The 2023 Hakone Ekiden Champs Komazawa University at the United Airlines NYC Half

2023 Hakone Ekiden champion Komazawa University's 1st and 8th runners from its winning team Kensuke Tsubura and Yuto Akahoshi were at the United Airlines NYC Half Sunday with head coach Hiroaki Oyagi and his wife Kyoko Oyagi as part of the partnership between race organizers NYRR and November's Ageo City Half Marathon set up by JRN in 2012. For both athletes it was the first time for them to ever go outside Japan.

Akahoshi, a 3rd-year at Komazawa who ran his PB of 1:02:00 at Ageo last fall, lasted longer in the main pack, staying with the group that ended up filling 4th through 14th after the breakaway move up the East Side by world record holders Jacob Kiplimo and Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda and Moroccan Zouhair Talbi. In the last 5 km he dropped back to finish 14th in 1:03:49, just behind 2022 Fukuoka International Marathon winner Maru Teferi of Israel.

"My goal was to come here and try to stay with some of the best athletes in the world, so I'm pretty disappointed that I lost touch after 15 km," he told JRN post-race. "Neither my time nor my place hit my targets, but it was still a great experience to run against people like this in one of the world's top races. I know it's going to help me in my future career."

Tsubura, who graduates next week and will give up running to begin preparation to become a monk at his family's Buddhist temple, came to NYC on only 2 weeks of training after a stress fracture following his excellent opening leg run at Hakone in January. He lasted in the pack through 10 km before losing ground, overtaking and then running with British early breakaway leader Chris Thompson before getting caught by American Galen Rupp in the last km and finishing 18th in 1:05:01.

"I'm really disappointed that I wasn't able to come here in good condition," he said post-race. "But I knew this was going to be my last race, and it makes me truly happy to have been able to do it in front of coach Oyagi and Kyoko. This is the end of my road, but I'm really glad I had a career as an athlete and that I chose to have it at Komazawa University."

For Oyagi, the United Airlines NYC Half was the last race in a 28-year career as head coach at Komazawa that produced 27 wins at the Big Three University Ekidens, 11 sub-2:09 marathoners, a 2:06:51 marathon national record in 2000, the fastest-ever half marathon and 10000 m times by a Japanese-born collegian, U20 3000 m and 5000 m NR, and a long list of other achievements.

"It was one of the joys of my life to have been coach at Komazawa University for 28 years," Oyagi said after the race. "It was a lot of fun. There were hard times, but when I look back at it now and see what the people I helped develop have gone on to accomplish, I think I did a good job as coach. I have nothing but gratitude to everyone I worked with. Thank you all."

United Airlines NYC Half

New York, 19 Mar. 2023

Men

1. Jacob Kiplimo (Uganda) - 1:01:31

2. Joshua Cheptegei (Uganda) - 1:02:09

3. Zouhair Talbi (Morocco) - 1:02:18

4. Ben True (U.S.A.) - 1:02:57

5. Edward Cheserek (Kenya) - 1:02:58

6. Andrew Butchart (Great Britain) - 1:02:58

7. Nico Montana (U.S.A.) - 1:03:00

8. Reed Fischer (U.S.A.) - 1:03:02

9. Frank Lara (U.S.A.) - 1:03:07

10. Teshome Mekonen (U.S.A.) - 1:03:08

11. Connor Winter (U.S.A.) - 1:03:10

12. Kennedy Kimutai (Kenya) - 1:03:20

13. Maru Teferi (Israel) - 1:03:41

14. Yuto Akahoshi (Japan) - 1:03:49

15. Rory Linkletter (Canada) - 1:04:21

16. Chris Thompson (Great Britain) - 1:04:32

17. Galen Rupp (U.S.A.) - 1:04:57

18. Kensuke Tsubura (Japan) - 1:05:01

Women

1. Hellen Obiri (Kenya) - 1:07:21

2. Senbere Teferi (Ethiopia) - 1:07:55

3. Karoline Grovdal (Norway) - 1:09:53

4. Diane van Es (Netherlands) - 1:10:43

5. Desiree Linden (U.S.A.) - 1:12:21

6. Dakotah Lindwurm (U.S.A.) - 1:12:25

7. Molly Huddle (U.S.A.) - 1:12:27

8. Natasha Wodak (Canada) - 1:12:33

9. Jeralyn Poe (U.S.A.) - 1:12:46

10. Erika Kemp (U.S.A.) - 1:13:18

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

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

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

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