by Brett Larner
While many of the top Hakone Ekiden stars were lining up in Shikoku at the Marugame Half, a half dozen of the top Hakone teams had their first and second-years just south of Tokyo for the 36th running of the Kanagawa Half Marathon. A large pack ran at course record pace through 15 km before Hakone 5th-placer Aoyama Gakuin University's star first-year Tadashi Isshiki took off. Relative unknowns Daisuke Nakamura (Kokushikan Univ.) and Takuya Maeda (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) went after him, but over the last 3 km Isshiki built a 20-second lead that never cracked. On track for Kanagawa's first sub-63 clocking, just after the final left turn Isshiki followed a course marshall's flag directing the lead police motorcycle and briefly ran off the course. He quickly realized the error and recovered but lost precious seconds and had to be content with a 1:03:01 course record in his half marathon debut.
Nakamura outran Maeda for 2nd, also clearing the course record i…
While many of the top Hakone Ekiden stars were lining up in Shikoku at the Marugame Half, a half dozen of the top Hakone teams had their first and second-years just south of Tokyo for the 36th running of the Kanagawa Half Marathon. A large pack ran at course record pace through 15 km before Hakone 5th-placer Aoyama Gakuin University's star first-year Tadashi Isshiki took off. Relative unknowns Daisuke Nakamura (Kokushikan Univ.) and Takuya Maeda (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) went after him, but over the last 3 km Isshiki built a 20-second lead that never cracked. On track for Kanagawa's first sub-63 clocking, just after the final left turn Isshiki followed a course marshall's flag directing the lead police motorcycle and briefly ran off the course. He quickly realized the error and recovered but lost precious seconds and had to be content with a 1:03:01 course record in his half marathon debut.
Nakamura outran Maeda for 2nd, also clearing the course record i…