Ageo and Kobe Return, and More

Ageo and Kobe Return, and More - Weekend Preview

The world's deepest half marathon returns Sunday in Ageo, Saitama for the first time since 2019 as Hakone Ekiden-bound universities line up at the Ageo City Half Marathon. Coaches of the teams set to run Hakone use Ageo to narrow down their rosters of contenders for their 16-member Hakone entry list, and the result of that is hundreds of people turning in times that would win most other races. Since 2012 the top two Japanese collegiate finishers have also earned invitations to the United Airlines NYC Half. People like former national record holder Yuta Shitara and the top placer in the marathon at this summer's Oregon World Championships Yusuke Nishiyama have gone from Ageo to NYC and on to bigger things, and with big names like 2019 winner Joseph Razini Lemeteki (Takushoku Univ.), 1:00:40 half marathoner Chikara Yamano (Komazawa Univ.) and former 5000 m H.S. NR holder Kosuke Ishida (Toyo Univ.) on the entry list this time the front end of the race should be fast and competitive.

Also coming back Sunday is the Kobe Marathon, with a field of 20,000 one of Japan's biggest. A budget crunch forced it to drop its World Athletics label this year, but even so Kobe still has a small international elite field lined up. The women's race is led by CR holder Haruka Yamaguchi (AC Kita), fresh off wins in Hokkaido in August and Chiba two weeks ago. She's up against Immaculate Chemutai (Uganda), 1st at the Bali Marathon in August, and debuting 1:07:28 half marathoner Sharon Kemboi (Kenya). Junichi Tsubouchi (Kurosaki Harima) is the top Japanese man at 2:08:35 last year at Lake Biwa, up against 2:07~2:08 Kenyans Elkanah Langat and Clement Langat and 1:00:00 half marathoner Benard Kimani (Comodi Iida).

Hakone is the main event for schools in the Tokyo-area Kanto Region, but for the Osaka-centered Kansai Region Saturday's Tango University Ekiden is the season-ender. 22 teams face off over the 8-stage, 84.5 km course through northwestern Kyoto, with streaming starting at 7:20 a.m. local time. Ritsumeikan University has won Tango the last four years, but this season it looks vulnerable to Kwansei Gakuin University, the top non-Kanto team at October's Izumo Ekiden and at the National University Ekiden earlier this month.

Along with Ageo, Kanto Region runners will also be at the 2021 Tokyo Olympic stadium where the Kanto Region University 10000 m Time Trials meet returns Saturday after demolition and reconstruction-era exile to Kanagawa's beautiful Keio University field. With 10 men's heats and 1 women's heat on the menu anyone who clears 29:20 or 34:20 is set to pick up scholarship money from regional collegiate federation KGRR. Other track time trial meets are also set for Saturday at Heisei Kokusai University in Saitama and in Hiroshima at the Chugoku Corporate Time Trials meet.

Australian YouTuber Handed Lifetime Ban by Ageo City Half Marathon After Running 1:06 with Another Runner's Bib (updated)

After discussion with their race's chief JAAF referee, on Nov. 27 the organizers of the Ageo City Half Marathon handed down a lifetime ban from their event against 36-year-old Australian Matt Inglis Fox for running the Nov. 15 race wearing the bib number of another JAAF-registered runner. The incident came to light after Fox posted on his personal Instagram account that he had run a PB of 1:06:33 and finished 203rd in Ageo with a 10 km split of 31:03, along with photos and video of himself in the race wearing a bib number beginning with 11. Fox did not appear in the results by name or in that time or place, the closest match being a 1:06:54 gross, 1:06:50 net finish time with a 31:21 10 km split for 18th place in the JAAF-registered division and 209th overall by bib number 1129, registered to a non-Japanese Tokyo-resident club runner. The club runner, Harrisson Uk , readily confirmed that he had given his bib to Fox, saying, "I gave my number to Matt. It wasn't me."...

Batt-Doyle and Strintzos Break Records at Launceston Half

Australians Isobel Batt-Doyle and Haftu Strintzos turned in record-breaking performances to win the McGrath Launceston Running Festival Peppers Silo Half Marathon in Tasmania. Running with a private male pacer, NR holder Batt-Doyle dusted the field with the fastest half marathon ever by an Australian woman on Australian soil, a 1:08:46 CR that put her 2 and a half minutes ahead of runner-up Genevieve Gregson . Last year's runner-up Yumi Yoshikawa was almost a minute back from Gregson in 3rd in 1:12:03, but was almost run down by club runner Ayaka Shimoyamada . Starting slow in her international debut, Shimoyamada moved up from 7th over the 2nd half of the race to finish 4th in 1:12:06, kicking hard in the home straight to try to catch Yoshikawa and momentarily blacking out after finishing. Kaho Onishi was 7th in 1:12:45 in her own international debut. The men's half had pacing set at 2:53/km to try to deliver the first-ever sub-61 half marathon on Australian soil. CR holde...

CHN and JPN National Records Go Down - Weekend Track Update

There weren't any Japanese athletes in action at the Rabat Diamond League meet Sunday, but 2 lower-tier domestic meets produced new national records. At the Nittai University Time Trials meet in Yokohama, Samuel Kibathi (Toyota) led the top 5 in the men's 10000 m under 28 minutes in 27:39.97. In 3rd, China's Wenjie Wang took just over a second off his own NR from the same meet last year, setting a new record of 27:47.53. His teammate Haoran Tang was 6th in a 28:27.44 PB, with the top Japanese time in the race being a 28:33.39 for 8th from Jin Yuasa (Toyota). Amazingly, Wang and Tang were back the next day on day 2 of the Nittai meet, Wang running a PB of 13:35.58 for 4th in the A-heat and Tang winning the B-heat in a PB of 13:38.80. Isaac Ndiema took the A-heat in 13:26.49, with the fastest Japanese time going to Yuhei Urano (Fujitsu) with a 13:35.94 for 5th behind Wang. Other Nittai highlights: Deborah Chemutai (Univ. Ent.) won a photo finish against Yua Nagamori ...

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