Ashi and Ito Win, Hsieh Breaks Taiwanese National Record at Osaka Half

Held alongside the Osaka International Women's Marathon, the Osaka Half Marathon has continued to grow at the elite level into one of the post-ekiden season's top-tier Japanese half marathons. On the women's side, Maki Ashi (Kyudenko) was just off her best as she won in 1:11:26, opening a lead of over 20 seconds in the first 5 km and going the rest of the way alone. Ayaka Yokose (Yamada Denki) was the only other woman to crack 1:12, 2nd in 1:11:58. Taiwanese national record holder Chien-ho Hsieh spent most of the race in 3rd, but despite getting caught by Madoka Nakano (Noritz) with just over 5 km to go Hsieh pushed on to take almost three minutes off her own national record, landing 4th in 1:12:19.

The men's race saw a deep pack go through halfway on sub-1:02 pace, things slowing slightly before 15 km but no real carnage happening until the final stages. With seven still in contention with just over a kilometer to go it came down to a sprint finish on the track, the group boiling down rapidly over the last lap to a duel between Kazuma Ito (Sumitomo Denki) and Kentaro Nakamoto (Yasukawa Denki). Ito got the win in 1:02:10, lopping 55 seconds off the Osaka course record set just last year and 24 seconds off his own best.

The 35-year-old Nakamoto, Japan's best championship marathoner with three top ten finishes at the World Championships and one at the Olympics, was right behind him in 1:02:12, taking 17 seconds off his PB set way back in 2009. Due for a duel with longtime rival Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) at April's Boston Marathon, Nakamoto was also 6 seconds under Kawauchi's best for the half marathon. In 6th, Tsuyoshi Bando (Kwansei Gakuin Univ.) ran an excellent 1:02:25, a rare sub-1:03 clocking by a non-Hakone Ekiden university from outside the Kanto Region. The top ten all broke the old course record of 1:03:05, a big jump in depth and quality that lands Osaka just behind next weekend's Marugame Half on Japan's list of key winter races.

Osaka Half Marathon

Osaka, 1/28/18
click here for women's results
click here for men's results

Women
1. Maki Ashi (Kyudenko) - 1:11:26
2. Ayaka Yokose (Yamada Denki) - 1:11:58
3. Madoka Nakano (Noritz) - 1:12:12
4. Chien-Ho Hsieh (Taiwan) - 1:12:19 - NR
5. Nanayo Okamoto (Osaka Gakuin Univ.) - 1:12:31
6. Ayano Tanaka (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 1:13:20
7. Rui Nishida (Sysmex) - 1:13:34
8. Asuka Yamamoto (Osaka Geijutsu Univ.) - 1:13:37
9. Mami Onuki (Sysmex) - 1:14:03
10. Yuki Kanehira (Sysmex) - 1:14:19

Men
1. Kazuma Ito (Sumitomo Denko) - 1:02:10 - CR
2. Kentaro Nakamoto (Yasukawa Denki) - 1:02:12
3. Ryusei Takahashi (Aichi Seiko) - 1:02:14
4. Koki Tanaka (Kanebo) - 1:02:15
5. Masato Terauchi (Aichi Seiko) - 1:02:23
6. Tsuyoshi Bando (Kwansei Gakuin Univ.) - 1:02:25
7. Takuya Fukatsu (Asahi Kasei) - 1:02:29
8. Kazuki Muramoto (Sumitomo Denko) - 1:02:35
9. Masamichi Yasuda (Aichi Seiko) - 1:02:39
10. Yuichiro Nishikawa (Tokai Univ.) - 1:02:42

© 2018 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

19-Yr-Old Munakata Breaks Miura's U20 NR to Win Ageo City Half Marathon

The Ageo City Half Marathon is always big, the main race that the coaches of Hakone Ekiden-bound university men's teams use for firming up their entry rosters for the big show. That makes what's basically an idyllic small town race into one of the world's great road races, with depth unmatched anywhere. One of the top-tier people on the start list at 1:02:07, Kodai Miyaoka (Hosei Univ.) took the race out fast, but the entire pack was keying off the fastest man in the race, Reishi Yoshida (Chuo Gakuin Univ.), 1:00:31. Yoshida reeled Miyaoka in before 5 km and kept things steady in the low-1:01 range, wearing down the lead group to around 10 including his CGU teammate Taisei Ichikawa , a quartet from Izumo and National University Ekiden runner-up Komazawa University , 2 runners from local Daito Bunka University , 2:07:54 marathoner Atsumi Ashiwa (Honda), and Australian Ed Goddard . Right after 15 km Komazawa went into action, Yudai Kiyama , Hibiki Murakami and Haru Tanin

10000 m NR Attempt In the Works Saturday at Hachioji Long Distance - Streaming and Preview

There are a bunch of other time trial meets this weekend and next, but Saturday's Hachioji Long Distance is the last big meet for Japanese men, 8 heats of Wavelight-paced 10000 m finely graded from target times of 28:50 down to 26:59 for the fastest heat. Heat 6 at 17:55 local time is effectively the B-race, with 35 Japan-based Kenyans targeting 27:10 at the front end, and in a lot of cases a spot on their teams at the New Year Ekiden national championship on Jan. 1. Corporate teams are only allowed to field one non-Japanese athlete in the New Year Ekiden, and only on its shortest stage, and getting to that has a big impact on African athletes' contracts and renewal prospects. Toyota Boshoku , Yasukawa Denki , Chugoku Denryoku , Aisan Kogyo , JR Higashi Nihon , Subaru and 2024 national champion Toyota are all fielding two Kenyans, and Aichi Seiko three. For people like Toyota's Felix Korir and Samuel Kibathi , getting as close to the 27:10 target time as they can and

Ageo City Half Marathon Preview and Streaming

This weekend's big race is the Ageo City Half Marathon , the next stop on the collegiate men's circuit. Most of the universities bound for the Jan. 2-3 Hakone Ekiden use Ageo to thin down the list of contenders for their final Hakone rosters, and with JRN's development program that sends the first two Japanese collegiate finishers in Ageo to the United Airlines NYC Half every year a lot of coaches put in some of their A-listers too. That gives Ageo legendary depth and fast front-end speed, with a 1:00:47 course record last year from Kenyan corporate leaguer Paul Kuira (JR Higashi Nihon) and the top 26 all clearing 63 minutes. Since a lot of programs just enter everybody on their rosters you never really know who on the entry list is actually going to show up, but if even a quarter of the people at the top end of this year's list run it'll be a great race, even if conditions are looking likely to be a bit warmer than ideal. Chuo Gakuin University 's Reishi Yoshi

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