Skip to main content

Weekend Half Marathon Roundup


Along with the National Cross-Country Championships and Tokyo Marathon, the weekend saw competitive half marathons across the country and nearby in South Korea.

Yuta Shimoda of four-time Hakone Ekiden champion Aoyama Gakuin University turned the fastest time of the weekend with a 1:03:20 win at the Kashima Yutoku Road Race half marathon, beating sometime training partner Aritaka Kajiwara (Hiramatsu Byoin) by 35 seconds.

A week after his course record-breaking win at the Kitakyushu Marathon, Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) won the local Fukaya City Half Marathon in Saitama in 1:04:26, beating corporate leaguer Rui Watanabe (Shindengen) by 29 seconds. Amateur Tomomi Sawahata (Sawahatters) scored yet another road race win in 1:15:42, the fastest time of the weekend by a Japanese woman.

At the 40th anniversary running of the Inuyama Yomiuri Half Marathon, Toyo University first-year Ryoga Asai won in 1:04:44. Eri Watanabe (Aichi Denki) took the women's race in 1:16:30.

Across the seas in South Korea, former Konica Minolta runner Samuel Kariuki (Kenya) took 10 seconds off the course record to win the Gyeonggi International Half Marathon in 1:02:30. Japan's Kohei Nakajima (Josai Univ.) led the second pack to take 4th overall in 1:04:33 in a sprint finish against South Korea's Jae Hoon Kim and Mongolian Dambadarjaa Gantulga.

67th Kashima Yutoku Road Race

Kashima, Saga 2/25/18

Men's Half Marathon
1. Yuta Shimoda (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:03:20
2. Aritaka Kajiwara (Hiramatsu Byoin) - 1:03:55
3. Ryosuke Nara (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 1:04:00
4. Shun Sadakata (Toyo Univ.) - 1:04:39
5. Ayumu Tsutsumi (Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) - 1:05:26
6. Tomoya Kaneko (Nihon Univ.) - 1:05:42

Women's Half Marathon
1. Natsumi Morino 1:22:13

Men's 10 km
1. Ryuichi Hashimoto 29:45

Women's 10 km
1. Misa Kanda 34:43

12th Fukaya City Half Marathon

Fukaya, Saitama 2/25/18

Men
1. Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) - 1:04:26
2. Rui Watanabe (Shindengen) - 1:04:55

Women
1. Tomomi Sawahata (Sawahatters) - 1:15:42

40th Inuyama Yomiuri Half Marathon

Inuyama, Aichi 2/25/18

Men
1. Ryoga Asai (Toyo Univ.) - 1:04:44

Women
1. Eri Watanabe (Aichi Denki) - 1:16:30

Men's 10 km
1. Hayate Takeuchi (NTN) - 30:03

Women's 10 km
1. Honoka Sugiura (Chukyo Univ.) - 34:10

Gyeonggi International Half Marathon

Suwon, South Korea 2/25/18

Men
1. Samuel Kariuki (KEN) 1:02:30 - CR
2. Abebe Negewo Degefe (ETH) 1:02:39
3. Brahom Oukhouya (MAR) 1:02:47
4. Kohei Nakajima (JPN) 1:04:33
5. Jae Hoon Kim (KOR) 1:04:34
6. Dambadarjaa Gantulga (MGL) 1:04:36

photo © Shingo Igarashi, all rights reserved
text © 2018 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Nagoya Women's Marathon Elite Field

The Mar. 9 Nagoya Women's Marathon is the last big elite marathon on Japan's winter schedule, this year with a trio of sub-2:20 runners up front, Sheila Chepkirui , Aga Ruti and Hitomi Niiya . It being a home soil World Championships selection cycle there's decent depth behind them, and 2:21 runner Rika Kaseda looks especially on her game right now with a 1:07:53 PB at the Marugame Half earlier this month. Australian Isobel Batt-Doyle is also trending in the right direction, having run 2:22:59 in her last go in Valencia in December. The debut list is pretty interesting, with women-only half marathon NR holder Rino Goshima , 1:08:03, making her debut, as are 1:09:01 Australian Leanne Pompeani and track runner Yuna Wada . 2018 World Half Marathon silver medalist Pauline Kamulu isn't technically debuting, having run 2:31:04 at last summer's hot and humid Hokkaido Marathon, but with a 1:07:33 in Marugame ahead of Kaseda she has a lot of potential to go 10 minutes ...

Nishimura Breaks Kumanichi 30 km CR, Tsurukawa Over Yonemitsu in Men's Race

  Maybe the next big thing coming down the Tenmaya corporate pipeline, Mizuki Nishimura made good on her pre-race plan for the Kumanichi 30 km to get as close as she could to her Tenmaya teammate Honami Maeda 's 1:38:35 NR. Out solo almost on track to break 1:40 in excellent conditions, Nishimura started to slow in the middle third of the race but had enough time and energy to work with to still take almost 2 minutes off the old pre-super shoe era CR, winning easily in 1:41:42. 2nd and 3rd-placers Mio Kuroda and Khishigsaikhan Galbadrakh were together through 20 km before Galbadrakh faded, Kuroda taking 2nd in 1:44:49 and Galbadrakh 3rd in 1:45:44 in a tuneup for next month's Tokyo Marathon. 天満屋の西村美月選手、熊日30キロで1:41:42大会新記録。 Mizuki Nishimura wins Kumanichi 30k in 1:41:42 CR. pic.twitter.com/rAru1WywEm — Japan Running News (@JRNHeadlines) February 16, 2025 The men's race started conservatively, keeping a large group of 11 together until 20 km. sub-61 half marathoner Dai...

Tokyo Marathon Elite Field

The Tokyo Marathon elite field is out, and it's a pretty good one. On the women's side are the last 3 winners, Sutume Asefa Kebede , Rosemary Wanjiru and Brigid Kosgei , 2022 world champion Gotytom Gebreslase , last year's Dubai winner Tigist Ketema and another 6 women in the 2:17-2:19 range. Top Japanese draw Ai Hosoda hopes to get into the sub-2:20 club after a 2:20:31 PB in Berlin last fall. The men's field has 2024 CR breaker Benson Kipruto and 3rd-placer Vincent Ngetich , 2:02:38 man Derese Geleta , Joshua Cheptegei taking another stab at the distance, and another 8 at the 2:03-2:04 level. 2:05-class Japanese men Yohei Ikeda , Ichitaka Yamashita and Kenya Sonota and Paris Olympics 6th-placer Akira Akasaki will be gunning for the 2:04:56 NR, and there are interesting debuts from 10-mile world best holder Benard Koech and Hakone Ekiden star Aoi Ota from 2024-2025 champ Aoyama Gakuin University . The wheelchair race includes WR holder Catherine Debrunner , ...