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.

Arao Becomes 1st Man in 40 Years to Score Back-to-Back Ome Road Race Wins

30 km is an under-appreciated distance, and both of Japan's big races at that distance happened Sunday. At the Ome Road Race in western Tokyo's mountains, Sydney Marathon 6th-placer Masato Arao (ND Software) became the first man since the great Kunimitsu Ito in 1985-1986 to win back-to-back years. Arao, who finished 39th of 40 on his leg at the New Year Ekiden last month, stayed in the pack through 20 km before going on the attack, putting over a minute on New Year Ekiden Sixth Stage CR breaker Yudai Shimazu (GMO). Sub-1:31 winning times are rare on the tough and hilly Ome course, but Arao's 1:30:54 almost equaled his 1:30:50 from last year, making him the first Japanese man ever to do it twice and second only to CR holder Ezekiel Cheboitibin . Next up Arao races the Tokyo Marathon, where he is targeting sub-2:06. Shimazu was 2nd in 1:31:58 and Yuta Nakayama (JR Higashi Nihon) 3rd in 1:32:07. Cheboitibin was only 9th, running almost 8 minutes off his CR in 1:36:42. Shi...

Osaka Marathon Preview

The Osaka Marathon is Sunday, one of Japan's biggest mass-participation races and the next stop on the calendar for its elite marathoners hoping to qualify for the L.A. Olympics marathon trials in the fall of 2027. Last year it snowed mid-race, but this year is looking warmer than ideal given the season, with sunny skies, almost no wind, and temps forecast to be 11˚ at the start and rising to 19˚ by the time the winners are finishing. NHK is broadcasting Osaka with a heavy emphasis on the men's race, and if you've got a VPN you should be able to watch it from overseas. There's also official streaming on Youtube starting at 8:30 a.m. local time, although it doesn't look like it's the same as what NHK will be showing. Given Osaka's history at the elite level as the continuation of the men-only Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, the women's field is small relative to the men's, just enough to tick World Athletics' label requirements and with almost no do...

Nagoya Women's Marathon Elite Field

Last year's top 3 Sheila Chepkirui , Sayaka Sato and Eunice Chebichii Chumba are back for this year's Nagoya Women's Marathon on Mar. 8, but things are being set up more for it to be a race between Chepkirui, 2:17:49 in Berlin 2023, Aynalem Desta , 2:17:37 in Amsterdam last fall, and Japanese NR holder Honami Maeda , 2:18:59 at the Osaka International Women's Marathon in 2024. Aynalem has the freshest sub-2:20 of the 3, with neither Chepkirui nor Maeda having done it in 2 years. Maeda's only recent result is a 1:10:07 from Houston last month, but when she ran her NR she didn't have any kind of tuneup race to indicate her fitness so it's probably best not to read too much into that. If it goes out as a 2:18 race those are the only 3 who can probably hang with it. If it turns out to be more of a 2:20 race like when Chepkirui won in 2:20:40 last year then there's a group of 7 at the 2:20-2:22 level who will be in the picture, including Chumba, Selly Chep...

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