Long Time Coming - Akira Akasaki and Haruka Onodera's Road to the 2022 United Airlines NYC Half

Back in pre-pandemic days Akira Akasaki and Haruka Onodera were still in college, Akasaki at Takushoku University and Onodera at Teikyo University. At the 2019 Ageo City Half Marathon they frontran most of the race together, dead set on finishing in the top two Japanese collegiate spots to win invitations to the 2020 United Airlines NYC Half. For Akasaki it had already been a year and a half wait.

Inspired by Kenta Murayama's 1:00:57 5th place in finish in New York in 2017 and Kei Katanishi's 7th-place in 2018, Akasaki went for it his junior year in his debut at the 2018 Ageo Half. "Coming up to 10 km I was in the lead pack and feeling good, so I knew I had a shot at going to New York and got pretty excited," he said. But right after the 10 km turnaround point he tripped and fell, and by the time he was back up the lead group was out of range. He finished 20th in 1:03:07, over a minute and a half behind top Japanese university man Ken Nakayama.

"I was furious with myself and totally disappointed," he said. Apart from the Hakone Ekiden, Akasaki made taking the spot at the next Ageo the main focus of his senior year, and it showed. At Ageo 2019 he ran a PB of 1:01:46 to score a place in New York for the next spring. Onodera was next in a 1:02:03 PB to pick up the second invitation. In the nine years that the New York Road Runners had been bringing Japanese collegiate runners to the NYC Half, they were the first ones from their schools to make the cut, and for both of them it was going to be their first time ever being outside Japan.

But, history intervened. As the pandemic progressed and races started to cancel, first in Asia, then elsewhere, I was in touch with their coaches Takuro Yamashita and Takayuki Nakano daily. We came to the agreement that if the 2020 NYC Half went ahead Akasaki and Onodera should be in it, and that if it hadn't been canceled by the time our flight left Japan the Wednesday before the race then we'd go. Three hours before we were supposed to leave for the airport I got the call from the NYRR's Sam Grotewold that it was off. "It was a huge shock," said Onodera. "Coach and I were all packed and ready to go."

Fast forward two years. David Monti, who I'd first talked to about the idea of bringing top Japanese university men to the NYC Half, left his position as pro athletes consultant with the NYRR. Both Akasaki and Onodera graduated, Akasaki going to the Kyudenko corporate team back home in Fukuoka, and Onodera to Toyota Boshoku near Nagoya. Onodera had a hard time adapting to the higher training load and was injured most of his first year in the corporate leagues, but at February's National Corporate Half Marathon he made a comeback with a 1:02:21, not far off his best at Ageo. Akasaki made a very early marathon debut in February at Beppu-Oita, running to win but fading late to finish 7th in 2:09:17, a minute and a half behind winner Yusuke Nishiyama, another NYC Half alum making his own debut.

And Ageo hasn't been held since they ran it. Neither had NYC. Last fall when Grotewold told me that the plan was for the NYC Half to happen again in 2022 we both agreed that we wanted Akasaki and Onodera there, and with the help of coaches Yamashita and Nakano both corporate teams were open to it happening. The guys themselves were over the moon. "I've regretted not being able to go the whole time since then," said Akasaki. "I thought I'd missed the chance, and I can't believe it's really here now." "I'm really excited to finally get the chance to run overseas," agreed Onodera.

Schedule conflicts and lingering pandemic concerns kept Yamashita and Nakano from coming with them, Akasaki traveling on his own and Onodera with Toyota Boshoku team manager Ryota Tajiri. "That's my only regret now," said Akasaki. "Coach Yamashita really helped me grow and I wanted to pay him back by bringing him to New York. All I can do now is run a race that'll make him proud."

The field at the United Airlines NYC Half this year is the best since the first time we brought collegiate runners in 2012, when future half marathon and marathon national breaker Yuta Shitara ran the fastest time ever at that point by a Japanese man on U.S. soil, 1:01:47. Asked who they're most excited about racing, both Onodera and Akasaki immediately answered, "Galen Rupp." Even though they're not in college any more there's no change in expectations or the original concept behind them being there. Take some of Japan's best young talent out of the closed-off box they're kept in, drop them into the middle of some of the world's best in a totally unfamiliar environment, and let 'em take a swing.

Shitara went on from that experience to break the national record in the half marathon and marathon, Nishiyama won one of Japan's most important marathons this season, and a lot of the other program alum have gone on to success of their own. Three years is a long time to wait, four, even, in Akasaki's case, but both of them finally get their chance this Sunday to do what their younger selves had dreamed of. Whatever happens, it'll be something they can take back with them to help illuminate their corner of the box just like Shitara and the others since him have.

text and photos © 2022 Brett Larner, all rights reserved