Weekend Road Race Preview

This weekend sees the last big marathon of the year, the Hofu Yomiuri Marathon. A longtime lesser cousin to the dearly departed Fukuoka International Marathon, Hofu is set to step up in importance after the demise of both Fukuoka and the Saitama International Women's Marathon. The Kobe Marathon may come back, but especially for women Hofu should take on a bigger role on the calendar in the years to come. The women's race is still small at this stage but has some decent talent led by Japan's fastest woman of 2019, Reia Iwade (Adidas). 7-time winner Hisae Yoshimatsu (Shunan City Hall) is on the list but tells JRN that she is injured and will not run, instead refocusing on February's Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon.

The men's race, featuring pacing by Fukuoka winner Michael Githae (Suzuki) is mostly about whether former Hakone Ekiden uphill great Daichi Kamino (Cell Source) can finally pull off a good marathon. Now coached by Olympian and 2:07 marathoner Arata Fujiwara, Kamino and Githae were training partners throughout the fall along with 2:10:46 teammate Tadashi Suzuki in prep for Kamino to go for the win here. If Kamino is anywhere near Githae in fitness and focus, and Fujiwara tells JRN he is, it could be the breakthrough fans have been hoping for for years. Ser-Od Batochir (Mongolia) and Kenyan Dominic Nyairo (NTT Nishi Nihon) make up the international component of the field, Batochir doubling from a 2:12:06 in Fukuoka two weeks ago at age 40. 100 km world record holder Nao Kazami (Aisan Kogyo) and women's Paralympic marathon gold medalist Misato Michishita (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) are also on the list. JRN will cover the race live on @JRNLive.

The Sanyo Ladies Road Race is always a big year-end blowout for corporate women where most of Japan's sub-1:10 half marathon performances happen. There's a lot of talent on the entry list this time, including 2021 National Corporate Half Marathon winner Yuka Ando (Suzuki) and 3rd-placer Ayari Harada (Daiichi Seimei), Olympic steepler Yuno Yamanaka (Uniqlo), Kenyans Dolphine Nyaboke Omare (U.S.E.), Joanne Kipkemoi (Kyudenko), Winnie Jerotich (Kyudenko) and Martha Mokaya (Canon) and Ethiopians Zeyituba Husan (Denso) and Desta Burka (Denso). Qualifying spots will be on the line for Japan's team for the 2022 World Half Marathon Championships, if they actually happen.

The road 10 km is an unexploited niche in Japanese athletics, mostly viewed as something for high school boys and a transition to the half for women. Kenyans Cynthia Njeri Mbaire (Hitachi), Esther Muthoni (Nitori), Naomi Muthoni Kariuki (Universal Entertainment), Agnes Mukari (Kyocera) and Sheila Cherotich (Meiji Kokusai Iryo Univ.) top the list, but while it's a long one it's light on top-level domestic talent. Chikako Mori (Sekisui Kagaku), 15:21.42 for 5000 m in October, is probably the best of the home crowd in the race.

The National Junior High School Ekiden is also Sunday in Shiga. That might not sound like much, but it is a thing, and it's the only one of the major races scheduled to be streamed live as far as we know. Streaming starts at 10:50 a.m. Sunday local time at the Youtube channel above. Girls will be up at 11:00 and will race a total of 12 km in 5 stages or 2 or 3 km each, with boys tackling 18 km in 6 stages of 3 km apiece starting at 12:15 p.m.

Waseda Leads Top 7 Teams Under Izumo Ekiden CR, Ivy League Best-Ever 3rd (updated)

3rd last year, Waseda University scored its first Izumo Ekiden win since 2010, taking almost 2 minutes off the CR and leading the top 7 teams under the old record of 2:07:51 for the complete 6-stage, 45.1 km course. Waseda was 16 seconds back in 7th after the First Stage, but its 2nd runner Ojiro Honda made that up easily and put them 6 seconds out front. A massive 22:56 CR for the 8.5 km Third Stage by Shadrack Kipkemei (Nihon Univ.) dropped Waseda back to 2nd even though its runner Ryuki Suzuki broke the old CR too, but back-to-back CR on the next 2 stages by 1st-year Haruki Niizuma and Shunpei Yamaguchi put anchor Shinsaku Kudo out of reach of the rest of the field. Kudo duly won the 10.2 km anchor stage in 29:00, bypassing a 2:06 time entirely for a new 2:05:56 CR, just under 2:48/km average pace for the complete course. Defending champ Koku Gakuin University struggled a bit in the first half of the race but came on strong in the longer second half with 4th and 5th runners...

Kipyegon Repeats, Toyo Wins Hakone Ekiden Qualifier in First Appearance in 21 Years

Back for the first time in 21 years after a disastrous 14th-place finish at the 102nd Hakone Ekiden this past January, Toyo University hit one out of western Tokyo's Showa Kinen Park with a solid win at the Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai, the half marathon that serves as the official qualifying race for the 103rd Hakone Ekiden. The top 10 teams in the Hakone auto-qualify for the following year, with the rest having to run the Yosenkai in October with a squad of 10 to 16 runners out of which the top 10 score on aggregate time, with the 10 fastest schools joining the Hakone field and top individuals from non-qualifying teams names to the Kanto Region Student Alliance select team to make up the complete Hakone field of 21. Driven in large part by an aggressive run from 3rd-year Yu Miyazaki , one of only 2 Japanese athletes to go with the big African contingent up front, Toyo won in 10:31:30, 1:03:09 or 2:59.6/km per athlete. As the first team to have broken the 3:00/km average pace barrie...

Ngetich and Mutiso Take Down Tokyo Legacy Half CR

In its 5th edition the Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon scored 2 new course records via Kenyans from the Ikaika agency, with 10 km WR holder Agnes Ngetich blasting 3 minutes off the old record to win by over 4 in 1:04:23, and Alexander Mutiso skimming just 1 second under the CR for the win by 5 seconds in 59:51. The 2 races played out completely differently, even if the paydays were the same for the winners. Surrounded by an envelope of male runners all the way to the final 100 m, Ngetich was out hard on the downhill in the first 5 km, hitting it on sub-64 pace in 15:08 before leveling out on the flat middle 10 km. Her next 2 splits projected to 1:04:09 and 1:04:17, and even with the uphill back to the stadium in the last 5 km she didn't fall far off from that, winning in 1:04:23. Runner-up Tabitha Njeri Kamau was nearly a mile back in 1:08:28, with Kamau's Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo teammate Kazuna Kanetomo dropping a 1:10:17 PB for 3rd. Now an independent, track Olympian Kaede Ha...

japan running news

Search This Blog