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Buchanan and Takano Win Year-End Half Marathon

Australian Andrew Buchanan took over a minute and a half off his PB to win the third running of Tokyo's Year-End Half Marathon Dec. 29 in the western suburb of Tachikawa.

Conceived of as a race targeting university and corporate league men whose teams had missed out on qualifying for the New Year and Hakone Ekidens and for amateurs to get the chance to run alongside them, the Year-End Half Marathon covers four rolling laps of Showa Kinen Park, the same site used for the Hakone Ekiden Qualifier half marathon and National University Men's Half Marathon.

Buchanan ran as part of a lead group of five near 1:03-flat pace, with the group shaking down to four by 15 km. As Buchanan started to push over the final lap longtime leader Koga Matsuo (Josai Univ.) dropped off, leaving Shingo Moriyama (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) and Taiyo Iwasaki (Jobu Univ.) to compete for the win. Neither was up to the task, Buchanan kicking away for the win in 1:02:50 good enough to make him the fourth-fastest Australian man of 2019 and just 8 seconds off the course record. Moriyama was next in 1:03:06 just a step ahead of Iwasaki, who took 3rd in 1:03:07. All three along with 4th-place Matsuo scored new PBs, no joke given the rolling southern half of each lap of the park.

Miyuki Takano (Raffine) won the women's race by 11 seconds in 1:20:42. In the women's 10 km, Yuka Tanaka (Asia Univ.) outran high-volume marathoner Mitsuko Hirose (Tokyo Wings) for the win in 36:32, with Takashi Nagase (Obirin Univ.) taking the men's 10 km in 30:26.

3rd Year-End Half Marathon

Showa Kinen Park, Tachikawa, Tokyo, 12/29/19
complete results

Men's Half Marathon
1. Andrew Buchanan (Australia) - 1:02:50 - PB
2. Shingo Moriyama (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) - 1:03:06 - PB
3. Taiyo Iwasaki (Jobu Univ.) - 1:03:07 - PB
4. Koga Matsuo (Josai Univ.) - 1:03:24 - PB
5. Yudai Hiruta (Fukushima T&F Assoc.) - 1:03:45
6. Kotaro Maeyama (Obirin Univ.) - 1:04:56
7. Shingo Mizota (Togami Denki) - 1:05:06
8. Hikaru Kumagai (Rafine) - 1:05:24
9. Yuya Hikage (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) - 1:05:27
10. Takahiro Fujita (Asia Univ.) - 1:05:28

Women's Half Marathon
1. Miyuki Takano (Raffine) - 1:20:42
2. Natsuki Iida - 1:20:53
3. Yuki Nashimoto - 1:22:36

Men's 10 km
1. Takashi Nagase (Obirin Univ.) - 30:26
2. Yoshinori Goda (NTT Tokyo) - 30:53
3. Kaisei Ichiba (Obirin Univ.) - 31:20

Women's 10 km
1. Yuka Tanaka (Asia Univ.) - 36:32
2. Mitsuko Hirose (Tokyo Wings) - 36:58
3. Kirara Oshima (Asia Univ.) - 37:08

© 2019 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

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