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

World Championships Medalist Racewalking Coach Mizuho Sakai Recognized With Highest Coaching Honor

The 2023 Mizuno Sports Mentor Awards recognizing excellence in coaching were held Apr. 23 in Tokyo. Toyo University assistant coach and race walking coach Mizuho Sakai was given a gold award, the program's highest honor, and expressed her thanks and joy in a speech at the award ceremony. The coach of 2023 Budapest World Championships men's 35 km race walk bronze medalist Masatora Kawano , Sakai said, "This is an incredible honor and I'm truly grateful. As a child I wanted to be in the sporting world and I've spent my life in that world. My end goal was always to play a supporting role for other athletes, so I'm honored to be recognized in this way." Sakai's husband Toshiyuki Sakai , head coach of Toyo's three-time Hakone Ekiden champion team, attended the awards gala with her and was also introduced to the audience. After bowing he took a seat in front of her and watched with warmth as she received recognition for her outstanding work. The Mizun

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Returning to the roads after his 2:06:18 win at February's Osaka Marathon, Kiyoto Hirabayashi (Koku Gakuin University) took 5th at Sunday's Shanghai Half Marathon in a PB 1:01:23, just under a minute behind winner Roncer Kipkorir Konga (Kenya) who clocked a CR 1:00:29. After inexplicably running the equivalent of a sub-59 half marathon to win the Hakone Ekiden's Third Stage, Aoi Ota (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) was back to running performances consistent with his other PBs with a 1:02:30 for 8th. His AGU teammate Kyosuke Hiramatsu was 10th in 1:04:00. Women's winner Magdalena Shauri (Tanzania) also set a new CR in 1:09:57. Aoyama Gakuin runners took the top four spots in the men's half marathon at the Aomori Sakura Marathon , with Hakone alternate Kosei Shiraishi getting the win in 1:04:32 and B-team members Shunto Hamakawa and Kei Kitamura 2nd and 3rd in 1:04:45 and 1:04:48. Club runners took the other division titles, Hina Shinozaki winning the women's half

The Ivy League at the Izumo Ekiden in Review

Last week I was contacted by Will Geiken , who I'd met years ago when he was a part of the Ivy League Select Team at the Izumo Ekiden . He was looking for historical results from Izumo and lists of past team members, and I was able to put together a pretty much complete history, only missing the alternates from 1998 to 2010 and a little shaky on the reverse transliterations of some of the names from katakana back into the Western alphabet for the same years. Feel free to send corrections or additions to alternate lists. It's interesting to go back and see some names that went on to be familiar, to see the people who made an impact like Princeton's Paul Morrison , Cornell's Max King , Stanford's Brendan Gregg in one of the years the team opened up beyond the Ivy League, Cornell's Ben de Haan , Princeton's Matt McDonald , and Harvard's Hugo Milner last year, and some of the people who struggled with the format. 1998 Team: 15th of 21 overall, 2:14:10 (43

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