Skip to main content

Nakamura Takes National University Half, Kato and Deguchi Win Tamana and Sunpu

by Brett Larner

The National University Men's Half Marathon Championships in Tokyo led three competitive Japanese half marathons this weekend.  Shogo Nakamura of 2012 National University Men's Ekiden winner Komazawa University outran defending champion Toshikatsu Ebina (Teikyo Univ.) for the win, 1:02:41 to 1:02:49 with the next three runners all going under 63 minutes for the first time.  All told, 38 collegiate men broke 64 minutes with 175 clearing 67.  The selection race for this summer's World University Games half marathon team, the overall fast day at the Championships ensured that Nakamura will lead a strong team this summer.  In post-race comments he said that his goal is the gold medal.

At the Kanaguri Hai Tamana Half Marathon in Kumamoto, 19-year-old Daichi Kato (Team Toyota Kyushu) handed Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) his second loss of the year, keeping an eye on Kawauchi's water station surges and breaking away late in the race with a surge of his own to win in 1:03:01.  Kawauchi held on to 2nd in 1:03:12, with Kato's Toyota Kyushu teammates taking the next two spots.  In the women's 10 km, Hiroko Miyauchi (Team Kyocera) won for a record-setting 5th time in 33:20, just holding off Kotomi Takayama (Team Sysmex) over the final kilometer.  Shohei Otsuka (Oita Tomei H.S.) was impressive in the high school boys' 10 km, winning by more than 30 seconds in 29:32.

2012 national 5000 m champion Kazuya Deguchi (Team Asahi Kasei) had a relatively easy win at the Sunpu Half Marathon in Shizuoka, running 1:04:01 well ahead of last year's winner Shinichi Yamashita (Takigahara SDF Base).  Local Yuki Sakata (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) had an even bigger margin of victory in the women's half marathon, winning in 1:14:48 by nearly a minute over Kaori Ito (Team Yutaka Giken).

16th National University Men's Half Marathon Championships
Tachikawa, Tokyo, 3/3/13
click here for complete results

1. Shogo Nakamura (Komazawa Univ.) - 1:02:41 - PB
2. Toshikatsu Ebina (Teikyo Univ.) - 1:02:49
3. Hiroki Yamagishi (Jobu Univ.) - 1:02:51 - PB
4. Shinichiro Tai (Hosei Univ.) - 1:02:54 - PB
5. Hiroto Inoue (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) - 1:02:58 - PB
6. Masaya Taguchi (Toyo Univ.) - 1:03:00 - PB
7. Shogo Sekiguchi (Hosei Univ.) - 1:03:01 - PB
8. Junji Katakawa (Daito Bunka Univ) - 1:03:04 - PB
9. Takashi Ichida (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 1:03:04 - PB
10. Shuhei Yamamoto (Waseda Univ.) - 1:03:12
-----
25. Hiroki Sugawa (Chuo Univ.) - 1:03:43
-----
50. Teruaki Yuda (Toyo Univ.) - 1:04:15
-----
100. Masato Terauchi (Toyo Univ.) - 1:05:06
-----
150. Eiichiro Sano (Josai Univ.) - 1:05:47
-----
175. Kodai Gozawa (Soka Univ.) - 1:05:59
-----
200. Akira Iwasaki (Hosei Univ.) - 1:06:17

64th Kanaguri Hai Tamana Half Marathon
Tamana, Kumamoto, 3/3/13
click here for complete results

Men's Half Marathon
1. Daichi Kato (Team Toyota Kyushu) - 1:03:01
2. Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref.) - 1:03:12
3. Kaoru Hirosue (Team Toyota Kyushu) - 1:03:24
4. Yukinobu Nakazaki (Team Toyota Kyushu) - 1:03:41
5. Sho Matsueda (Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki) - 1:03:58

Women's 10 km
1. Hiroko Miyauchi (Team Kyocera) - 33:20
2. Kotomi Takayama (Team Sysmex) - 33:24
3. Yoko Aizu (Team Shikoku Denryoku) - 33:32
4. Anna Hasuike (Team Higo Ginko) - 33:32
5. Yuki Mitsunobu (Team Kyocera) - 33:34

