon

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25 August 2002Sapporo, JapanChika Horie who is trained by the legendary marathon coach Yoshio Koide won the women's section of the Hokkaido marathon, which took place in the northern city of Sapporo.

Koide who also coaches the reigning Olympic champion Naoko Takahashi thinks that Horie is an exceptional talent.  It was her third marathon, having finished fourth in the 2000 Nagano marathon in her debut with a very respectable time of 2:29:12.  However, in last year's Hokkaido marathon, she was a disappointing 14th. 

Before this year’s race on August 24, Horie told Tatsuo Terada, "I still don't quite understand why I run so poorly last year. This summer, I have trained for two months in Boulder (Colorado, USA). I am not sure of my shape, but everyone else says that I am in good form." 

Horie also said that this was her race of redemption and her goal was to run a personal best.  She did much better by breaking her personal best by over three minutes with 2:26:11, which was also a course record.

Samson Kandie of Kenya won the men's race in slow time.  Kandie, who is one of the most consistent marathon runners, won in 2:15:12, while in second place was marathon debutante Yuki Yamamoto in 2:15:17. 

Yamamoto was one of the best college runners of his era, having twice won the inter-collegiate 10,000m championships in the late 90's.  However, since his first senior year he has been plagued with injury.  He is currently running for Asahi Kasei track team and coached by the Soh brothers.  His teammate, the defending champion Tsutomu Sassa finished a disappointing 9th.

While most of the Japanese marathons are elite men or women only marathons, the Hokkaido marathon is different. Like many western marathons, the Hokkaido marathon is a mass mixed race.

While most Japanese marathons are held between November and March, the designated marathon season, the Hokkaido marathon is also different in this aspect. The race was originally inaugurated to test runners and collect scientific data during the hot weather marathons, because the Olympics marathons are often run in hot weather. The 1991 World Champion Hiromi Taniguchi demonstrated that he was a good hot weather runner by winning the Hokkaido marathon in 1989. 

The men's race turned into a slow tactical race. The huge pack of 34 runners passed 5Km in 15:34.The pack had reduced to 32 runners 5Km later (31:15), at which point the pace slowed down further, the 5Km split slowing to over 16 minutes.  Perhaps helped by the slow pace, the huge pack (of 25 runners) stayed together as late as 25Km. 

The distance, however, started to take a toll on many runners and by 30Km the pack was reduced to 17 runners. Five kilometres later, it was down to six runners. Then the real racing started. 

Kandie covered the next 5Km (between 35Km to 40Km) in 15:10. At 40Km he led Yuki Yamamoto by three seconds, while Nobuhiko Matsunaga was another three seconds behind.  Kandie continued to push the pace and held off Yuki Yamamoto.  He won in 2:15:12, while Yamamoto was five seconds behind. 

The women's race was essentially a one woman show.  Chika Horie, who ran with the women's lead pack initially, soon started to push the pace. By 10Km, the leading women's pack was reduced to seven runners.  A 2:22 marathon runner and the course record holder, Eri Yamaguchi lost contact with the leaders by this point. 

Yamaguchi who was seventh in the Sydney Olympic marathon has been plagued with injury during the last two years.  It was reported that she was still not injury free and was short on training.  She eventually finished seventh in 2:39:35.

Horie continued to push the pace, and by 25Km, only Hisae Yoshimatsu was able to stay with Horie. Two invited runners - Helen Kimutai of Kenya and Banuelia Mrashan of Tanzania - were over one minute behind.  Horie ran the next 5Km in 16:40, which disposed of her last challenger, Yoshimatsu.  Horie continued to run strongly and finished in 2:26:11, over two and a half minutes ahead of her closest rival, Yoshimatsu.  It was also a course record, breaking the record held by Eri Yamaguchi.  

Results: 

Men
1)      Samson Kandie (KEN) 2:15:12
2)      Yuki Yamamoto 2:15:17
3)      Nobuhiko Matsunaga 2:15:27
4)      Tatsuya Hoshi 2:15:31
5)      Zabedayo Bayo (TAN) 2:16:14
6)      Mitsuaki Maruyama 2:16:46
7)      Shinji Tsunazaki 2:18:06
8)      Akira Yamamoto  2:18:09
9)      Tsutomu Sassa 2:18:23 

Women
1)      Chika Horie 2:26:11
2)      Hisae Yoshimatsu 2:28:49
3)      Chihiro Tanaka 2:35:44
4)      Banuelia Mrashan (TAN) 2:35:57
5)      Eri Amou 2:36:45
6)      Taeko Terauchi 2:39:24
7)      Eri Yamaguchi 2:39:35
8)      Etsuko Kuge 2:47:50 

Splits:

Men
5Km     15:34 Takashi Nakata
10Km    31:15 (15:41)   Samson Kandie (KEN)
15Km    47:30 (16:15)   Samson Kandie (KEN)
20Km    1:04:16 (16:46) Takashi Nakajima
25Km    1:20:59 (16:43) Zabedayo Bayo (TAN)
30Km    1:37:23 (16:24) Samson Kandie (KEN)
35Km    1:53:19 (15:56) Zabedayo Bayo (TAN)
40Km    2:08:29 (15:10) Samson Kandie (KEN)
Finish  2:15:12         Samson Kandie (KEN) 

Women
5Km     17:50 Hisae Yoshimatsu
10Km    35:30 (17:40)   Chika Horie
15Km    53:05 (17:35)   Chika Horie 
20Km    1:10:12 (17:07) Chika Horie
25Km    1:27:31 (17:19) Chika Horie
30Km    1:44:11 (16:40) Chika Horie
35Km    2:01:09 (16:58) Chika Horie
40Km    2:18:26 (17:17) Chika Horie
Finish  2:26:11         Chika Horie

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