The Hokkaido Marathon, which has the right to participate in the representative selection race for the Paris Olympics, was held in Sapporo for the first time in three years. The women's citizen runner Haruka Yamaguchi won the championship, and the men's university student Yugo Kashiwa finished second among the top Japanese runners. We entered and each won the right to participate in the representative selection race.
The Hokkaido Marathon, which is the representative selection race for the Paris Olympics scheduled to be held next fall, and the right to participate in the MGC = Marathon Grand Championship, has been canceled for the second consecutive year due to preparations for the Tokyo Olympics marathon and the influence of the new corona. Therefore, it was held for the first time in three years.
Part of the marathon course of the Tokyo Olympics was used, and the event started at 8:30 am for both men and women.
In the women's race, 35-year-old Yamaguchi, a citizen runner who does not belong to a corporate team, took the lead before the 30-kilometer mark. I have qualified for the MGC by fulfilling the conditions set by the federation.
On the other hand, in the men's event, Toyo University fourth-year student Kashiwa caught up in the final stages with a tenacious run, finishing second among the top Japanese players with a time of 2 hours, 11 minutes and 41 seconds, becoming the first student to qualify for the MGC.
Yu Aoki, Ryo Matsumoto and Takeshi Yamaguchi also qualified for the MGC.
The winner was Rukamsenbi, a Kenyan international student from Tokyo International University who broke through at around 23km and held on to the top with a time of 2 hours 10 minutes 49 seconds.
Yamaguchi: "I'm really relieved."
Haruka Yamaguchi, a citizen runner who won the race, said, "I couldn't practice well for days, but I was really relieved because I definitely wanted to get the right to participate in the MGC."