Nduta and Akidor Win at Sanyo Ladies Road Race

Alongside the National High School Girls Ekiden, the Nittai University Women's Long Distance Time Trials meet and Sanyo Ladies Road Race 10 km and half marathon made it a busy weekend for women's running in Japan.

At Nittai, Momoka Kawaguchi (Uniqlo) was just off her PB in the 5000 m, winning the A-heat in 15:26.59 by almost 20 seconds over teammate Yume Goto. Nokoka Hosaka (SID Group) took the 3000 m A-heat in 9:25.42, leading the top 5 under 9:30.

At Sanyo, a lead group of 4 went through 5 km in 16:09 in the 10 km before Lucy Nduta (Ehime Ginko) threw in a massive surge to win in a negative split 31:49. Janet Nyiva (Panasonic) held steady for 2nd in 32:17, with Mao Uesugi (Tokyo Metro) fading slightly but holding off the fast-closing Hikaru Kitagawa (Universal Entertainment) for 3rd 32:38 to 32:41. Part of the original lead quartet, Daisy Jerop (Josai Kokusai Univ.) blew up big time in the 2nd half, finishing 16th in 33:34.

Margaret Akidor (Comodi Iida) just missed her CR from last year in the half marathon but still pulled off the repeat win, dropping 10 km CR holder Agnes Mwikali (Kyocera) after 15 km to take 1st in 1:07:52. Mwikali was 2nd in 1:08:01, with Tabitha Kamau Njeri (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) and Nanaka Izawa (Starts) both getting under 70 minutes in 1:09:26 and 1:09:36.

26th Nittai University Women's Long Distance Time Trials

Yokohama, Kanagawa, 20 Dec. 2025

complete results

3000 m A-Heat

1. Nokoka Hosaka (SID Group) - 9:25.42

2. Honomi Muramatsu (Tokai Sagami H.S.) - 9:25.79

3. Aiko Minomo (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 9:25.94

4. Mayu Hirata (Wacoal) - 9:26.52

5. Honoka Inoue (Tokai Sagami H.S.) - 9:26.91

6. Moe Kawajiri (GRlab Hyogo) - 9:30.26

7. Ayari Shiozaki (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 9:30.52

8. Momo Okazaki (Chuo Yokohama H.S.) - 9:35.39

9. Rin Kamiyanagi (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 9:35.46

10. Yuna Kamogari (Kinjo Gakuen H.S.) - 9:35.60

5000 m A-Heat

1. Momoka Kawaguchi (Uniqlo) - 15:26.59

2. Yume Goto (Uniqlo) - 15:45.76

3. Rina Kusu (Sekisui Kagaku) - 15:47.79

4. Yuka Sakajiri (Wacoal) - 15:54.67

5. Hikaru Hamano (Chuo Univ.) - 15:54.95

6. Eriko Otsuka (Higo Ginko) - 15:56.76

7. Suzuna Kinoshita (Chuo Univ.) - 15:57.53

8. Ayaka Segi (Meijo Univ.) - 15:57.66

9. Rion Furukawa (Nitori) - 15:57.80

10. Moe Koda (Starts) - 16:00.21

44th Sanyo Ladies Road Race

Okayama, 21 Dec. 2025

complete results

10 km

1. Lucy Nduta (Ehime Ginko) - 31:49

2. Janet Nyiva (Panasonic) - 32:17

3. Mao Uesugi (Tokyo Metro) - 32:38

4. Hikaru Kitagawa (Univ. Ent.) - 32:41

5. Sakiho Tsutsui (Univ. Ent.) - 32:49

6. Ayumi Morita (Tokyo Metro) - 32:49

7. Naomi Muthoni (Univ. Ent.) - 32:53

8. Azusa Sumi (Univ. Ent.) - 32:56

9. Shuho Takahashi (Nitori) - 32:59

10. Aika Murakami (Tokyo Metro) - 32:59

Half Marathon

1. Margaret Akidor (Comodi Iida) - 1:07:52

2. Agnes Mwikali (Kyocera) - 1:08:01

3. Tabitha Njeri Kamau (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 1:09:26

4. Nanaka Izawa (Starts) - 1:09:36

5. Sora Shinozakura (Yokohama T&F Assoc.) - 1:11:02

6. Asa Kobayashi (Noritz) - 1:11:26

7. Madoka Nakano (Iwatani Sangyo) - 1:11:36

8. Hisami Ishii (Sysmex) - 1:11:37

9. Yuki Toyoda (Ehime Ginko) - 1:11:43

10. Rina Shimizu (Noritz) - 1:11:52

Updates on Transfers

April 1 is the start of Japan's new academic and fiscal year, and there's always a wave of transfer announcements to go with it. Some notable ones yesterday: 800 m NR holder Rin Kubo skipped university to go straight to 2023 Queens Ekiden national champion Sekisui Kagaku after her graduation from Higashi Osaka Keiai H.S. Multiple NR holder Nozomi Tanaka rejoined the Toyota Jidoshokki women's team after having left it to pursue a solo pro career as a New Balance athlete. Already on the team for this fall's Nagoya Asian Games in the 10000 m, Ririka Hironaka announced a switch from her longtime home at Japan Post to the Uniqlo women's team. Collegiate marathon record holder Asahi Kuroda joined the 2026 national champion GMO corporate team after graduating from 2026 Hakone Ekiden champ Aoyama Gakuin University last week. Hakone Ekdien First Stage CR holder Rui Aoki joins the Sumitomo Denko corporate team after running his final race for 2025 Izumo Ekiden w...

Chien Breaks TPE NR, Iwata Betters ID-Class WR - Weekend Track Roundup

The last weekend of the academic and fiscal year saw at least 5 meets with good results domestically and abroad. Kicking things off Friday was the Maurie Plant Meet in Melbourne, where Tomohiro Shinno and Naoto Hasegawa took 1st and 3rd in the men's high jump, both of them only clearing 2.18 m along with 2nd-placer Roman Anastasios . 12 other Japanese athletes were in action on the second day of the meet on Saturday, where 3000 mSC NR holder Ryuji Miura ran 3:42.84 for 6th in the men's 1500 m. Nagiya Mori had a better one in the men's 3000 m with a 7:45.40 for 4th. Both Yota Mashiko and Rui Suzuki cleared 8:00 too, Mashiko's 7:53.84 the 2nd-fastest ever by a Japanese-born high schooler. Abigail Fuka Ido and Nagisa Takahashi both placed 3rd in their events, Ido going 23.85 (-0.9) in the women's 200 m and Takahashi clearing 1.82 m in the women's high jump. 8 Japanese men were at The TEN in California to run 10000 m. In the B-heat won by Edward Marks in ...

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."...

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