Weekend Road Race Roundup

It was another busy weekend with marathons in Osaka, Ibaraki and Chiba, a half marathon in Osaka, and post-season ekidens across the country. The Osaka International Women's Marathon was the major one of the bunch, if not an especially memorable race.

On a new course that saw the addition of at least two hills and the start and finish point downgraded from the spectacular Yanmar Stadium Nagai to its exterior warmup track, it was basically a race of attrition that saw people fall off the sub-2:20 pace set by the pacers until only three athletes, Ethiopians Haven Hailu Desse and Meseret Gola Sisay and top-ranked Japanese woman Yuka Ando (Wacoal) were left. Desse surged the hardest at 30 km, running on unchallenged from there to win in 2:21:13. Sisay was next in 2:22:12, with Ando 3rd in 2:22:59.

More memorable were two mid-race incidents. Just past 5 km, Reia Iwade (Denso) clipped Sayaka Sato (Sekisui Kagaku) from behind and both went down. Sato got the worst of it, bloody in both knees as she tried to get going again, but both women eventually dropped out. Another incident happened after 30 km, when a TV camera motorcycle way too close to the 2nd group of women bumped collegiate record holder Sairi Maeda (Daihatsu), who stumbled but managed not to go down.

Ando, Iwade, Sato and 4th-placer Mao Uesugi (Starts) were all already qualified for October's MGC Race Olympic marathon trials, but for Maeda and the others in the chase pack spots at the trials were on the line. In the end four women qualified, 5th-placer Yumi Yoshikawa (Uniqlo) with a 2:25:20 debut, Maeda with a 2:25:24 for 6th, 7th-placer Chiharu Ikeda (Hitachi) in 2:25:59, and Yuna Daito (Tenmaya) with a 10-minute PB of 2:26:09 for 8th. Kaena Takeyama (Senko) and Honoka Tanaike (Otsuka Seiyaku) rounded out the top 10 in 2:29:20 and 2:29:45, short of what they needed for trials qualification. Complete results and splits here.

Alongside the marathon, the Osaka Half Marathon also happened Sunday. In the women's race, Rinka Hida (Ritsumeikan Univ.) ran down early leaders Shuri Ogasawara (Denso) and Hina Yanagitani (Wacoal) in the last 5 km to take the win by 1 second in 1:10:10. Yanagitani was next in 1:10:11 with Ogasawara hanging on to 3rd in 1:10:36. Complete women's results here.

In the men's race, a lead group of 16 was together through 15 km before eventual top 2 Yohei Ikeda (Kao) and Shunya Kikuchi (Chugoku Danryoku) broke free. Ikeda got the win in the last km in 1:01:29, Kikuchi 4 seconds back in 2nd. 7 seconds separated the next 3, with Hayato Mera (Mitsubishi Juko) outkicking 5 people in the last km including Sweden's David Nilsson to take the last spot on the 8-deep podium in 1:01:59. Complete men's results here.

In Ibaraki, the Katsuta Marathon celebrated its 70th anniversary with its first in-person race since 2020. Ikeda's teammate Yukari Ishizawa from the local Hitachi corporate team won the women's race in 2:39:57 in her debut, her first road race longer than 5 km since 2017. Amateur Shusei Ohashi (Kodaira City Hall) won the men's race in 2:18:10. Katsuta has traditionally sent its top placers to run April's Boston Marathon, so expect to see them added to the field if the program is still in place post-pandemic.

In Chiba the Tateyama Wakashio Marathon was also back for its 43rd edition. Corporate leaguer Miharu Shimokado (SID Group) took the women's race in a decent 2:42:50, with amateur Suguru Sato winning the men's race in 2:27:55.

At the 12th Okayama Ekiden, 9th-grader Sherry Drury followed up her incredible run at the National Women's Ekiden two weeks ago with a 9:40 CR for the 3.0 km 3rd leg, 10 seconds under the old CR. Drury faced intense media attention, including national TV, throughout the weekend, which, given her age, would be another argument for her to opt for competing in and for Canada. Whatever it takes to keep her from ending up at local corporate team Tenmaya.

'CAS Clears Japan’s Olympic Silver Medallist Ikeda of Doping, Overturns Ban'

https://www.aljazeera.com/sports/2026/10/23/cas-clears-japans-olympic-silver-medallist-ikeda-of-doping-overturns-ban The AIU's missteps in this case cost Tokyo Olympics and Oregon World Championships 20 km race walk silver medalist Koki Ikeda , a Toyo University graduate who competes for the Asahi Kasei corporate team, the chance to represent Japan at a home soil World Championships last year. It is almost unheard of for an athlete to successfully fight a biological passport suspension as Ikeda did, making this a highly significant case. The CAS' press release about its decision stated: "The Panel stressed that the Athlete did not merely assert his position on the ABP abnormalities but adduced very extensive evidence in support of his explanations. In this highly complex case, the evidence brought during the CAS proceedings was far more abundant and specific than during the first instance proceedings with the WA Disciplinary Tribunal, implying the CAS Panel had further ...

Meijo Back With Morinomiyako Ekiden CR for National University Title

The last big dynasty school in Japanese women's distance running with 7-straight wins at October's Morinomiyako Ekiden from 2017 to 2023 and 6-straight titles at the season-ending Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden from 2018 to 2023, Meijo University came back from a 3rd-place finish last year to win the 44th Morinomiyako Ekiden again, leading almost start-to-finish to set a 2:02:21 CR for the 6-stage, 38.0 km course in Sendai. 12 second back in 2nd after the opening leg, collegiate 3000 mSC champ Nozomi Kondo put Meijo out front with a 12:36 CR for the 4.0 km Second Stage, and the rest of the team never looked back. The biggest threat to a Meijo win was on the 9.2 m Fifth Stage, where this year's collegiate 10000 m winner Sarah Wanjiru from last year's runner-up Daito Bunka University started 50 seconds back from Meijo 1st-year Mao Kimura . In taking the 10000 m title Wanjiru had outrun Kimura by over a minute, but today Kimura was a revelation, strong and smooth out fr...

Waseda Leads Top 7 Teams Under Izumo Ekiden CR, Ivy League Best-Ever 3rd (updated)

3rd last year, Waseda University scored its first Izumo Ekiden win since 2010, taking almost 2 minutes off the CR and leading the top 7 teams under the old record of 2:07:51 for the complete 6-stage, 45.1 km course. Waseda was 16 seconds back in 7th after the First Stage, but its 2nd runner Ojiro Honda made that up easily and put them 6 seconds out front. A massive 22:56 CR for the 8.5 km Third Stage by Shadrack Kipkemei (Nihon Univ.) dropped Waseda back to 2nd even though its runner Ryuki Suzuki broke the old CR too, but back-to-back CR on the next 2 stages by 1st-year Haruki Niizuma and Shunpei Yamaguchi put anchor Shinsaku Kudo out of reach of the rest of the field. Kudo duly won the 10.2 km anchor stage in 29:00, bypassing a 2:06 time entirely for a new 2:05:56 CR, just under 2:48/km average pace for the complete course. Defending champ Koku Gakuin University struggled a bit in the first half of the race but came on strong in the longer second half with 4th and 5th runners...

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