Suzuki Wins National University Women's Half Marathon, Otsubo and Ando Take Niigata

Yuka Suzuki (Daito Bunka Univ.) won a close pack race to take the 2019 National University Women's Half Marathon title, outkicking Rika Kaseda (Meijo Univ.) by 2 seconds for the win in 1:11:27. With a relatively slow start the lead pack of nearly 20 gradually picked up its pace, splitting faster for every successive 5 km until only Suzuki, Kaseda, Yuka Tagawa (Matsuyama Univ.) and Yukina Ueda (Tsukuba Univ.)were left together at 20 km.

With three spots at stake on the Japanese national team for this summer's World University Games one of them had to lose, and as Suzuki and Kaseda pulled away over the last km the third spot came down to another duel. Tagami proved to have the better finish, taking 3rd in 1:11:35 to Ueda's 1:11:38. Defending World University Games half marathon gold medalist Yuki Munehisa (Tokyo Nogyo Univ.) was a DNF, dropping out after 10 km as the pace increased.

Run as part of the Matsue Ladies Half Marathon, the race also included corporate league runners. Nanami Aoki (Iwatani Sangyo) took the top spot among them at 5th overall in 1:11:54. Another corporate runner, Ayari Harada (Daiichi Seimei) won the 10 km in 33:13.

To the north, 2:21:36 marathoner Yuka Ando made her debut in the Wacoal team uniform with a 1:10:34 win at the Niigata Half Marathon. Ando was on her own throughout the race, teammate Kotomi Tsubokura finishing almost 2 minutes back in 2nd in 1:12:29. Hong Kong national record holder Kit Ching Yiu was a distant 3rd in 1:14:49.

In the men's race, a lead pack of nine ran together through 15 km on mid-1:02:30 pace before Komazawa University 3rd-year Keiichiro Otsubo decided to take the race into his own hands. Otsubo took off with a 14:31 split from 15 to 20 km, opening a gap of over 20 seconds on the rest of the lead group and coming onto the track unchallenged for the win in a PB of 1:02:17. Yoshihiro Hiraga (SDF Academy) was 2nd in 1:02:37, with marathoner Yohei Suzuki (Aisan Kogyo) winning a sprint finish versus Shintaro Miwa (NTN) for 3rd in 1:02:44.

40th Matsue Ladies Half Marathon

22nd National University Women's Half Marathon Championships
Matsue, Shimane, 3/17/19
complete results

Half Marathon
1. Yuka Suzuki (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 1:11:27
2. Rika Kaseda (Meijo Univ.) - 1:11:29
3. Yuka Tagawa (Matsuyama Univ.) - 1:11:35
4. Yukina Ueda (Tsukuba Univ.) - 1:11:38
5. Nanami Aoki (Iwatani Sangyo) - 1:11:54
6. Miku Daido (Iwatani Sangyo) - 1:12:21
7. Nanayo Okamoto (Osaka Gakuin Univ.) - 1:12:30
8. Hanae Tanaka (Shiseido) - 1:12:38
9. Sara Miyake (Tenmaya) - 1:12:41
10. Chisato Nagai (Osaka Geijutsu Univ.) - 1:12:54
-----
DNF - Yuki Munehisa (Tokyo Nogyo Univ.)

10 km
1. Ayari Harada (Daiichi Seimei) - 33:13
2. Mary Shipuko Manela (Hitachi) - 33:46
3. Yuki Udagawa (Sekisui Kagaku) - 33:59

3rd Niigata Half Marathon

Niigata, 3/17/19
complete results

Men
1. Keiichiro Otsubo (Komazawa Univ.) - 1:02:17
2. Yoshihiro Hiraga (SDF Academy) - 1:02:37
3. Yohei Suzuki (Aisan Kogyo) - 1:02:44
4. Shintaro Miwa (NTN) - 1:02:44
5. Keita Sakamoto (Komori Corp.) - 1:03:00

Women
1. Yuka Ando (Wacoal) - 1:10:34
2. Kotomi Tsubokura (Wacoal) - 1:12:29
3. Kit Ching Yiu (Hong Kong) - 1:14:49
4. Natsumi Furukawa (Canon AC Kyushu) - 1:15:22
5. Yurika Kubo (Aichi Denki) - 1:18:13

© 2019 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Chepkirui Over Sato Again to Win 2nd-Straight Nagoya Women's Marathon, Chen Breaks Malaysian NR (updated)

This year's Nagoya Women's Marathon felt like a changing of the guard, with some the bigger domestic names over the last few years fading early and a lot of newer faces stepping up with quality debuts or second marathons. The front group was set to be paced for 2:20 flat with the 2nd group at 2:23:30 to hit the auto-qualifying time for the 2027 MGC Race, Japan's L.A. Olympics marathon trials race in Nagoya. Up front things went out OK, but after a 33:10 split at 10 km Ayuko Suzuki , 2:21:22 here 2 years ago, lost touch, ultimately finishing 23rd in 2:33:28. Windy conditions started to play with pacers' ability to keep things steady and the pace slowed majorly over the next 10 km, but even with a 34:05 second 10 km there were big-name casualties. 2024 Nagoya winner Yuka Ando was next to drop, ending up 17th in 2:30:32. NR holder Honami Maeda was next, followed quickly by Bahraini Kenyan Eunice Chumba and debuting Wakana Kabasawa . Maeda faded to 21st in 2:31:21, whil...

Nagoya Women's Marathon Preview and Streaming (updated)

Japan's winter marathon season of 6 major races in 7-straight weekends wraps up Sunday with the world's largest women-only marathon, the Nagoya Women's Marathon . The weather is looking pretty good, 6˚ at the start rising to 10˚ by the finish and sunny skies, but a moderate 7 m/s NW wind means a headwind finish that might impact the potential for some fast times. Official streaming kicks off at 9:00 a.m. local time. Live results will be here . Sheila Chepkirui won last year in 2:20:40, breaking away from Sayaka Sato and Eunice Chebichii Chumba at 30 km and hanging on for the win. Sato negative split a 2:20:59 PB for 2nd, Chumba fading to 3rd in 2:21:36. All 3 are back this time, but they have pretty serious competition from Aynalem Desta , 2:17:37 in Amsterdam last fall, and Selly Chepyego Kaptich , 2:20:03 in Barcelona 2023. And of course, Japanese NR holder Honami Maeda . Maeda ran 2:18:59 at the Osaka International Women's Marathon in 2024 to make the Paris Oly...

How it Happened

Ancient History I went to Wesleyan University, where the legend of four-time Boston Marathon champ and Wes alum Bill Rodgers hung heavy over the cross-country team. Inspired by Koichi Morishita and Young-Cho Hwang’s duel at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics I ran my first marathon in 1993, qualifying for Boston ’94 where Bill was kind enough to sign a star-struck 20-year-old me’s bib number at the expo. Three years later I moved to Japan for grad school, and through a long string of coincidences I came across a teenaged kid named Yuki Kawauchi down at my neighborhood track. I never imagined he’d become what he is, but right from the start there was just something different about him. After his 2:08:37 breakthrough at the 2011 Tokyo Marathon he called me up and asked me to help him get into races abroad. He’d finished 3rd on the brutal downhill Sixth Stage at the Hakone Ekiden, and given how he’d run the hills in the last 6 km at Tokyo ’11 I thought he’d do well at Boston or New York. “I...

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