Marathon Weekend Roundup

The Kumanichi 30 km and Ome 30 km were the two big road races this past weekend, but there were at least 5 big mass-participation marathons with decent semi-elite results Sunday too.

The Kyoto Marathon saw the fastest times of the weekend, with local boy Yuma Morii beating Yudai Fukuda 2:16:19 to 2:16:50 to win. Fuka Hirokawa won the women's race by over 3 minutes in 2:45:09, but 3rd-placer Miyu Fukada had a much faster net time, 2:41:09 versus her gun time of 2:50:16. It's not clear why she started so far back.

The Kumamoto Castle Marathon had a great race up front between last year's winner and CR holder Hiroaki Furukawa and Hyuga Abe. Abe missed Furukawa's CR by 12 seconds but beat Furukawa by 14, going 2:16:26 to 2:16:40. Michiru Kato won out over the ageless Mai Fujisawa in the women's race, winning in 2:45:32 to Fujisawa's 2:47:11.

Veterans dominated at the Kitakyushu Marathon, where Rio Olympian Hisanori Kitajima, now 40, beat another 40+ runner, Takashi Hashimoto, 2:17:25 to 2:18:08. Like Fukada in Kyoto, Hashimoto's net time was 2:14:21, baffling given his level. Riko Ozawa took the women's race in 2:47:16 by a slim margin over veteran, Chika Tawara, 2nd in 2:48:02.

The Kochi Ryoma Marathon saw the tightest race of the weekend in the men's race. 100 km NR holder Jumpei Yamaguchi dug deep to fight off amateurs Takemaru Yamasaki and Shinya Ohashi, all of them finishing within 32 seconds but Yamaguchi getting the win in 2:20:10. Mai Fukushima was the women's winner in 2:55:58.

With hills and humidity the Okinawa Marathon isn't suited to fast times. Daijiro Seto won the men's title in 2:29:36, with 40+ runner Eri Suzuki winning the women's race in 2:53:51.

Kyoto Marathon

Kyoto, 16 Feb. 2025

complete results

Men

1. Yuma Morii - 2:16:19

2. Yudai Fukuda - 2:16:50

3. Tatsuya Itagaki - 2:18:56

Women

1. Fuka Hirokawa - 2:45:09

2. Miyuki Nishimura - 2:48:18

3. Miyu Fukada - 2:50:16 (2:41:09 net)

Kumamoto Castle Marathon

Kumamoto, 16 Feb. 2025

complete results

Men

1. Hyuma Abe - 2:16:26

2. Hiroaki Furukawa - 2:16:40

3. Yuhi Takami - 2:19:45

4. Taiga Nishihara - 2:19:56

Women

1. Michiru Kato - 2:45:32

2. Mai Fujisawa - 2:47:11

3. Reina Okumura - 2:48:28

4. Seika Iwamura - 2:49:27

Kitakyushu Marathon

Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, 16 Feb. 2025

complete results

Men

1. Hisanori Kitajima - 2:17:25

2. Takashi Hashimoto - 2:18:08 (net 2:14:21)

3. Yuichi Hirotani - 2:24:20

Women

1. Riko Ozawa - 2:47:16

2. Chika Tawara - 2:48:02

3. Yuka Tomitaka - 2:56:25

Kochi Ryoma Marathon

Kochi, 16 Feb. 2025

complete results

Men

1. Jumpei Yamaguchi - 2:20:10

2. Takemaru Yamasaki - 2:20:33

3. Shinya Ohashi - 2:20:42

Women

1. Mai Fukushima - 2:55:58

2. Kaho Morino - 2:57:30

3. Satomi Okabayashi - 3:00:04

Okinawa Marathon

Okinawa, 16 Feb. 2025

complete results

Men

1. Daijiro Seto - 2:29:36

2. Shogo Sasaki - 2:30:56

3. Tomohide Nishikawa - 2:34:05

Women

1. Eri Suzuki - 2:53:51

2. Natsuki Yokoo - 2:55:53

3. Mari Yonekura - 3:01:14

Hassan Runs NR/CR for Osaka Win, Dibaba Hits Women's CR, Yoshida and Shuley Earn Legends

This was maybe the most entertaining marathon in years. After rocking the 2nd leg at last year's Hakone Ekiden Hibiki Yoshida (Sunbelx) ran an incredible 1:01:01 CR for the 21.9 km New Year Ekiden 2nd leg last month, equivalent to a 58:47 half marathon. That predicted a 2:03:27 marathon if he ever ran one, and when Yoshida announced he was debuting at this year's Osaka Marathon he wasted no time in saying it'd be a shot at the 2:04:55 NR. Things went out fast enough with a 14:50 split through 5 km, 2:05:11 pace, but Yoshida just couldn't hold back and took off at 8 km. He clearly DGAF about what was probably going to happen as his projected finish kept getting faster, 2:04:41, 2:04:15, 2:03:51, 2:03:40, edging closer and closer to what his New Year time predicted, but not helped along by the fact that he missed 4 out of his first 5 drink bottles. People laughed, and then cheered him on. 30 km was the first time he slowed, his finish projection dropping to 2:03:53, an...

Osaka Marathon Preview

The Osaka Marathon is Sunday, one of Japan's biggest mass-participation races and the next stop on the calendar for its elite marathoners hoping to qualify for the L.A. Olympics marathon trials in the fall of 2027. Last year it snowed mid-race, but this year is looking warmer than ideal given the season, with sunny skies, almost no wind, and temps forecast to be 11˚ at the start and rising to 19˚ by the time the winners are finishing. NHK is broadcasting Osaka with a heavy emphasis on the men's race, and if you've got a VPN you should be able to watch it from overseas. There's also official streaming on Youtube starting at 8:30 a.m. local time, although it doesn't look like it's the same as what NHK will be showing. Given Osaka's history at the elite level as the continuation of the men-only Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, the women's field is small relative to the men's, just enough to tick World Athletics' label requirements and with almost no do...

Nagoya Women's Marathon Elite Field

Last year's top 3 Sheila Chepkirui , Sayaka Sato and Eunice Chebichii Chumba are back for this year's Nagoya Women's Marathon on Mar. 8, but things are being set up more for it to be a race between Chepkirui, 2:17:49 in Berlin 2023, Aynalem Desta , 2:17:37 in Amsterdam last fall, and Japanese NR holder Honami Maeda , 2:18:59 at the Osaka International Women's Marathon in 2024. Aynalem has the freshest sub-2:20 of the 3, with neither Chepkirui nor Maeda having done it in 2 years. Maeda's only recent result is a 1:10:07 from Houston last month, but when she ran her NR she didn't have any kind of tuneup race to indicate her fitness so it's probably best not to read too much into that. If it goes out as a 2:18 race those are the only 3 who can probably hang with it. If it turns out to be more of a 2:20 race like when Chepkirui won in 2:20:40 last year then there's a group of 7 at the 2:20-2:22 level who will be in the picture, including Chumba, Selly Chep...

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