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The Ageo City Half Marathon - An Almost Complete History

by Brett Larner

Click here for photos of the Ageo City Half Marathon course being measured and certified in 2000.

Since JRN introduced Japan's little-known Ageo City Half Marathon to the international community with its report on the 2007 race Ageo has become something of a legend, its relatively modest 1:01:26 course record made up for in the sheer depth and power of its field of mostly university runners who run Ageo to vie for a spot on their schools' teams for the prestigious Hakone Ekiden.

JRN has now tabulated and transliterated results from the last ten years, the complete lifespan of the race in its current form. Based on JRN's tabulation, next month the Association of Road Racing Statisticians will officially rank Ageo as the world's #1 half marathon held on a consistent course, beaten out for #1 overall only by the World Half Marathon Championships which take place in a different country each year.

A summary of the results is given below. Click for a full-sized version.



The 2006 results include only the university runners and are missing those for individual men and women finishers. These will be added when uncovered.

To read JRN's detailed reports on the Ageo City Half Marathon, click: 2009, 2008, and 2007.

(c) 2009 Brett Larner
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