Shitara Returns to Ageo - Weekend Preview

It's yet another busy mid-ekiden season weekend, but there's no question what its biggest race is. In a country packed with all of the world's deepest half marathons the Ageo City Half Marathon is the deepest of them all, universities targeting the legendary Hakone Ekiden transforming what would otherwise be an ordinary country town road race into something really special as each team's runner try to convince their coaches they belong on the Hakone A-squad.

Since 2011 the New York Road Runners have thrown fuel on the fire by inviting the top two Japanese collegiate finishers to March's United Airlines NYC Half in a program conceived and coordinated by JRN. The first runner to earn an invite was Toyo University second-year Yuta Shitara, who went over and ran what was then the fastest time ever by a Japanese man on U.S. soil, 1:01:48, in his international road racing debut. Now the half marathon national record holder and a corporate leaguer for the Honda team, Shitara returns to Ageo this year for the first time since then to tune up for next month's Fukuoka International Marathon.

It goes without saying he's the favorite, his main competition being former Hakone Ekiden uphill darling Daichi Kamino (New Balance) and whichever of the university men decide they want to really go for it. Last year's runner-up Patrick Mathenge Wambui (Nihon Univ.), two of Tokai University's top men in Hayato Seki and Shota Onizuka, super-frosh Yuhi Nakaya (Waseda Univ.) and Shogo Ise (Komazawa Univ.), one of the two runners to earn the invite to the last NYC Half, highlight the university field entries.

Also in the field are the recently-struggling 2018 Boston Marathon champ Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) and 2017 London World Championships marathoner David Nilsson of Sweden. JRN will be on-site to cover the race live and present the two NYC trip winners with their invitations.

The other main road race action is the Kobe Marathon, now an IAAF bronze label race featuring a decently competitive international field detailed here. Corporate men's qualification for the New Year Ekiden national championships also wraps up with the combined Chubu and Hokuriku Region Corporate Ekiden in Aichi. Notable names there include Taku Fujimoto (Toyota), 2:07:57 last month at the Chicago Marathon, and Ageo-NYC alum Yusuke Nishiyama (Toyota).

Kansai Region university men will be racing their season-ending championship ekiden Saturday at the Tango University Ekiden with live coverage on the official website. A number of university men and women will be spending the weekend abroad at the Seven Hills Loop in the Netherlands. With never a moment to rest, many corporate runners from regions other than the two above will be in Hiroshima for the Chugoku Corporate Time Trials track meet Saturday.

© 2018 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Chepkirui Wins Nagoya Women's Marathon

Heavy-duty favorite Sheila Chepkirui took the win at Sunday's Nagoya Women's Marathon , pulling away after 30 km to cruise in for 1st in 2:20:40. Erratic pacing early saw the first and second groups only seconds apart for much of the first half of the race, the top group slower than planned and the 2nd group a bit ahead of schedule. At halfway in 1:10:37 the front group included Chepkirui, #2-ranked Ruti Aga and last year's runner-up Eunice Chumba , and Japanese contingent Sayaka Sato , Rika Kaseda , Natsuki Omori and Mao Uesugi . Omori was the first to drop, then Uesugi, then Aga, who ultimately dropped out before 30 km. When the pacers stopped at 30 km Chepkirui made a move that dropped Kaseda and strung out Chumba and Sato behind her, but all four came back together once before another surge put Kaseda away for good. As Chepkirui inched away Sato and Chumba passed each other repeatedly, and Chumba could only watch as the top Japanese runner got away from her again thi...

Nagoya Women's Marathon Preview

The Nagoya Women's Marathon , the world's largest women-only marathon and the last race in the selection cycle for September's Tokyo World Championships, happens Sunday. Weather conditions are looking better than what they had in Tokyo and Osaka the last two weekends, 7˚ at the start and rising to 12˚ with sunny skies. The wind looks a bit stronger than ideal, but it could be worse. Fuji TV has the live broadcast starting at 9:00 a.m. Sunday local time, and if you've got a VPN you should be able to watch the TVer streaming . One option for a leaderboard is here , and another here . We'll have some coverage on @JRNLive . Just like last time around there are three Ethiopian and Kenyan-born athletes at the top list, this time it being sub-2:20 women Sheila Chepkirui , winner in NYC last year, and Ruti Aga , winner in Xiamen in January, and last year's Nagoya runner-up Eunice Chebichii Chumba . But last year Yuka Ando still pulled off the win, so there's a c...

Who's Running Tokyo Worlds?

The Japanese marathon teams will be the most prestigious ones to be on for September's Tokyo World Championships, and with Sunday's Nagoya Women's Marathon the window for Japanese athletes to get onto the JAAF's shortlist closed. Who's on it? The final decision won't be made until Mar. 26, but let's look through the selection criteria and see who's guaranteed, who's pretty likely, and who has a chance. 1. Marathon medalists at the Paris Olympics - There weren't any, so nobody makes the team this way. Akira Akasaki (Kyudenko) and Yuka Suzuki (Daiichi Seimei) were the top placers, both of them running PBs in the Olympics to finish 6th. You'd think that would count for something a year later, but you'd think wrong. 2. JMC Series IV Champions - The top point scorers in the Japan Marathon Championship Series IV, which ran from April, 2023 to March, 2025, earn places on the marathon teams along with cash prizes. For women that's Yuka ...

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