Buchanan Breaks Australian All-Comers Record at Gold Coast Half

For the second time in a month Australians Andy Buchanan, Isaac Heyne, Sam Clifford, Ryan Gregson and Brett Robinson faced off against a big group of 60-61 minute Japanese men pulled in from a big February half marathon, and for the 2nd year in a row Buchanan outkicked them all for the win at the China Airlines Gold Coast Half Marathon.

Robinson, 3rd at last month's Launceston Half Marathon, got things moving with a fast start that put the race on pace to go just over 60 minutes, well under Pat Carroll's 1:01:11 Australian all-comers record that Launceston winner Teruki Shimada missed by just 1 second. Yuma Nishizawa, 1:00:29 at February's National Corporate Half Marathon where most of the Japanese men in the field ran, took over to keep it moving, then handed over to Launceston runner-up Isaac Heyne. Heyne did most of the work the rest of the way, the pace gradually slowing and incrementing over Carroll's record, until a move from 2:07 marathoner Naoya Sakuda around 17 km broke things up.

Only Heyne and 2:05 marathoner Kenya Sonota went with him, with Buchanan, 1:00:28 at Marugame in February, lagging a few seconds back. But Buchanan spent the next few km reeling them back in, and went they went wide on a curve to the right just before 20 km he took the inside course to go past them all into the lead. It was pretty cool to hear the crowd reaction in the stands at the finish when he did it, and the roars were even louder when he held off Sonota and Sakuda to come to the finish line 1st in 1:01:08, 3 seconds under Carroll's record. Sonota made it under too with a 1:01:10 PB, Sakuda tying it in a 1:01:11 PB and Heyne a short way back in 4th in 1:01:18. "London and Launceston didn't go as well as I had hoped," Buchanan told JRN, "It feels good to feel like things are back on track now."

Launceston winner Jessica Stenson took the women's race out with top-seeded Leanne Pompeani and #3-ranked Yuri Mitsune in tow. But like Robinson Stenson faded from the lead, leaving Pompeani to more or less solo a steady run the rest of the way to win in 1:09:14. "I had an injury right before Launceston and had to pull out, so it was great to pull it back together and win here," she told JRN post-race. 3rd in Launceston, Caitlin Adams bettered the PB she had set there with a 1:10:26 best for 2nd, with veteran Madoka Nakano pulling out a PB of her own for 3rd in 1:10:40.

China Airlines Gold Coast Half Marathon

Top Results

Gold Coast, Australia, 5 July 2025

complete results

Men

1. Andy Buchanan (Australia) - 1:01:08 - ACR

2. Kenya Sonota (Japan/JR Higashi Nihon) - 1:01:10 - PB

3. Naoya Sakuda (Japan/JR Higashi Nihon) - 1:01:11 - PB

4. Isaac Heyne (Australia) - 1:01:18

5. Sam Clifford (Australia) - 1:01:49 - PB

6. Yuma Nishizawa (Japan/Toyota Boshoku) - 1:02:04

7. Kotaro Tahara (Japan/Chuo Univ.) - 1:02:06 - PB

8. James Hansen (Australia) - 1:02:19 - PB

9. Oli Chignell (New Zealand) - 1:02:34 - PB

10. Ryan Gregson (Australia) - 1:03:14

Women

1. Leanne Pompeani (Australia) - 1:09:14

2. Caitlin Adams (Australia) - 1:10:26 - PB

3. Madoka Nakano (Japan/Iwatani Sangyo) - 1:10:40 - PB

4. Wakana Itsuki (Japan/Kyudenko) - 1:11:07

5. Tara Palm (Australia) - 1:12:08

6. Tiana Cetta (Australia) - 1:13:22 - PB

7. Yuri Mitsune (Japan/Hitachi) - 1:13:28

8. Aiwa Sakaguchi (Japan/Bears) - 1:13:41

9. Sarah Klein (Australia) - 1:14:07

10. Danette Sheehan (Canada) - 1:14:16 - debut

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 ...

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."...

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 ...

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