O'Keeffe and Mutiso Lead Tokyo Legacy Half Elite Field

Japan's newest top-level half marathon happens Oct. 16 in Tokyo with the Tokyo Legacy Half bringing together 70 elite men, 23 elite women and 15,000 mass-participation runners to cover a course unused for the Tokyo Olympics but which did see action, including three home team medals, at the Tokyo Paralympics.

The women's race has American Fiona O'Keeffe in a duel with this year's National Corporate Half winner Dolphine Omare, both of them having cleared 68 minutes this year. American Betsy Saina went sub-68 at Marugame in 2019 but hasn't finished a race since the 2019 Honolulu Marathon, her only starts since then being a DNF in Nagoya 2020 and a DNF at last year's Olympic test half in Sendai. Fresh off a win at the Hokkaido Marathon at the end of August, Haruka Yamaguchi is next in line with a 1:09:50 PB in Gifu this spring. Ikumi Fukura is the only other Japanese woman to have gone sub-70 in the field with a 1:09:58 PB from the 2020 National Corporate Half. It looks like a duel between O'Keeffe and Omare for the win, between Yamaguchi and Fukura for 3rd, with Saina and maybe Kenyan Caroline Naga fitting in there somewhere.

As usual, Japan-based sub-58 man Alexander Mutiso leads the men's field, with sub-60 Kenyans Benard Kimeli, Joseph Karanja, Vincent Raimoi and Emmanuel Maru there to give chase. Takashi Ichida is the top Japanese man by recent time with a 1:00:19 at last year's National Corporate Half. Four other sub-61 Japanese men including former NR holder Yuta Shitara and four more sub-61 Kenyans pad the front of the field, and Olympic marathoners Yuma Hattori and Shogo Nakamura are both entered to run. Hattori has gotten solidly back on his feet since suffering heat stroke at the Olympics, but in Nakamura's case it'll be his first start since the Olympics if he makes it to the starting line.

BS-TBS will broadcast the race live.

Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon Elite Field Highlights

Tokyo, 16 Oct. 2022

complete elite field listing

times listed are best in last three years except where noted

Women

Fiona O'Keeffe (U.S.A.) - 1:07:42 (Houston 2022)

Betsy Saina (U.S.A.) - 1:07:49 (Marugame 2019)

Dolphine Omare (Kenya/U.S.E.) - 1:07:56 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2022)

Haruka Yamaguchi (A.C. Kita) - 1:09:50 (Gifu Seiyu 2022)

Ikumi Fukura (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 1:09:58 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2020)

Caroline Nyaga (Kenya) - 1:10:00 (Trento 2019)

Natsuki Omori (Daihatsu) - 1:10:18 (Sanyo Ladies 2021)

Kotomi Tsubokura (Wacoal) - 1:11:02 (Sanyo Ladies 2021)

Mayu Hirata (Wacoal) - 1:11:15 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2021)

Kotona Ota (Japan Post) - 1:11:48 (Nagoya Women's 2022)

Rie Kawauchi (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 1:11:49 (Nagoya Women's 2022) 

Men

Alexander Mutiso (Kenya/ND Software) - 57:59 (Valencia 2020)

Benard Kimeli (Kenya/Fujitsu) - 59:32 (Herzogenaurach 2022)

Joseph Karanja (Kenya/Aichi Seiko) - 59:48 (Madrid 2021)

Vincent Raimoi (Kenya/Suzuki) - 59:51 (Ras al Khaimah 2020)

Emmanuel Maru (Kenya/Toyota Boshoku) - 59:58 (Gifu Seiyu 2022) 

Vincent Kipkemoi (Kenya) - 1:00:00 (Malaga 2022)

Takashi Ichida (Asahi Kasei) - 1:00:19 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2021)

Joseph Macharia Ndirangu (Kenya/Aichi Seiko) - 1:00:30 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2015)

Nicholas Kosimbei (Kenya/YKK) - 1:00:36 (Atlanta 2022)

Masato Kikuchi (Makes) - 1:00:43 (Marugame 2020)

Joel Mwaura (Kenya/Kurosaki Harima) - 1:00:44 (Okukuma 2020)

Yuta Shitara (Honda) - 1:00:49 (Marugame 2020)

Shin Kimura (Honda) - 1:00:54 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2020)

Yusuke Nishiyama (Toyota) - 1:00:55 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2020)

Yuma Hattori (Toyota) - 1:01:24 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2022)

Kenta Murayama (Asahi Kasei) - 1:01:26 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2020)

Shogo Nakamura (Fujitsu) - 1:01:40 (Takanezawa Half 2020)

text and photo © 2022 Brett Larner, all rights reserved