Skip to main content

Weekend Road Race Roundup


The ACN Expo Ekiden was the biggest race of the weekend domestically, but there was so much else going on domestically and internationally that it was hard to keep track. We'll do our best.
  • Saturday in Fukuoka the Fst in Fukuoka road mile and 5 km moved from its usual fall date to a spring date for the first time. Ireland's Sophie O'Sullivan outran high school sensation Sherry Drury by 1 second for the win in the women's mile, 4:53 to 4:54. Drury's mark was a new U20 NR. The men's mile also came down to a 1-second win for Irishman Brian Fay over Japan's Jo Aoki, 4:12 to 4:13. Margaret Akidor had an easy win in the women's 5 km in 15:34, with veteran Yuichiro Ueno outrunning a doubling Fay in the men's 5 km to win in 14:07. Complete results here.
  • The Matsue Ladies Half Marathon hosted the National University Women's Half Marathon Sunday. National champion Ritsumeikan University's Makoto Tsuchiya outran Daito Bunka University's Mariya Noda by 16 seconds for the win in 1:12:04, with top general division entrant Yumi Yoshikawa taking 3rd overall in 1:12:26 just a week after running 2:30:33 at the Nagoya Women's Marathon. Complete results.
  • At the Niigata Half Marathon, Shu Nagamoto from Tokai University took a 3-way race with Shinta Miyazawa (Suzuki) and amateur Gakuto Kojima for the win in 1:03:38 with all 3 runners finishing within 7 seconds. Corporate leaguer Mayu Hirata won the women's race in 1:15:45. Complete results.
  • Overseas, Naoya Sakuda (JR Higashi Nihon) had a good one at the Seoul Marathon, breaking 2:08 for the first time with a 2:07:39 PB for 8th. Amateur Ryuichi Yoshioka was 17th in 2:13:14 just 2 weeks after running a 2:10:49 PB at the Tokyo Marathon. Ayano Ikeuchi (Denso) took 8th in the women's race in 2:38:50. Complete results.
  • Komazawa University's Yudai Kiyama and Hibiki Murakami ran the United Airlines NYC Half. Going through 5 km with the fastest split since NYC started bringing Japanese collegiate men in 2012, 14:11, Kiyama ultimately finished 17th in 1:04:15 almost 4 minutes off his PB. Murakami experienced ankle problems on the Brooklyn Bridge section of the course and dropped out around 9 km. Complete results.
  • At the Semi-marathon de Lille, Rakunan H.S. runner Yuto Miyake took a distant 2nd in the U20 men's 5 km in 14:06, 42 seconds behind winner Sewmehon Anteneh. Teammates Yuto Inoue and Tomoya Inoue were 4th and 6th in 14:30 and 14:39, with one other teammate Tsubasa Kashima 16th in 15:23.
© 2025 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee

Labels:

Comments

Stefan said…
Good to see Sherry Drury having an excellent mile race in very tough wet conditions too. An U20 NR is a great step in the right direction given her mixed form last year.

Speaking of high schoolers, Rin Kubo ran in the Sydney Track Classic - World Athletics Continental Tour Challenger, 800m Women on Saturday 15 March and came in 4th with a time of 2:03.64. Australian, Claudia Hollingsworth won with a fast 1:59.30 in very warm conditions. Having exposure to tough international competition and having to fight for track position is probably a relatively rare experience for her and one that should help her in future races.
Below is a YouTube link of her race uploaded from a young fan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PA8OGS9TEAo&t=7s&ab_channel=KT%27sRunningJourney
March 17, 2025 at 2:34 PM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Australian Male Arrested on Drug Smuggling Charges After Entering Japan for Osaka Marathon

On Apr. 9 the Kinki Region Bureau of Health, Labor and Welfare's Drug Control Division arrested Matthew Inglis Fox , 38, an Australian business owner of no known fixed address, on charges of violating the importation regulations of the Narcotics Control Act by smuggling tablets containing marijuana elements from the United States. The suspect had entered Japan in February to run in the Osaka Marathon . The suspect was arrested on suspicion of smuggling approximately 12 pills containing marijuana by sending them from a U.S. airport to Osaka's Kansai Airport using an international courier service on Feb. 19. The Osaka branch of the Customs Service discovered the tablets in arriving cargo and suspected them to be narcotics. Customs contacted the Narcotics Control Division, which then began its investigation of the case. According to the Narcotics Control Division, the suspect denies the charges.  Translator's note: Fox, who received a lifetime ban from the Ageo City Half Mara...
41 comments
Read more

Long Time Coming - Akira Akasaki and Haruka Onodera's Road to the 2022 United Airlines NYC Half

Back in pre-pandemic days Akira Akasaki and Haruka Onodera  were still in college, Akasaki at Takushoku University and Onodera at Teikyo University . At the 2019 Ageo City Half Marathon they frontran most of the race together, dead set on finishing in the top two Japanese collegiate spots to win invitations to the 2020 United Airlines NYC Half. For Akasaki it had already been a year and a half wait. Inspired by Kenta Murayama 's 1:00:57 5th place in finish in New York in 2017 and Kei Katanishi 's 7th-place in 2018, Akasaki went for it his junior year in his debut at the 2018 Ageo Half . "Coming up to 10 km I was in the lead pack and feeling good, so I knew I had a shot at going to New York and got pretty excited," he said. But right after the 10 km turnaround point he tripped and fell, and by the time he was back up the lead group was out of range. He finished 20th in 1:03:07, over a minute and a half behind top Japanese university man Ken Nakayama . "I was f...
1 comment
Read more

My Training for 1:00:44

Hi, I'm Ayumu Kobayashi . Today I'm going to write about this year's National Corporate Half Marathon and the training I did for it. I hope other runners will find it even a little bit helpful. At the Corporate Half on Feb. 13 I was 10th in 1:00:44. My goal had been to run 61 minutes, so I hit that target. My Training Menu In January I ran a total of 681 km. Key workouts: Jan. 11: 1000 m x 5 at 2:50/km Jan. 12: 22.5 km Jan. 15: 9 km variable pace Jan. 17: 25 km Jan. 24: 1000 m x 8 at 2:52/km Jan. 27: 1 km + 4 km + 2 km Jan. 30: 16 km at 3:18/km avg. In January I was tired from the New Year Ekiden and had some knee pain after it, so I just jogged for 10 days until I started doing workouts again on the 11th. That's why I only ran 681 km for the month. But even on the jog days I was aware that I had the Corporate Half coming up, so I was doing around 30 km. It's pretty meat and potatoes, but I think it was really important. February (training for the 10 days before...
2 comments
Read more