High School Boys' 10 km
1. Shohei Otsuka (Oita Tomei H.S.) - 29:32
2. Ryoichi Yoshida (Omuta H.S.) - 30:03
3. Tatsuhiko Hori (Omuta H.S.) - 30:10
4. Hirotsugu Nakahara (Oita Tomei H.S.) - 30:12
5. Noriaki Oyama (Omuta H.S) - 30:14

38th Shizuoka Sunpu Half Marathon
Sunpu, Shizuoka, 3/3/13
click here for complete results

Men
1. Kazuya Deguchi (Team Asahi Kasei) - 1:04:01
2. Shinichi Yamashita (Takigahara SDF Base) - 1:04:18
3. Takeshi Tsubouchi (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 1:04:47

Women
1. Yuki Sakata (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 1:14:48
2. Kaori Ito (Team Yutaka Giken) - 1:15:42
3. Ruka Nakamura (Tokyo Nogyo Univ.) - 1:15:51

(c) 2013 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Comments

dadsweb said…
The headline mentions Noguchi, but should be Deguchi possibly?
Brett Larner said…
Whoops, thank you for catching that.

Most-Read This Week

CHN and JPN National Records Go Down - Weekend Track Update

There weren't any Japanese athletes in action at the Rabat Diamond League meet Sunday, but 2 lower-tier domestic meets produced new national records. At the Nittai University Time Trials meet in Yokohama, Samuel Kibathi (Toyota) led the top 5 in the men's 10000 m under 28 minutes in 27:39.97. In 3rd, China's Wenjie Wang took just over a second off his own NR from the same meet last year, setting a new record of 27:47.53. His teammate Haoran Tang was 6th in a 28:27.44 PB, with the top Japanese time in the race being a 28:33.39 for 8th from Jin Yuasa (Toyota). Amazingly, Wang and Tang were back the next day on day 2 of the Nittai meet, Wang running a PB of 13:35.58 for 4th in the A-heat and Tang winning the B-heat in a PB of 13:38.80. Isaac Ndiema took the A-heat in 13:26.49, with the fastest Japanese time going to Yuhei Urano (Fujitsu) with a 13:35.94 for 5th behind Wang. Other Nittai highlights: Deborah Chemutai (Univ. Ent.) won a photo finish against Yua Nagamori ...

Australian YouTuber Handed Lifetime Ban by Ageo City Half Marathon After Running 1:06 with Another Runner's Bib (updated)

After discussion with their race's chief JAAF referee, on Nov. 27 the organizers of the Ageo City Half Marathon handed down a lifetime ban from their event against 36-year-old Australian Matt Inglis Fox  for running the Nov. 15 race wearing the bib number of another JAAF-registered runner. The incident came to light after Fox posted on his personal Instagram account that he had run a PB of 1:06:33 and finished 203rd in Ageo with a 10 km split of 31:03, along with photos and video of himself in the race wearing a bib number beginning with 11. Fox did not appear in the results by name or in that time or place, the closest match being a 1:06:54 gross, 1:06:50 net finish time with a 31:21 10 km split for 18th place in the JAAF-registered division and 209th overall by bib number 1129, registered to a non-Japanese Tokyo-resident club runner. The club runner, Harrisson Uk , readily confirmed that he had given his bib to Fox, saying, "I gave my number to Matt. It wasn't me."...

Ngetich Breaks CR, Murayama and Sasaki Make U.S. Debut at New York Mini 10k

WR holder Agnes Ngetich  soloed a fast one at the 54th edition of the Mastercard New York Mini 10k, leading inside the first mile and pulling away the rest of the race to run a 30:07 CR for the win, the fastest time ever on U.S. soil albeit on a slightly net downhill course. On a warm day that saw over 10,000 women finish  Tsigie Gebreselama  was on her own most of the way too, a distant 2nd in 30:53 and 17 seconds up on past champ Hellen Obiri . Further back, 2026 World University Cross Country bronze medalist Amisa Murayama  and 2025 Morinomiyako Ekiden 3rd leg CR breaker Nazuki Sasaki  from 2025 National University Women's Ekiden runner-up Tohoku Fukushi University  made their U.S. debuts. Murayama was targeting the fastest-ever Japanese time at the Mini, 32:37, but struggled on the hills just before 5 km and late in the race, fading to finish 23rd in 34:08. Sasaki, recovering from a stress reaction in her upper back a few months ago, ran a conservative ...