Sadakata and Ichiyama Win Hakodate Half, NR Holder Suzuki Back in First Race Since Tokyo '22

Sunday's other big race in Hokkaido was the Hakodate Half Marathon and Marathon, where members of Japan's marathon squad for August's Budapest World Championships and qualifiers for October's MGC Race Olympic marathon trials tune up for their races. In the men's half marathon, Shun Sadakata held off Evans Kipkemei to take the win by 2 seconds in a PB and CR 1:01:37. Hideyuki Tanaka took 3rd in 1:01:40, with Dan Kiplangat the only other runner under 62 in 1:01:54 for 4th.

Half marathon NR holder Yusuke Ogura was 6th in 1:02:38, and close behind him was marathon NR holder Kengo Suzuki, 7th in 1:02:46. For Suzuki it was the first time he'd made it to the starting line of a race since the March, 2022 Tokyo Marathon, and as the first MGC qualifier to finish in Hakodate his performance there was good enough to generate a collective sigh of relief. Budapest marathon team member Kazuya Nishiyama didn't have the same kind of day, only 15th in 1:03:58.

Women-only marathon NR holder Mao Ichiyama took the top spot in the women's half marathon, running 1:10:23. MGC qualifier Mizuki Tanimoto and track runner Yuka Takashima were 2nd and 3rd in 1:10:58 and 1:11:58, with 30 km NR holder Honami Maeda 6th in 1:12:32.

In the marathon, MGC qualifier Naoki Okamoto won by over two minutes in a training run effort 2:15:56, a CR by over 2 minutes. Club runner Yukie Matsumura won the women's marathon in 2:45:46.

Hakodate Half Marathon

Hakodate, Hokkaido, 25 June 2023

Women's Half Marathon

1. Mao Ichiyama (Shiseido) - 1:10:23

2. Mizuki Tanimoto (Tenmaya) - 1:10:58

3. Yuka Takashima (Shiseido) - 1:11:58

4. Mao Kiyota (Suzuki) - 1:12:01

5. Saki Tokoro (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 1:12:18

6. Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) - 1:12:32

7. Momoko Watanabe (Tenmaya) - 1:13:15

8. Hikaru Kitagawa (Osaka Geijutsu Univ.) - 1:13:37

9. Natsumi Matsushita (Tenmaya) - 1:15:12

10. Arisa Nakao (Universal Entertainment) - 1:15:54

Men's Half Marathon

1. Shun Sadakata (Mazda) - 1:01:37 - CR

2. Evans Kipkemei (JFE Steel) - 1:01:39

3. Hideyuki Tanaka (Toyota) - 1:01:40

4. Dan Kiplangat (JFE Steel) - 1:01:54

5. Ryuichi Hashimoto (Press Kogyo) - 1:02:31

6. Yusuke Ogura (Yakult) - 1:02:38

7. Kengo Suzuki (Fujitsu) - 1:02:46

8. Paul Onyiego (Fujisan no Meisui) - 1:02:54

9. Yudai Shimazu (GMO) - 1:03:02

10. Masaru Aoki (Kao) - 1:03:11

Women's Marathon

1. Sachie Matsumura (Nike) - 2:45:46

2. Kasumi Takahama (unattached) - 2:56:54

3. Emi Saito (unattached) - 2:58:26

Men's Marathon

1. Naoki Okamoto (Chugoku Denryoku) - 2:15:56 - CR

2. Takuma Shibata (Komori Corp.) - 2:18:08

3. Takuma Kumagai (Sumitomo Denko) - 2:22:39

19-Yr-Old Munakata Breaks Miura's U20 NR to Win Ageo City Half Marathon

The Ageo City Half Marathon is always big, the main race that the coaches of Hakone Ekiden-bound university men's teams use for firming up their entry rosters for the big show. That makes what's basically an idyllic small town race into one of the world's great road races, with depth unmatched anywhere. One of the top-tier people on the start list at 1:02:07, Kodai Miyaoka (Hosei Univ.) took the race out fast, but the entire pack was keying off the fastest man in the race, Reishi Yoshida (Chuo Gakuin Univ.), 1:00:31. Yoshida reeled Miyaoka in before 5 km and kept things steady in the low-1:01 range, wearing down the lead group to around 10 including his CGU teammate Taisei Ichikawa , a quartet from Izumo and National University Ekiden runner-up Komazawa University , 2 runners from local Daito Bunka University , 2:07:54 marathoner Atsumi Ashiwa (Honda), and Australian Ed Goddard . Right after 15 km Komazawa went into action, Yudai Kiyama , Hibiki Murakami and Haru Tanin

Ageo City Half Marathon Preview and Streaming

This weekend's big race is the Ageo City Half Marathon , the next stop on the collegiate men's circuit. Most of the universities bound for the Jan. 2-3 Hakone Ekiden use Ageo to thin down the list of contenders for their final Hakone rosters, and with JRN's development program that sends the first two Japanese collegiate finishers in Ageo to the United Airlines NYC Half every year a lot of coaches put in some of their A-listers too. That gives Ageo legendary depth and fast front-end speed, with a 1:00:47 course record last year from Kenyan corporate leaguer Paul Kuira (JR Higashi Nihon) and the top 26 all clearing 63 minutes. Since a lot of programs just enter everybody on their rosters you never really know who on the entry list is actually going to show up, but if even a quarter of the people at the top end of this year's list run it'll be a great race, even if conditions are looking likely to be a bit warmer than ideal. Chuo Gakuin University 's Reishi Yoshi

10000 m NR Attempt In the Works Saturday at Hachioji Long Distance - Streaming and Preview

There are a bunch of other time trial meets this weekend and next, but Saturday's Hachioji Long Distance is the last big meet for Japanese men, 8 heats of Wavelight-paced 10000 m finely graded from target times of 28:50 down to 26:59 for the fastest heat. Heat 6 at 17:55 local time is effectively the B-race, with 35 Japan-based Kenyans targeting 27:10 at the front end, and in a lot of cases a spot on their teams at the New Year Ekiden national championship on Jan. 1. Corporate teams are only allowed to field one non-Japanese athlete in the New Year Ekiden, and only on its shortest stage, and getting to that has a big impact on African athletes' contracts and renewal prospects. Toyota Boshoku , Yasukawa Denki , Chugoku Denryoku , Aisan Kogyo , JR Higashi Nihon , Subaru and 2024 national champion Toyota are all fielding two Kenyans, and Aichi Seiko three. For people like Toyota's Felix Korir and Samuel Kibathi , getting as close to the 27:10 target time as they can and

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