Skip to main content

Tse and Ota Win Lake Saroma 100 km in High Heat, 67-yr-Old Yugeta 10th


With temperatures reported as high as 35˚C and sunny conditions, a total of 3,858 people were reported to have run Sunday's Lake Saroma 100 km and 50 km Ultramarathon. The conditions were bad enough that 3 runners were taken to the hospital with heatstroke and world champion Haruki Okayama had to drop out mid-race, but that didn't stop Hong Kong's Kok Wai Tse from running strong over the 2nd half of the race to come from behind with an excellent 6:28:39 for the win.

At halfway Tse was almost 2 minutes behind a lead group that included Hideaki Yamauchi and Hideo Nojo, but when they faded in the heat Tse was there to take over. He ultimately finished over 13 minutes ahead of 2nd-place Shion Oe, who likewise had a more conservative start and spent most of the race with eventual 3rd-placer Naoki Matsuo. Yamauchi was ultimately 4th in 6:47:32, splitting 3:07:39/3:39:53, with Nojo 5th in 6:49:37 with even more painful splits of 3:07:30/3:42:07.

In the women's race Mikiko Ota won in 7:32:21, her 3rd-straight Lake Saroma win. "I still can't believe it!" she said post-race. "I'm super happy. The 2nd half was really hard, but the people cheering along the course helped me get through it." Akiko Maruichi was 2nd in 7:39:04, with Miho Nakata 3rd in 7:51:10. 67-year-old sub-3 marathoner Mariko Yugeta was 10th overall in 8:24:02.

Kanata Mizote won the men's 50 km in 3:17:28, with Mikiko Matsuda winning the women's race in 4:11:54.

Lake Saroma 100 km and 50 km Ultramarathon

Hokkaido, 29 June 2025

Men's 100 km
1. Kok Wai Tse (Hong Kong) - 6:28:39
2. Shion Oe - 6:42:01
3. Naoki Matsuo - 6:45:20
4. Hideaki Yamauchi - 6:47:32
5. Hideo Nojo - 6:49:37
6. Taku Fujiwara - 6:51:27
7. Ryotaro Kamoshida - 6:54:00
8. Chiharu Kuzukubo - 6:56:27
9. Akihiro Mizushima - 7:09:23
10. Shinya Dobashi - 7:10:47

Women's 100 km
1. Mikiko Ota - 7:32:21
2. Akiko Maruichi - 7:39:04
3. Miho Nakata - 7:51:10
4. Kaoru Ono - 7:59:00
5. Mai Fujisawa - 8:03:26
6. Yurina Kawasaki - 8:03:58
7. Saki Shimada - 8:05:26
8. Sakiko Matsumoto - 8:11:55
9. Yuka Tomitaka - 8:13:38
10. Mariko Yugeta - 8:24:02

Men's 50 km
1. Kanata Mizote - 3:17:28
2. Taichi Soda - 3:22:48
3. Kazuki Matsushita - 3:29:01

Women's 50 km
1. Mikiko Matsuda - 4:11:54
2. Ayaka Mori - 4:14:53
3. Kaori Umeshita - 4:34:11

© 2025 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

CHN and JPN National Records Go Down - Weekend Track Update

There weren't any Japanese athletes in action at the Rabat Diamond League meet Sunday, but 2 lower-tier domestic meets produced new national records. At the Nittai University Time Trials meet in Yokohama, Samuel Kibathi (Toyota) led the top 5 in the men's 10000 m under 28 minutes in 27:39.97. In 3rd, China's Wenjie Wang took just over a second off his own NR from the same meet last year, setting a new record of 27:47.53. His teammate Haoran Tang was 6th in a 28:27.44 PB, with the top Japanese time in the race being a 28:33.39 for 8th from Jin Yuasa (Toyota). Amazingly, Wang and Tang were back the next day on day 2 of the Nittai meet, Wang running a PB of 13:35.58 for 4th in the A-heat and Tang winning the B-heat in a PB of 13:38.80. Isaac Ndiema took the A-heat in 13:26.49, with the fastest Japanese time going to Yuhei Urano (Fujitsu) with a 13:35.94 for 5th behind Wang. Other Nittai highlights: Deborah Chemutai (Univ. Ent.) won a photo finish against Yua Nagamori ...
1 comment
Read more

Australian YouTuber Handed Lifetime Ban by Ageo City Half Marathon After Running 1:06 with Another Runner's Bib (updated)

After discussion with their race's chief JAAF referee, on Nov. 27 the organizers of the Ageo City Half Marathon handed down a lifetime ban from their event against 36-year-old Australian Matt Inglis Fox  for running the Nov. 15 race wearing the bib number of another JAAF-registered runner. The incident came to light after Fox posted on his personal Instagram account that he had run a PB of 1:06:33 and finished 203rd in Ageo with a 10 km split of 31:03, along with photos and video of himself in the race wearing a bib number beginning with 11. Fox did not appear in the results by name or in that time or place, the closest match being a 1:06:54 gross, 1:06:50 net finish time with a 31:21 10 km split for 18th place in the JAAF-registered division and 209th overall by bib number 1129, registered to a non-Japanese Tokyo-resident club runner. The club runner, Harrisson Uk , readily confirmed that he had given his bib to Fox, saying, "I gave my number to Matt. It wasn't me."...
82 comments
Read more

Ngetich Breaks CR, Murayama and Sasaki Make U.S. Debut at New York Mini 10k

WR holder Agnes Ngetich  soloed a fast one at the 54th edition of the Mastercard New York Mini 10k, leading inside the first mile and pulling away the rest of the race to run a 30:07 CR for the win, the fastest time ever on U.S. soil albeit on a slightly net downhill course. On a warm day that saw over 10,000 women finish  Tsigie Gebreselama  was on her own most of the way too, a distant 2nd in 30:53 and 17 seconds up on past champ Hellen Obiri . Further back, 2026 World University Cross Country bronze medalist Amisa Murayama  and 2025 Morinomiyako Ekiden 3rd leg CR breaker Nazuki Sasaki  from 2025 National University Women's Ekiden runner-up Tohoku Fukushi University  made their U.S. debuts. Murayama was targeting the fastest-ever Japanese time at the Mini, 32:37, but struggled on the hills just before 5 km and late in the race, fading to finish 23rd in 34:08. Sasaki, recovering from a stress reaction in her upper back a few months ago, ran a conservative ...
Post a Comment
Read more