Lake Saroma Ultra and Hakodate Half - Hokkaido Road Race Weekend Preview

For the next two months most of Japan's main domestic racing on the roads and track happens up north on Hokkaido. This weekend has two major road races there, the Lake Saroma 100 km and 50 km Ultramarathon, and Hakodate Half Marathon and Marathon. The home of the women's 100 km world record and until last month the men's world record, pending ratification of Lithuanian Aleksandr Sorokin's new mark, Lake Saroma isn't missing any of its usual top-end Japanese talent this year.

After a world record attempt at May's Shibamata 100 km, last year's World Championships gold and silver medalists Haruki Okayama and Jumpei Yamaguchi are both doubling back, along with pending former WR holder Nao Kazami, two-time World Champion Hideaki Yamauchi, and more. Last year's World Championships 6th-placer Miho Nakata leads the women's field, where her main competition is 2018 Lake Saroma winner Mai Fujisawa. There's no real streaming of the race, but a finish line cam will be streaming above starting at 11:00 Sunday local time. Live results will be here.

Also Sunday, the Hakodate Half Marathon has solid field in both the women's and men's races despite some cancelations. In the women's race, women-only marathon NR holder Mao Ichiyama and 30 km NR holder Honami Maeda are lined up for a good head-to-head ahead of October's MGC Race Olympic marathon trials. On the men's side, marathon NR holder Kengo Suzuki and Budapest World Championships marathon team member Kazuya Nishiyama are the two big names, with their main competition coming from 1:01:42 half marathoner Naoki Aiba. Hakodate's marathon division is more of a mass-participation field, with not much info available on who's entered. Live results will be here, at any rate. The half marathon will be broadcast live starting at 8:45 a.m. local time by local broadcaster NCV.

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