Skip to main content

Kipkemoi and Nyaga Win Inaugural Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon


Tokyo's newest elite-level road race happened Sunday on the course used for Japan's 2020 Olympic marathon trials and the 2020 Paralympic Games marathon, with the first edition of the Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon bringing 15,000 to the streets.

Kenyan Vincent Kipkemoi outran Japan-based world all-time #4 Alexander Mutiso for the win 1:00:10 to 1:00:29, with 3rd and 4th-placers Benard Kimeli and Vincent Raimoi also getting under 61 minutes despite the tough uphill finish. With prize money running 8 deep Kenyans took the top 8 spots. Winning a three-way sprint finish on the track for 9th and top Japanese honors was Kenta Murayama, outkicking marathoners Daisuke Uekado and Yusuke Nishiyama by 1 second in 1:02:14.

In the women's race, unknown Caroline Nyaga outran 2022 National Corporate Half Marathon champ Dolphine Omare Nyaboke for the win, breaking her PB by over a minute and a half in 1:08:23. Nyaboke was 2nd in 1:09:46. On the climb back up to the stadium 2022 Hokkaido Marathon winner Haruka Yamaguchi broke away from American Betsy Saina to take 3rd in 1:10:35. Saina faded badly in the last 2 km but held off marathoner Mao Kiyota by 5 seconds for 4th in 1:11:13.

Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon

Tokyo, 16 Oct. 2022

Men
1. Vincent Kipkemoi (Kenya) - 1:00:10
2. Alexander Mutiso (ND Software) - 1:00:29
3. Benard Kimeli (Fujitsu) - 1:00:36
4. Vincent Raimoi (Suzuki) - 1:00:56
5. Macharia Ndirangu (Aichi Seiko) - 1:01:11
6. Joseph Karanja (Aichi Seiko) - 1:01:32
7. Joel Mwaura (Kurosaki Harima) - 1:02:04
8. Benson Tunyo (Kenya) - 1:02:07
9. Kenta Murayama (Asahi Kasei) - 1:02:14
10. Daisuke Uekado (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 1:02:15
11. Yusuke Nishiyama (Toyota) - 1:02:15

Women
1. Caroline Nyaga (Kenya) - 1:08:23
2. Dolphine Omare Nyaboke (U.S.E.) - 1:09:46
3. Haruka Yamaguchi (AC Kita) - 1:10:35
4. Betsy Saina (U.S.A.) - 1:11:13
5. Mao Kiyota (Suzuki) - 1:11:18
6. Natsuki Omori (Daihatsu) - 1:11:46
7. Kotona Ota (Japan Post) - 1:11:54
8. Beatrice Cheburet (Kenya) - 1:12:33
9. Ikumi Fukura (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 1:13:33
10. Rie Kawauchi (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 1:14:47
11. Kotomi Tsubokura (Wacoal) - 1:14:51
12. Ai Ikemoto (Tokyo T&F Assoc.) - 1:15:32

photo © 2022 Mika Tokairin, all rights reserved
text © 2022 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Adane Leads Top 4 Under CR, Kondo 2:05:39 Debut, Mekasha Defends at Osaka Marathon

photos © 2025 Victor Sailer/PhotoRun, all rights reserved It was a bit too cold and windy for really fast times and snow started falling over the last quarter of the race, but that didn't stop the top 4 men at the Osaka Marathon from going under the course record. A 1:02:29 first half kept at least 16 men together with the 2:04:56 Japanese national record in sight, among them NR holder Kengo Suzuki in what he hoped would be a comeback run. By 30 km in 1:28:56, still close to NR pace despite motorcycle cops leading them too far past a turnaround cone, the lead group was down to a dozen, and the big uphill just after that really broke things up. Ethiopian trio Yihunilign Adane , Abdisa Tola and Getaneh Molla broke away after the hill, but with 2:05 in sight debuting sub-61 half marathoner Ryota Kondo and 2:06 man Kyohei Hosoya closed hard. 8 seconds back at 40 km, Kondo ran Tola and Molla down and caught Adane in the home straight. But Adane had the final kick to take the win i...

Osaka Marathon Preview

The Osaka Marathon is Monday, with a live ad-free national broadcast starting at 9:00 a.m. local time on NHK that you'll probably need a VPN to pick up online. No word yet on live results, but maybe try the separate elite field site . We'll post a link if something surfaces, and whatever we can from on the ground in Osaka. Anyway, there are some pretty good story lines this time around. Last year the big one was Izumo Ekiden and National University Ekiden Koku Gakuin University runner Kiyoto Hirabayashi winning with a debut and collegiate record of 2:06:18. That was eclipsed at the start of this month by Hiroki Wakabayashi from Hakone Ekiden winner Aoyama Gakuin University with a 2:06:07 at Beppu-Oita , and with the arguably more talented 2025-26 AGU captain Asahi Kuroda making his debut in Osaka that might not even last til the end of the month. But you want story? Here's story: On Wednesday right after his 21st birthday Wakabayashi and Kuroda's teammate Sena M...

3 Top-Tier Japanese Collegiate Runners in United Airlines NYC Half Elite Field

The NYRR have announced the elite fields for the 2025 United Airlines NYC Half , and 3 top-tier runners from Japanese universities feature prominently in the men's field. Having just lost his 59:32 collegiate record to Komazawa University 's Kotaro Shinohara in Marugame earlier this month , collegiate 5000 m and 10000 m record holder Richard Etir of Tokyo Kokusai University heads to New York fresh off a 1:05:31 CR on the 23.1 km Hakone Ekiden Second Stage , equivalent to a 59:50 half marathon on a rolling net uphill course. That should predict success on the tough NYC course. He'll be the main competition for newly crowned American record holder Connor Mantz , 59:17 in Houston at the end of January, with defending champ and sub-59 man Abel Kipchumba  in contention too after a 59:52 win at last year's Great North Run. Sub-27 10000 m men Mohammed Ahmed and Woody Kincaid are also debuting. Komazawa teammates Yudai Kiyama and Hibiki Murakami earned spots in New York ...