Inoue Runs Second-Fastest Time Ever at Tamana Half in Tuneup for Boston

While many of the other main contenders for September’s MGC Race, Japan’s new 2020 Olympic trials marathon, were focused on trying to run super fast times at the Tokyo Marathon, 2018 Asian Games gold medalist Hiroto Inoue (MHPS) did his last major tuneup for next month’s Boston Marathon at the 70th edition of Kumamoto’s Kanaguri Hai Tamana Half Marathon.

Throughout the race Inoue went head-to-head with 2018 winner Patrick Muendo Mwaka (Aisan Kogyo) before finally dropping him in the final kilometers. At 1:02:21 Mwaka was more than 30 seconds up on his winning time from last year, but Inoue surged away from him to win in 1:02:12, his best half marathon time in four years and the second-fastest winning time in Tamana’s 70-year history. Only five people had ever broken 63 minutes at Tamana previously, but this year the top eight all did it, 8th-placer Shunsuke Kanbe (Komazawa Univ.) running a PB 1:02:56. Boston-bound Shizuoka Marathon winner Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov’t) was over a minute and a half behind Inoue in 1:03:46 for 11th.

3rd in last month’s National Corporate 10 km Championships, Miku Daido (Iwatani Sangyo) won the women’s 10 km in 33:52 in a photo finish with teammate Nami Aoki and just a step ahead of Minaru Okamoto (Shiseido). Kenyan Victor Kimosop (Fukuoka Daiichi H.S.) won the high school boys’ 10 km in 29:40, with teammates Koki Sato and Hitoshi Yuasa (both Miyazaki Nihon Prep H.S.) 2nd and 3rd in 29:51 and 29:57.

70th Kanaguri Hai Tamana Half Marathon

Tamana, Kumamoto, 3/3/19
complete results

Men’s Half Marathon
1. Hiroto Inoue (MHPS) – 1:02:12
2. Patrick Muendo Mwaka (Aisan Kogyo) – 1:02:21
3. Naoya Takahashi (Yasukawa Denki) – 1:02:42
4. Atsumi Ashiwa (Honda) – 1:02:44
5. Yuki Arimura (Asahi Kasei) – 1:02:44
6. Kento Otsu (Toyota Kyushu) – 1:02:45
7. Yuki Matsumura (Honda) – 1:02:49
8. Shunsuke Kanbe (Komazawa Univ.) – 1:02:56 - PB
9. Shunya Nomura (Yasukawa Denki) – 1:03:23
10. Kiyoshi Koga (Yasukawa Denki) – 1:03:43

Women’s 10 km
1. Miku Daido (Iwatani Sangyo) – 33:52
2. Nanami Aoki (Iwatani Sangyo) – 33:52
3. Minaru Okamoto (Shiseido) – 33:53
4. Shino Hasegawa (Wacoal) – 33:55
5. Wakana Itsuki (Kyudenko) – 34:04

High School Boys’ 10 km
1. Victor Kimosop (Fukuoka Daiichi H.S.) – 29:40
2. Koki Sato (Miyazaki Nihon Prep H.S.) – 29:51
3. Hitoshi Yuasa (Miyazaki Nihon Prep H.S.) – 29:57

© 2019 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

19-Yr-Old Munakata Breaks Miura's U20 NR to Win Ageo City Half Marathon

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Ageo City Half Marathon Preview and Streaming

This weekend's big race is the Ageo City Half Marathon , the next stop on the collegiate men's circuit. Most of the universities bound for the Jan. 2-3 Hakone Ekiden use Ageo to thin down the list of contenders for their final Hakone rosters, and with JRN's development program that sends the first two Japanese collegiate finishers in Ageo to the United Airlines NYC Half every year a lot of coaches put in some of their A-listers too. That gives Ageo legendary depth and fast front-end speed, with a 1:00:47 course record last year from Kenyan corporate leaguer Paul Kuira (JR Higashi Nihon) and the top 26 all clearing 63 minutes. Since a lot of programs just enter everybody on their rosters you never really know who on the entry list is actually going to show up, but if even a quarter of the people at the top end of this year's list run it'll be a great race, even if conditions are looking likely to be a bit warmer than ideal. Chuo Gakuin University 's Reishi Yoshi

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