Elite Field for Oct. 15 Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon

Scheduled to happen in parallel with the MGC Race Paris Olympic marathon trials, the Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon has announced the elite fields for its second running Oct. 15. Straight from this spring's Barcelona Half Marathon, Gladys Chepkurui and Charles Langat are the top internationals coming in from abroad at 1:05:46 and 58:53.

Chepkurui's only real competition is Japan-based Dolphine Omare, winner at last year's National Corporate Half Marathon in 1:07:56. Langat has more serious competition from Japan-based Alexander Mutiso, 58:48 at last year's RAK Half among others, and another five in the mid-to-high 59-minute range. Sub-27:20 10000 m runners Evans Keitany, Jonathan Ndiku and Timothy Kibet should also factor in.

Given that the race will happen at the same time as the Olympic marathon trials there aren't a lot of high-level Japanese athletes in the race. The top woman in Mao Kiyota, 1:11:18 at this race last year, with Toyo University's Kazuki Matsuyama the only Japanese man with a current sub-61 time at 1:00:43 from last year.

The para fields are solid, with both the women's and men's races full of Paralympic medalists and national record holders in different categories. Top women include Tsubasa Kina, Wakako Tsuchida and Misato Michishita, with the men's field featuring Tomoki Suzuki, Tsutomu Nagata, Tadashi Horikoshi and Kenya Karasawa among others.

2nd Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon Elite Field

Tokyo, 15 Oct. 2023

complete elite field listing

times listed are best within last 3 years except where noted

Women

Gladys Chepkurui (Kenya) - 1:05:46 (Barcelona 2023)

Dolphine Omare (Kenya/U.S.E.) - 1:07:56 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2022)

Hellen Ekalale (Kenya/Toyota Jidoshokki) - 1:09:53 (Gifu Seiryu Half 2023)

Mao Kiyota (Suzuki AC) - 1:11:18 (Tokyo Legacy Half 2022)

Shiho Kaneshige (GRlab Yamaguchi) - 1:12:57 (Sanyo Ladies Half 2021)

Natsuki Ogawa (Suzuki AC) - 1:15:38 (Sanyo Ladies Half 2022)

Para Women

T54 - Tsubasa Kina (Ryukyu Sports Support) - 48:35 (Hamanasu 2023)

T54 - Wakako Tsuchida (Will Raise) - 48:46 (Hamanasu 2022)

T53 - Kazumi Nakayama (unattached) - 1:04:07

T20 - Ayami Takahashi (Miyagi TFC) - 1:33:15 (Sendai Half 2023)

T12 - Misato Michishita (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 1:26:58 (Hofu 2019)

T11 - Natsumi Inoguchi (Mizuho Financial Group) - 1:31:41 (Tokyo Legacy 2022)

Men

Alexander Mutiso (Kenya/ND Software) - 58:48 (RAK Half 2022)

Charles Langat (Kenya) - 58:53 (Barcelona 2023)

Benard Kimeli (Kenya/Fujitsu) - 59:32 (Road to Records 2022)

Bedan Karoki (Kenya/Toyota) - 59:37 (Buenos Aires 2023)

Joseph Karanja (Kenya/Aichi Seiko) - 59:48 (Madrid 2021)

Tsegay Kidane (Ethiopia) - 59:49 (Antrim 2023)

Andrew Lorot (Kenya/YKK) - 59:54 (Marugame 2023)

Kazuki Matsuyama (Toyo Univ.) - 1:00:43 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2022)

Evans Keitany (Kenya/Toyota Boshoku) - 27:11.88 (Hachioji 2022)

Jonathan Ndiku (Kenya/Logisteed) - 27:12.84 (Nittai Univ. 2022)

Timothy Kibet (Kenya/Makes)- 27:17.41 (Hengelo 2021)

Jackson Kavesa (Kenya/Chuo Hatsujo) - 27:38.50 (Nittai Univ. 2022)

Para Men

T70 - Koichiro Yamanaka (Tokyo T&F Assoc.) - 1:08:41 (Yokohama 2008)

T54 - Tomoki Suzuki (Toyota) - 38:32 (Oita 2021)

T46 - Tsutomu Nagata (Niigata T&F Assoc.) - 1:10:57 (Beppu Oita 2022)

T20 - Yoshitatsu Hishinuma (Miyagi TFC) - 1:09:21 (National ID Half 2023)

T12 - Tadashi Horikoshi (NTT Nishi Nihon) - 1:08:19 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2013)

T11 - Kenya Karasawa (Subaru) - 1:08:30 (Tokyo Legacy Half 2022)

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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