Suzuki Wins National University Women's Half Marathon, Otsubo and Ando Take Niigata

Yuka Suzuki (Daito Bunka Univ.) won a close pack race to take the 2019 National University Women's Half Marathon title, outkicking Rika Kaseda (Meijo Univ.) by 2 seconds for the win in 1:11:27. With a relatively slow start the lead pack of nearly 20 gradually picked up its pace, splitting faster for every successive 5 km until only Suzuki, Kaseda, Yuka Tagawa (Matsuyama Univ.) and Yukina Ueda (Tsukuba Univ.)were left together at 20 km.

With three spots at stake on the Japanese national team for this summer's World University Games one of them had to lose, and as Suzuki and Kaseda pulled away over the last km the third spot came down to another duel. Tagami proved to have the better finish, taking 3rd in 1:11:35 to Ueda's 1:11:38. Defending World University Games half marathon gold medalist Yuki Munehisa (Tokyo Nogyo Univ.) was a DNF, dropping out after 10 km as the pace increased.

Run as part of the Matsue Ladies Half Marathon, the race also included corporate league runners. Nanami Aoki (Iwatani Sangyo) took the top spot among them at 5th overall in 1:11:54. Another corporate runner, Ayari Harada (Daiichi Seimei) won the 10 km in 33:13.

To the north, 2:21:36 marathoner Yuka Ando made her debut in the Wacoal team uniform with a 1:10:34 win at the Niigata Half Marathon. Ando was on her own throughout the race, teammate Kotomi Tsubokura finishing almost 2 minutes back in 2nd in 1:12:29. Hong Kong national record holder Kit Ching Yiu was a distant 3rd in 1:14:49.

In the men's race, a lead pack of nine ran together through 15 km on mid-1:02:30 pace before Komazawa University 3rd-year Keiichiro Otsubo decided to take the race into his own hands. Otsubo took off with a 14:31 split from 15 to 20 km, opening a gap of over 20 seconds on the rest of the lead group and coming onto the track unchallenged for the win in a PB of 1:02:17. Yoshihiro Hiraga (SDF Academy) was 2nd in 1:02:37, with marathoner Yohei Suzuki (Aisan Kogyo) winning a sprint finish versus Shintaro Miwa (NTN) for 3rd in 1:02:44.

40th Matsue Ladies Half Marathon

22nd National University Women's Half Marathon Championships
Matsue, Shimane, 3/17/19
complete results

Half Marathon
1. Yuka Suzuki (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 1:11:27
2. Rika Kaseda (Meijo Univ.) - 1:11:29
3. Yuka Tagawa (Matsuyama Univ.) - 1:11:35
4. Yukina Ueda (Tsukuba Univ.) - 1:11:38
5. Nanami Aoki (Iwatani Sangyo) - 1:11:54
6. Miku Daido (Iwatani Sangyo) - 1:12:21
7. Nanayo Okamoto (Osaka Gakuin Univ.) - 1:12:30
8. Hanae Tanaka (Shiseido) - 1:12:38
9. Sara Miyake (Tenmaya) - 1:12:41
10. Chisato Nagai (Osaka Geijutsu Univ.) - 1:12:54
-----
DNF - Yuki Munehisa (Tokyo Nogyo Univ.)

10 km
1. Ayari Harada (Daiichi Seimei) - 33:13
2. Mary Shipuko Manela (Hitachi) - 33:46
3. Yuki Udagawa (Sekisui Kagaku) - 33:59

3rd Niigata Half Marathon

Niigata, 3/17/19
complete results

Men
1. Keiichiro Otsubo (Komazawa Univ.) - 1:02:17
2. Yoshihiro Hiraga (SDF Academy) - 1:02:37
3. Yohei Suzuki (Aisan Kogyo) - 1:02:44
4. Shintaro Miwa (NTN) - 1:02:44
5. Keita Sakamoto (Komori Corp.) - 1:03:00

Women
1. Yuka Ando (Wacoal) - 1:10:34
2. Kotomi Tsubokura (Wacoal) - 1:12:29
3. Kit Ching Yiu (Hong Kong) - 1:14:49
4. Natsumi Furukawa (Canon AC Kyushu) - 1:15:22
5. Yurika Kubo (Aichi Denki) - 1:18:13

© 2019 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

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

The Ageo City Half Marathon is always big, the main race that the coaches of Hakone Ekiden-bound university men's teams use for firming up their entry rosters for the big show. That makes what's basically an idyllic small town race into one of the world's great road races, with depth unmatched anywhere. One of the top-tier people on the start list at 1:02:07, Kodai Miyaoka (Hosei Univ.) took the race out fast, but the entire pack was keying off the fastest man in the race, Reishi Yoshida (Chuo Gakuin Univ.), 1:00:31. Yoshida reeled Miyaoka in before 5 km and kept things steady in the low-1:01 range, wearing down the lead group to around 10 including his CGU teammate Taisei Ichikawa , a quartet from Izumo and National University Ekiden runner-up Komazawa University , 2 runners from local Daito Bunka University , 2:07:54 marathoner Atsumi Ashiwa (Honda), and Australian Ed Goddard . Right after 15 km Komazawa went into action, Yudai Kiyama , Hibiki Murakami and Haru Tanin

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

Shiojiri, Kasai and Tazawa Scratch from Hachioji Long Distance, 5000 m Dropped from Program (updated)

On Nov. 15 the East Japan Corporate Federation announced that 10000 m national champion and Paris Olympian Jun Kasai (Asahi Kasei) and Budapest World Championships team member Ren Tazawa (Toyota) have both withdrawn from the 10000 m at the Nov. 23 Hachioji Long Distance meet. This year's Hachioji Long Distance features a special heat set up to target the 27:00.00 qualifying standard for next year's Tokyo World Championships. Along with Kasai and Tazawa, national record holder Kazuya Shiojiri (Fujitsu) and other top-level Japanese talent are scheduled to compete. After last January's New Year Ekiden , Tazawa sustained an injury that forced him to miss May's National Championships 10000 m and other races including the Paris Olympics. At the end of September he ran 13:36.99 for 5th at the Yogibo Athletics Challenge Cup meet, but, he said, "My balance felt off and the back of my left knee hurt." In Kasai's case, after winning the national title in M

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