Rui Aoki and Shunsuke Kuwata Making U.S. Debut at United Airlines NYC Half

When the National University Half Marathon was canceled in 2011 after the massive earthquake and tsunami struck northeastern Japan 2 days before the race, JRN talked to the New York Road Runners about bringing 2 collegiate runners to the United Airlines NYC Half Marathon the next weekend as a show of support. It wasn't possible to pull it together in the immediate aftermath of the disasters, but a year later we brought 2 young 2nd-years from Hakone Ekiden CR breaker Toyo University, Kento Otsu and Yuta Shitara, who had been the top 2 Japanese collegiate finishers at the Ageo City Half Marathon in November before Hakone.

Shitara ran 1:01:48, at the time the fastest-ever by a Japanese man on U.S. soil, with Otsu running a solid 1:03:15. Thanks to that great start the Ageo-NYC partnership became a regular thing, and except for the pandemic it's continued every year since, expanding this year to June's New York Mini 10 km when 2 runners from Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden runner-up Tohoku Fukushi University, Nazuki Sasaki and Amisa Murayama, will race for the first time.

A Japanese athlete hasn't held the CR in Ageo since Ethiopian Gebretsadik Bekele ran 1:01:26 to better Hideaki Date's 1:02:08 back in 2006. But at last November's race Rui Aoki from Izumo Ekiden winner Koku Gakuin University and Shunsuke Kuwata from National University Ekiden champ Komazawa University pushed each other the whole way, the 4th-year Aoki going 2 seconds under the CR in 1:00:45 for the win and the 2nd-year Kuwata just missing in 1:00:48 to score invitations to NYC. Both were PBs, but at Hakone in January they surpassed those marks, Aoki running the equivalent of a 59:54 half marathon to take the First Stage CR and Kuwata running the equivalent of 1:00:35 on the Second Stage.

Both Aoki and Kuwata skipped February's Marugame Half to focus 100% on NYC. Aoki, a native of Gunma, graduates next week, and in a deep field of sub-60 half marathoners he's hoping to prove that Hakone time wasn't a fluke. From Aichi, Kuwata did a lot of his training for NYC on rolling hills in Japan's southern islands and is focused on trying to stay with the debuting Grant Fisher.

24 Japanese collegiate men have run the United Airlines NYC Half over the years, 9 of them from Komazawa, with Komazawa's Kenta Murayama coming back in 2017 as a corporate league runner with the Asahi Kasei team to run the best-ever Japanese placing and time in NYC, 1:00:57 for 5th on the old faster version of the NYC course. Shitara's 1:01:48 on the old course remains the fastest-ever collegiate time, with Komazawa's Kei Katanishi the fastest on the tougher new course at 1:03:05 for 7th in 2018, the best-ever collegiate placing on either course. With 8 men in the field having broken 60 minutes not including Aoki it'll take an A-list performance to beat Katanishi's placing, but it'll be a surprise if his time survives these 2 next-generation talents.

United Airlines NYC Half Men's Field Highlights

New York, U.S.A., 15 March 2026

times listed are athletes' best within last 3 years except where noted

Abel Kipchumba (Kenya) - 59:09

Adriaan Wildschutt (South Africa) - 59:13

Daniel Ebenyo (Kenya) - 59:14

Patrick Kiprop (Kenya) - 59:14

Mohammed El Youssfi (Morocco) - 59:21

Alex Maier (U.S.A.) - 59:23

Ryan Ford (U.S.A.) - 59:47

Rory Linkletter (Canada) - 59:49

Patrick Dever (Great Britain) - 1:00:11

Sondre Moen (Norway) - 1:00:11

Zouhair Talbi (U.S.A.) - 1:00:41

Rui Aoki (Japan/Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 1:00:45

Shunsuke Kuwata (Japan/Komazawa) - 1:00:48

Alex Masai (Kenya) - 1:00:51

Jack Rowe (Great Britain) - 1:00:53

Joe Klecker (U.S.A.) - 1:01:06

Peter Lynch (Ireland) - 1:01:15

Camren Todd (U.S.A.) - 1:01:23

Hendrik Pfeiffer (Germany) - 1:01:28

Tummy Tsegay (Eritrea) - 1:01:50

Galen Rupp (U.S.A.) - 1:02:01

Jacob Thomson (U.S.A.) - 1:02:26

Joel Reichow (U.S.A.) - 1:02:30

Max Turek (Canada) - 1:02:45

Haftu Knight (U.S.A.) - 1:02:47

Matt Leach (Great Britain) - 1:03:05

Nick Hauger (U.S.A.) - 1:03:06

Kieran Tuntivate (Thailand) - 1:03:19

Grant Fisher (U.S.A.) - debut

Gulveer Singh (India) - debut

Khishigsaikhan and Kuira Break Ageo City Half Marathon CRs (updated)

Stellar conditions and a solid fields meant times were going to be fast at the Ageo City Half Marathon , and in both the women's and men's races the front end took full advantage of the day. In the midst of the super-deep men's field Khishigsaikhan Galbadrakh , the top Mongolian in this summer's Budapest World Championships marathon and in last month's Hangzhou Asian Games marathon, ran steady and strong, splitting 33:29 at 10 km, 1:10:38 pace, before pushing the 2nd half. Khishigsaikhan crossed the finish line 1:10:32, 1:22 under the old course record, 3:35 ahead of 2nd-place Kana Kobayashi , and a massive 4:16 off the Mongolian women's national record. Khishigsaikhan is currently training in Japan and ran Ageo in prep for next month's Taipei City Marathon, where she was 3rd last year. The men's race went out hard, with Kenyan Brian Kipyegon (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.), NR holder Yusuke Ogura (Yakult) and the ambitious Rei Matsunaga (Hosei) leading the ...

A Few Words on Chicago

by Brett Larner photos by Dr. Helmut Winter Chicago comes at a tough time for Japan's corporate leagues, just before the start of the fall ekiden season's regional qualifiers. Although just about every team has more than enough people to fill their lineups for these relatively minor events, head coaches will usually not let their better athletes do an October marathon, whether because of the limited recovery time in the event that they decide a big gun has to run in a qualifier, or because it would give them the hassle of explaining to the parent corporation why a star is off doing his or her own thing instead of being there for the team. As a result you typically only see Japanese runners at Chicago when they are looking to drop something big, as with Yukiko Akaba (Team Hokuren) and Yoshinori Oda (Team Toyota) this year, or, like the block of Japanese men at 2:12~2:13 , as part of a corporate federation junket for promising third-tier men to get the exp...

Tanaka and Hashioka Win Gold - World U20 Championships Day Two Japanese Results

Working together to execute an aggressive frontrunning team strategy born from failure two years ago in Bydgoszcz , 2018 Asian U20 3000 m gold medalist Nozomi Tanaka and 2018 Asian Junior Cross Country gold medalist Yuna Wada opened a massive lead over the African Junior Cross Country medalist Ethiopian duo of Meselu Berhe and Tsige Gebreselama in the early going of the Tampere World U20 Championships women's 3000 m. Tanaka took the lead from the gun before Wada went out front at 200 m to set a fast pace. Through splits of 3:00 and 3:03 for the first 2000 m, Tanaka kicked hard from 300 m out to close with a 2:51 for Japan's first-ever gold medal in the event, winning in a PB of 8:54.01. Berhe and Gebreselama caught Wada on the back corner but weren't even close to matching Tanaka, taking 2nd and 3rd in PBs just under the 9-minute mark. Wada just held off Kenyan Jenali Jemutai Yego for 4th in 9:00.50, seeming happy in post-race interviews to have helped a teammate ...

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