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Japanese World Half Marathon Championships Roster

by Brett Larner

Japan is sending one of its better teams in recent World Half Marathon Championships history to Saturday's race in Cardiff.  20-year-old Keijiro Mogi, a training partner of 10000 m national record holder Kota Murayama at the Asahi Kasei corporate team, leads the men's roster with a 1:00:54 best.  Hakone Ekiden powerhouse Komazawa University features heavily, with current Komazawa runners Keisuke Nakatani and Naoki Kudo and 2015 graduate Shogo Nakamura (Team Fujitsu) making up the core of the men's team. 

The women's team includes three sub-70 runners led by Miho Shimizu (Team Hokuren) with support from Yuka Ando (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) and Mirai Waku (Team Univ. Ent.).  With the exception of Mizuki Matsuda (Team Daihatsu), all will be making their international road debuts.

World Half Marathon Championships
Cardiff, U.K., 3/26/16 
click here for timetable and complete rosters

Men
Keijiro Mogi (Asahi Kasei) - 1:00:54 (Marugame Half 2016)
Keisuke Nakatani (Komazawa Univ.) - 1:01:21 (Marugame Half 2016)
Naoki Kudo (Komazawa Univ.) - 1:01:25 (Marugame Half 2016)
Shogo Nakamura (Fujitsu) - 1:01:53 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2016)
Minato Oishi (Toyota) - 1:02:06 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2013)

Women
Miho Shimizu (Hokuren) - 1:09:41 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2016)
Yuka Ando (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 1:09:51 (Sanyo Ladies Half 2015)
Mirai Waku (Universal Entertainment) - 1:09:56 (Sanyo Ladies Half 2015)
Hisami Ishii (Yamada Denki) - 1:10:09 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2016)
Mizuki Matsuda (Daihatsu) - 1:10:25 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2016)

© 2016 Brett Larner
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