Ichiyama and Kirui Lead Marugame Half Elite Field

Last year's winners Betsy Saina and Edward Waweru, both of Kenya, return to the Feb. 3 Kagawa Marugame International Half Marathon, but in both cases they have tough competition. Ranked #1 in the women's race is Mao Ichiyama (Wacoal) with a 1:09:14, 3 seconds better than Saina's winning time last year. 3 seconds slower is Sinead Diver (Australia) with a 1:09:20 on home ground last year. Sara Hall (U.S.A.) isn't far behind, and with track star Ayuko Suzuki (Japan Post) making her debut off a brilliant run at last weekend's National Women's Ekiden it should be a solid pack up front.

In the men's race, 2017 marathon world champion Geoffrey Kirui (Kenya) leads the way, his best recent time a 1:00:04 in New Delhi two years ago. Only 2 seconds behind is Shadrack Kiplagat (Kenya), with Evans Cheruiyot (Kenya) and the Japan-based Waweru just over 20 seconds back. Waweru's condition is a question mark after an injury at the New Year Ekiden. Kenta Murayama (Asahi Kasei) leads the home crew, with an interesting duo from Chuo University, Ken Nakayama and Kensuke Horio, hoping to improve on their sub-62 bests. Jack Rayner (Australia) is another interesting addition, while Germany's Richard Ringer will be making his debut off a 27:36.52 track 10000 m best.

73rd Kagawa Marugame International Half Marathon

Elite Field Highlights
Kagawa, Marugame, 2/3/19
comp;lete elite field listing: part A, part B
times listed are best within last 3 years except where noted

Women
Mao Ichiyama (Japan/Wacoal) - 1:09:14 (Sanyo 2017)
Betsy Saina (Kenya) - 1:09:17 (Marugame 2018)
Sinead Diver (Australia) - 1:09:20 (Maroochydore 2018)
Sara Hall (U.S.A.) - 1:09:27 (Gold Coast 2018)
Rachel Cliff (Canada) - 1:10:08 (The Woodlands 2018)
Sara Dossena (Italy) - 1:10:10 (Udine 2018)
Carlotte Purdue (Great Britain) - 1:10:29 (London 2018)
Keiko Nogami (Japan/Juhachi Ginko) - 1:11:16 (Sanyo 2017)
Eri Hayakawa (Japan/J-Beat) - 1:11:43 (Marugame 2017)
Shiori Morita (Japan/Panasonic) - 1:12:23 (Sendai 2018)
Mei Matsuyama (Japan/Noritz) - 1:12:58 (Marugame 2016)
Ayuko Suzuki (Japan/Japan Post) - debut - 31:18.16 (Stanford 10000 m 2016)

Men
Geoffrey Kirui (Kenya) - 1:00:04 (New Delhi 2017)
Shadrack Kiplagat (Kenya) - 1:00:06 (Prague 2018)
Evans Cheruiyot (Kenya) - 1:00:26 (Istanbul 2018)
Edward Waweru (Kenya/NTN) - 1:00:31 (Marugame 2018)
Kenta Murayama (Japan/Asahi Kasei) - 1:00:50 (New York 2017)
Jack Rayner (Australia) - 1:01:01 (Cardiff 2018)
Vincent Laimoi (Kenya/Kokushikan Univ.) - 1:01:19 (Ageo 2018)
Simon Kariuki (Kenya/Nihon Yakka Univ.) - 1:01:25 (Ageo 2017)
Ken Nakayama (Japan/Chuo Univ.) - 1:01:32 (Ageo 2018)
Keita Shitara (Japan/Hitachi Butsuryu) - 1:01:54 (Marugame 2016)
Kensuke Horio (Japan/Chuo Univ.) - 1:01:57 (Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai 2018)
Richard Ringer (Germany) - debut - 27:36.52 (London 10000 m 2018)

© 2019 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Hakone Champ AGU Hits 50 km a Day in Spring Break Training Camp

Having scored its 3rd-straight Hakone Ekiden win this past January, Aoyama Gakuin University spent the Golden Week spring holidays training on the Myoko Plateau in Niigata from May 2-6. Along with the champion men's ekiden team, the first 2 members of AGU's new women's long distance team Nodoka Ashida and Kairi Ikeno , and AGU alumni and 2026 New Year Ekiden champion GMO team members Yuya Yoshida and Asahi Kuroda also took part in the training camp. Depending on the day's training schedule, mileage at the camp was over 50 km a day. AGU men's captain Kaito Nakamura confidently said, "This Golden Week training camp is where we lay the foundations for our 4th-straight Hakone title." A lot of people spend Golden Week on vacation, but the AGU ekiden team spent their time working hard on Myoko's rolling land amid the sprouting leaves of spring. On the 2nd day of the camp, May 3, team members woke up at 5:00 a.m. to do their warmup. The team assembled a...

Everything You Need to Know About the 2026 Hakone Ekiden

The Hakone Ekiden is the world's biggest road race, 2 days of road relay action with Japan's 20 best university teams racing 10 half marathon-scale legs from central Tokyo to the mountains east of Mount Fuji and back. The level just keeps going higher and higher , hitting the point this year where there are teams with 10-runner averages of 13:33.10 for 5000 m, 27:55.98 for 10000 m, and 1:01:20 for the half marathon. It's never been better, and with great weather in the forecast it's safe to say this could be one of the best races in Hakone's 102-year history, especially on Day One. If you've seen it then you know NTV's live broadcast is the best sports broadcast in the world, with the pre-race show kicking off at 7:00 a.m. Japan time on the 2nd and 3rd and the race starting at 8:00 a.m. sharp. If you've got a VPN you should be able to watch it on TVer starting at 7:50 a.m. on the 2nd , and again at 7:50 a.m. on the 3rd . There's even a 2-hour high...

70th Yamagata-ken Judan Ekiden

The 70th running of the Yamagata-ken Judan Ekiden happened over the start of the Golden Week holidays, a 3-day, 29-leg race covering 306.9 km around the northern prefecture of Yamagata. There used to be a lot more of these races where people from the prefecture run for their hometown teams on a Tour de Whatever prefecture or area it happens to be held in, but Yamagata's is one of the few to have survived this long. And amazingly enough, local broadcaster YBC live streamed the entire thing on Youtube. There aren't many corporate teams in the mostly rural area, so runners from the ND Software corporate team played a heavy role, its 2 best runners Masato Arao and Ryoma Takeuchi winning their stages on Day 2 with Takeuchi doubling to anchor the Kita-Murayama team to an overall 5th-place finish, and Koichi Shoji breaking the 2nd leg CR on Day 1 and winning the 2nd-to-last stage on Day 3 to play a key role in the Yamagata city team taking the overall win in 16:06:51, 3:09/km ...

japan running news

Search This Blog