japan running news

The Aug. 31 Hokkaido Marathon elite fields are out. On the women's side, Japan-based Selly Chepyego Kaptich has a big advantage over the rest of the field in terms of PB, 2:20:03 in Barcelona 2023 vs. nearest competitor Yuri Mitsune , 5th in Hokkaido last year and 2:29:04 in Nagoya this past spring. Last year's 3rd-placer Ayano Ikeuchi is back too, and with Kaena Takeyama and Yukari Nagatomo both right around 2:30-flat it should be a pretty good race for 2nd. On the men's side the top 2 by time, Yugo Kashiwa and Simon Kariuki , are only a second apart with Kashiwa 2:06:28 in Osaka this year and Kariuki 2:06:29 in Tokyo last year. 6 other men on the list have recent times between 2:07 and 2:09, with 2021 Tokyo Olympian Yuma Hattori a notable name among them. Hokkaido doesn't release its complete entry list in advance, so expect to see a lot more people in the lead packs in both races. And if there is the usual hot weather, expect both races to be about more than j...

photos © 2025 Victor Sailer/PhotoRun, all rights reserved It was a bit too cold and windy for really fast times and snow started falling over the last quarter of the race, but that didn't stop the top 4 men at the Osaka Marathon from going under the course record. A 1:02:29 first half kept at least 16 men together with the 2:04:56 Japanese national record in sight, among them NR holder Kengo Suzuki in what he hoped would be a comeback run. By 30 km in 1:28:56 the lead group was down to a dozen, still close to NR pace. At the turnaround point just past 30 km the motorcycle cops leading them too far past the turnaround cone, adding about 15 seconds that ended up burning 2 men worst. And just after that, the big uphill just after that really broke things up. Ethiopian trio Yihunilign Adane , Abdisa Tola and Getaneh Molla broke away after the hill, but with 2:05 in sight debuting sub-61 half marathoner Ryota Kondo and 2:06 man Kyohei Hosoya closed hard. 8 seconds back at 40 km, K...

Sapporo's Hokkaido Marathon is always a key developmental race on the Japanese calendar, giving top-level people experience training for and running a summer marathon, and in some recent years serving as a route to the MGC Race, Japan's Olympic marathon trials. That was the case in the race's return this year after cancelations in 2020 and 2021, with four men and one woman making the cut for the the 2024 Olympics MGC in September next year. The top 3 Japanese men had to clear 2:14 and 4th-6th needed 2:12 or better to make it. Pacers took a lead group of almost 50 through halfway on a steady pace around 2:10:30 in good conditions by summertime Sapporo standards, cool and thinly cloudy. Just past the half mark, debuting college student Luka Musembi (Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) took off, taking his projected finish down to mid-2:09 and gapping the rest of the field. Dominic Nyairo (NTT Nishi Nihon) was the next to make a move, closing to within 10 seconds of Musembi but unable to ...