Skip to main content

Kajitani Wins National University Men's Half Marathon, Mwaka Takes Tamana

Sunday morning featured two big half marathons in Tokyo and Kyushu, both impacted by an unseasonal heat wave that swept the country over the weekend. At the National University Men's Half Marathon in Tokyo's Showa Kinen Park, Ryuya Kajitani (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) timed a break perfectly to win his first national title in 1:03:20. Hanging back in a secondary pack as rivals Takeshi Nishida (Tokai Univ.) and Shogo Ise (Komazawa Univ.) duked it out up front through most of the race, Kajitani went to the front with 5 km to go. Ise tried to match him but fell behind and ended up 2nd in 1:03:31, Nishida another 5 seconds back in 1:03:36 for 3rd. Four-time Hakone champ Aoyama Gakuin placed three runners in the top ten without running any of its A-list men, a sign that depth was down overall from some of the record-breaking mass finishes in recent years.


Far to the south, Japan-based Kenyan Patrick Muendo Mwaka (Aisan Kogyo) soloed a 1:02:52 win at the Kanaguri Hai Tamana Half Marathon near Kumamoto. Out alone from the early phase, Mwaka's main competition came from Toyo University grad Yuma Hattori (Toyota) who closed late in the race but couldn't catch Mwaka up. Hattori took 2nd in 1:03:06, nearly caught in a sprint finish by Shin Kimura (Honda), a training partner of new marathon NR holder Yuta Shitara. Marathoner Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) struggled in the heat and finished 12th in 1:04:49.


National University Men's Half Marathon

Showa Kinen Park, Tachikawa, Tokyo, 3/4/18
click here for complete results

1. Ryuya Kajitani (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:03:20
2. Shogo Ise (Komazawa Univ.) - 1:03:31
3. Takeshi Nishida (Tokai Univ.) - 1:03:36
4. Kazuki Noda (Juntendo Univ.) - 1:03:43
5. Kosuke Yamada (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:03:45
6. Yusuke Baba (Takushoku Univ.) - 1:03:45
7. Ryuichi Hashimoto (Juntendo Univ.) - 1:03:46
8. Atsuto Shimanuki (Teikyo Univ.) - 1:03:53
9. Yohei Komatsu (Tokai Univ.) - 1:04:05
10. Yuya Yoshida (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:04:09

Kanaguri Hai Tamana Half Marathon

Tamana, Kumamoto, 3/4/18
click here for complete results

1. Patrick Muendo Mwaka (Kenya/Aisan Kogyo) - 1:02:52
2. Yuma Hattori (Toyota) - 1:03:06
3. Shin Kimura (Honda) - 1:03:07
4. Yuki Oshikawa (Toyota Kyushu) - 1:03:19
5. Kento Otsu (Toyota Kyushu) - 1:03:20
6. Hiroshi Ichida (Asahi Kasei) - 1:03:21
7. Ryo Saito (Asahi Kasei0 - 1:04:07
8. Hayato Sonoda (Kurosaki Harima) - 1:04:08
9. Daiki Kubota (Yasukawa Denki) - 1:04:39
10. Takayuki Hamaguchi (Kyudenko) - 1:04:42
11. Ryosuke Maki (Subaru) - 1:04:45
12. Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) - 1:04:49

text, photo and video © 2018 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Nagoya Women's Marathon Elite Field

The Mar. 9 Nagoya Women's Marathon is the last big elite marathon on Japan's winter schedule, this year with a trio of sub-2:20 runners up front, Sheila Chepkirui , Aga Ruti and Hitomi Niiya . It being a home soil World Championships selection cycle there's decent depth behind them, and 2:21 runner Rika Kaseda looks especially on her game right now with a 1:07:53 PB at the Marugame Half earlier this month. Australian Isobel Batt-Doyle is also trending in the right direction, having run 2:22:59 in her last go in Valencia in December. The debut list is pretty interesting, with women-only half marathon NR holder Rino Goshima , 1:08:03, making her debut, as are 1:09:01 Australian Leanne Pompeani and track runner Yuna Wada . 2018 World Half Marathon silver medalist Pauline Kamulu isn't technically debuting, having run 2:31:04 at last summer's hot and humid Hokkaido Marathon, but with a 1:07:33 in Marugame ahead of Kaseda she has a lot of potential to go 10 minutes ...

Nishimura Breaks Kumanichi 30 km CR, Tsurukawa Over Yonemitsu in Men's Race

  Maybe the next big thing coming down the Tenmaya corporate pipeline, Mizuki Nishimura made good on her pre-race plan for the Kumanichi 30 km to get as close as she could to her Tenmaya teammate Honami Maeda 's 1:38:35 NR. Out solo almost on track to break 1:40 in excellent conditions, Nishimura started to slow in the middle third of the race but had enough time and energy to work with to still take almost 2 minutes off the old pre-super shoe era CR, winning easily in 1:41:42. 2nd and 3rd-placers Mio Kuroda and Khishigsaikhan Galbadrakh were together through 20 km before Galbadrakh faded, Kuroda taking 2nd in 1:44:49 and Galbadrakh 3rd in 1:45:44 in a tuneup for next month's Tokyo Marathon. 天満屋の西村美月選手、熊日30キロで1:41:42大会新記録。 Mizuki Nishimura wins Kumanichi 30k in 1:41:42 CR. pic.twitter.com/rAru1WywEm — Japan Running News (@JRNHeadlines) February 16, 2025 The men's race started conservatively, keeping a large group of 11 together until 20 km. sub-61 half marathoner Dai...

Tokyo Marathon Elite Field

The Tokyo Marathon elite field is out, and it's a pretty good one. On the women's side are the last 3 winners, Sutume Asefa Kebede , Rosemary Wanjiru and Brigid Kosgei , 2022 world champion Gotytom Gebreslase , last year's Dubai winner Tigist Ketema and another 6 women in the 2:17-2:19 range. Top Japanese draw Ai Hosoda hopes to get into the sub-2:20 club after a 2:20:31 PB in Berlin last fall. The men's field has 2024 CR breaker Benson Kipruto and 3rd-placer Vincent Ngetich , 2:02:38 man Derese Geleta , Joshua Cheptegei taking another stab at the distance, and another 8 at the 2:03-2:04 level. 2:05-class Japanese men Yohei Ikeda , Ichitaka Yamashita and Kenya Sonota and Paris Olympics 6th-placer Akira Akasaki will be gunning for the 2:04:56 NR, and there are interesting debuts from 10-mile world best holder Benard Koech and Hakone Ekiden star Aoi Ota from 2024-2025 champ Aoyama Gakuin University . The wheelchair race includes WR holder Catherine Debrunner , ...