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A Late Update on Niigata, Matsue and Tokushima


A late update on last weekend's main domestic Japanese road results. At the Niigata Half Marathon, Meiji University's Shota Morishita dominated with a win by 34 seconds over teammate Hibiki Kikkawa in the men's race, clocking 1:03:26. Ayami Hirano of the Noritz corporate team had an even bigger margin of victory in the women's race, running 1:14:28 and finishing 1:14 up on 2nd-placer Mayuka Fujita from Route Inn Hotels. Complete results.

The Matsue Ladies Half Marathon, which doubles as the National University Women's Half Marathon, saw one of the tightest finishes in its history after three-straight years of pandemic-era cancelations. Panasonic's Yuki Nakamura beat top collegian Hikaru Kitagawa of Osaka Geijutsu University by 2 seconds to win in 1:10:48. A corporate leaguer also took the 10 km division, with Yuna Takahashi from the Shimamura team winning by over 6 minutes in 33:47.

Surprisingly, Kitagawa's time of 1:10:50 was the fastest-ever in the university women's championships division, 10 seconds under the old record dating back to 1:11:00. A performing arts major at Osaka Geijutsu specializing in musical theater, Kitagawa earned a place on the Japanese team at this summer's World University Games. Complete results.

At the Tokushima Marathon, Rie Kawauchi set a new women's course record of 2:33:50, with Haruka Yamaguchi 2nd in 2:39:38 and Yuka Ando 3rd in 2:44:57 to make it a sweep of the top 3 by women who have already qualified for October's MGC Race Olympic marathon trials. Kawauchi's Otsuka Seiyaku teammate Kazuki Noda won the men's race in 2:18:10, the only one to break 2:20. Complete results.

© 2023 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

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