Fukuoka, Hofu and Kosa - Weekend Road Preview

Sunday is a big day for road racing in Japan, with three major races, the Fukuoka International Marathon, Hofu Yomiuri Marathon and Kumamoto Kosa 10-Mile Road Race all happening. Even before them there's a big event Saturday, a one-day mini edition of the Nittai University Time Trials track meet in Yokohama with a large number of people who raced last weekend's Hachioji Long Distance meet or Queens Ekiden on the start lists.

Fukuoka is really the main event, set up to try to get one runner, 2:06:35 man Kyohei Hosoya (Kurosaki Harima), to the 2:05:50 he needs to steal the third spot on the Paris Olympic team from the 3rd-placer at October's Olympic marathon trials, former NR holder Suguru Osako (GMO). Hosoya fell in the trials and dropped out. Since then he's run well in shorter races and doesn't seem to have any lingering damage, but considering that he's never broken 2:08 again since his 2:06:35 at the Miracle at Lake Biwa in 2021 it'd be a stretch for him to pull the time standard off. And with no other sub-2:10 Japanese men in the field it really is all up to him.

Ethiopian Abebe Negewo Degefa is the only runner in the field to have run under 2:05:50 recently, with Kenyans Bethel Yegon and Abel Kirui at the 2:06 level and Vincent Raimoi (Kenya/Suzuki), Zerei Kbrom Mezngi (Norway), Michael Githae (Kenya/Suzuki), Brett Robinson (Australia), Bethwell Kipkemboi Ruto (Kenya) and Shaohui Yang (China) at 2:07. Past champ Sondre Nordstad Moen (Norway) is also in the race. TV Asahi will be broadcasting Fukuoka live via local affiliate KBC starting at 12:00 noon local time. More on the Fukuoka field here.

When Fukuoka announced that it was being discontinued in 2021 the Hofu Yomiuri Marathon, traditionally held two weeks later, was quick to take over Fukuoka's date on the first Sunday of December for its 2022 running. The unexpected return of Fukuoka meant both races happened on the same day last year, and with Hofu organizers sticking to their decision it's going to happen again this year. Past Ageo City Half Marathon winner Simon Kariuki (Togami Denki) leads the field with a 2:07:18 from Lake Biwa 2021, and looking at the Japanese entries, two 2:07 men, two 2:08, and one 2:09, it's pretty clear why there's a big hole in the Fukuoka field between Hosoya and the next-fastest Japanese runner there, 2:10:41 man Takuma Kumagai (Sumitomo Denko).

Like Hosoya and Kariuki, the #2 and #3 entries in Hofu, Yuki Kawauchi (ANDS) and Atsumi Ashiwa (Honda) ran their bests of 2:07:27 and 2:07:54 at Lake Biwa 2021 and haven't improved on them since. #4 seed Yuki Nakamura (Sumitomo Denko) is the best in the race with a PB from somewhere else, a 2:08:29 for the win at last year's Hofu. Also in the race is Mongolian NR holder and past Hofu winner Ser-Od Bat-Ochir (Shin Nihon Jusetsu), trying to get on the boards for qualification for his 6th-straight Olympics after running a career 2nd-best 1:02:37 two weeks ago at the Ageo City Half Marathon.

Hofu also has small women's and IPC fields. Sakiho Tsutsui (Yamada Holdings) and Ayano Ikeuchi (Denso) are the fastest women with recent bests of 2:28:45 and 2:33:29, with Tokyo Paralympians Tadashi Horikoshi (NTT Nishi Nihon) and Yumiko Fujii (Biwako Timers) leading the IPC races. Local broadcaster KRY will be showing the race at 10:40 a.m. local time, with streaming on Hulu and a finish line cam on Youtube. Complete Hofu field listing here.

The race where Benard Koech (Kyudenko) set a new world best for 10 miles last year, the Kumamoto Kosa 10-Mile Road Race, which also has high-level high school boys' 10 km and women's 5 km races, is a key tune-up for all the big championship ekidens still on the calendar from high school to collegiate to corporate league. Top entries in the 10-miler include 2:05:51 marathoner Ichitaka Yamashita (Mitsubishi Juko), 3000 mSC national record holder Ryuji Miura (Juntendo Univ.), 59:18 half marathoner Cleophas Kandie (Mitsubishi Juko), sub-61 half marathoners Joseph Razini Lemeteki (Yasukawa Denki), Kenta Murayama (Asahi Kasei) and Kiyoshi Koga (Yasukawa Denki) and many more. Streaming starts above at 10:35 a.m. local time for the women's 5 km and 11:20 for the men's 10 miles. Live results for all distances will be here. Complete entry lists here.

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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