japan running news

When the NYRR changed the United Airlines NYC Half course back in 2018 to more or less its current Boston-style hilly one-way version it seemed like it had been repurposed from a fast course to something more tactical. That went out the window last year with new course records of 59:09 and 1:07:04 from Abel Kipchumba and Sharon Lokedi , and this year's results backed that up. Hellen Obiri ground Lokedi down and took over 30 seconds off her CR, winning in 1:06:33 with Lokedi only 6 seconds off what she ran in 2025 but a distant 2nd in 1:07:10. British road 10 km NR holder Megan Keith rolled up hard late in the race to finish 3rd in 1:07:13 less than 10 seconds off old CR too. The men's race saw a big group of 18 attack the hilly first half on sub-59 pace, American Joe Klecker leading through 5 km in 13:57 and Houston Marathon winner Zouhair Talbi through 10 km in 27:56. Right up in it was Shunsuke Kuwata , a 20-year-old 2nd-year at 2025 National University Ekiden champ Koma...

With both American and Japanese university students well into their fall seasons, two major events took place Saturday. Near Madison, Wisconsin, the D1 Pre-Nationals cross-country meet and in Tachikawa, Tokyo the Hakone Ekiden Qualifier half marathon. At Pre-Nats men ran 8 km on a looping XC course with a maximum elevation difference of around 30 m. The field was split into two main races, Cardinal and White, with a total of 69 teams, and an additional Grey race handling some overflow. Teams ran up to seven members, with the top five scoring on cumulative placing. A total of 474 athletes finished the two main races, with five DNF. At the Hakone Ekiden Qualifier , known as the Yosenkai, the distance was lengthened from 20 km to the half marathon distance this year, on a paved net-uphill course with a maximum elevation difference of about 20 m, most of that in the hilly final 8 km through Showa Kinen Park. 39 second-tier teams fielded up to twelve runners, with the top ten scoring ...