Sakamoto 7th in Xiamen, Mwangi Breaks Hong Kong All-Comers Record - Weekend Overseas Road Race Results
The year's international road racing circuit kicked off Sunday with two races in Asia featuring top-level Japanese athletes. At the C&D Xiamen Marathon in China, ten Japanese athletes ranked in the women's and men's Asian top 100 ran with support from JRN as part of Xiamen's bid to become the first race worldwide to qualify for the IAAF's new platinum road race label. 2016 Osaka Marathon winner and mother of three Yoshiko Sakamoto (Y.W.C.) placed highest among them, taking 7th in 2:39:00 with 2018 Osaka runner-up Haruka Yamaguchi (AC Kita) 9th in 2:42:39, 2017 Osaka winner Yumiko Kinoshita (Tokyo T&F Assoc.) 10th in 2:43:56, and 2018 Geneva Marathon runner-up Hisae Yoshimatsu (Shunan City Hall) 12th in 2:45:32. Running just two days after Josai University had a disappointing 20th-place finish at the Hakone Ekiden , its assistant coach Shingo Igarashi was the top-placing Japanese man at 15th in 2:20:45. Dejene Debele (Ethiopia) won the men'...