Mariko Yugeta Returns, Tamana Half at 75, and More

Mariko Yugeta Returns, Tamana Half at 75, and More - Weekend Update

The Tokyo Marathon dominated the landscape this weekend, from the fastest-ever runs on Japanese soil by winners Sutume Asefa Kebede and Benson Kipruto to Yusuke Nishiyama's heartbreaking reaction to missing the Paris Olympics team despite an excellent 2:06:31 after falling to Khishigsaikhan Galbadrakh's 2:26:32 Mongolian NR that qualified for the Paris Olympics. There were dozens of other stories in the race, like Joan Benoit Samuelson completing her World Marathon Majors six star, and her longtime fan Mariko Yugeta running 3:01:28 at age 65. Including the 19 seconds it took her to get to the start line Yugeta went through halfway in 1:29:05 and was still on track for sub-3 at 35 km, but over the last 7.195 km it slipped away. Still, though, it was a single-age world record, that age graded to a 2:10:54 marathon.

At the Kagoshima Marathon, locally-based Eritrean Dejen Tesfalem Weldu who graduated from Seisa University last year won his debut in 2:14:50, almost two minutes ahead of local hero Yusuke Tobimatsu. Rio Olympics 5000 m finalist Miyuki Uehara took the women's race by 5 minutes in a low-key 2:39:17. In a tempo run effort for April's Boston Marathon, Ryoma Takeuchi (ND Soft) set a new course record at the Tamba Sasayama ABC Marathon, with a 2:14:37 for the win. Club runner Ayumi Yokota won the women's race in 2:41:15.

In Kumamoto, the Kanaguri Hai Tamana Half Marathon celebrated its 75th edition with a close race in the men's race that saw Ryoma Inoue (Chudenko) win a four-way sprint finish in 1:03:11 a second ahead of Kaito Suetsugu (Teikyo Univ.), Ryuto Uehara (Koku Gakuin Univ.) and Masanori Sumida (Aichi Seiko). Ibusuki Nanohana Marathon winner Yuki Kawauchi (ADHS) continued a downward spiral since getting injured in January, running 1:13:35 after starting on track to break 1:10. Miyaka Sugata (Japan Post) ran a very decent 32:51 to win the women's 10 km, with Koshiro Tanimoto (Omuta H.S.) taking the high school boys' 10 km in 29:35.

Overseas, indoor 3000 m Asian record holder Nozomi Tanaka Bubkaed her way to another AR with an 8:36.03 for 8th at the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Scotland. Shuhei Tada ran a 6.52 NR in the heats of the men's 60 m, then 6.56 in the semifinals. But in the final he felt a twinge in one leg and limped in 2nd-to-last in 6.70. Post-race he reported no serious damage. Teammate Akihiro Higashida made the semifinals with a first-round 6.62 but didn't make the next cut after running 6.67. Ryoichi Akamatsu was 9th of 12 in the men's high jump after clearing only 2.15 m. Sumire Hata equalled that with a 9th in the women's long jump at 6.43 m. Masumi Aoki didn't make it out of her 60 m heat, running 8.13 for 5th in Heat 1. Mariko Morimoto had no mark in the women's triple jump.

A large number of Japanese athletes were also at Australia's Canberra Track Classic. Top performers there included Ryohei Arai taking the men's javelin throw at 77.22 m, Yuki Yamashita winning the men's triple jump in 15.88 m -2.2 m/s, Maoko Takashima taking 2nd in the women's triple jump at 13.67 m +1.6 m/s, Tetsuro Nishi 2nd in the men's 110 mH in 13.84 -0.7 m/s, Yutaro Niinae 4th in the men's 3000 mSC in 8:42.49, Tomoka Kimura with a 4:16.69 for 4th in the women's 1500 m, and Yusuke Takahashi running 3:43.40 for 6th in the men's 1500 m.

Everything You Need to Know About the 2026 Hakone Ekiden

The Hakone Ekiden is the world's biggest road race, 2 days of road relay action with Japan's 20 best university teams racing 10 half marathon-scale legs from central Tokyo to the mountains east of Mount Fuji and back. The level just keeps going higher and higher , hitting the point this year where there are teams with 10-runner averages of 13:33.10 for 5000 m, 27:55.98 for 10000 m, and 1:01:20 for the half marathon. It's never been better, and with great weather in the forecast it's safe to say this could be one of the best races in Hakone's 102-year history, especially on Day One. If you've seen it then you know NTV's live broadcast is the best sports broadcast in the world, with the pre-race show kicking off at 7:00 a.m. Japan time on the 2nd and 3rd and the race starting at 8:00 a.m. sharp. If you've got a VPN you should be able to watch it on TVer starting at 7:50 a.m. on the 2nd , and again at 7:50 a.m. on the 3rd . There's even a 2-hour high...

Long Time Coming - Akira Akasaki and Haruka Onodera's Road to the 2022 United Airlines NYC Half

Back in pre-pandemic days Akira Akasaki and Haruka Onodera were still in college, Akasaki at Takushoku University and Onodera at Teikyo University . At the 2019 Ageo City Half Marathon they frontran most of the race together, dead set on finishing in the top two Japanese collegiate spots to win invitations to the 2020 United Airlines NYC Half. For Akasaki it had already been a year and a half wait. Inspired by Kenta Murayama 's 1:00:57 5th place in finish in New York in 2017 and Kei Katanishi 's 7th-place in 2018, Akasaki went for it his junior year in his debut at the 2018 Ageo Half . "Coming up to 10 km I was in the lead pack and feeling good, so I knew I had a shot at going to New York and got pretty excited," he said. But right after the 10 km turnaround point he tripped and fell, and by the time he was back up the lead group was out of range. He finished 20th in 1:03:07, over a minute and a half behind top Japanese university man Ken Nakayama . "I was f...

My Training for 1:00:44

Hi, I'm Ayumu Kobayashi . Today I'm going to write about this year's National Corporate Half Marathon and the training I did for it. I hope other runners will find it even a little bit helpful. At the Corporate Half on Feb. 13 I was 10th in 1:00:44. My goal had been to run 61 minutes, so I hit that target. My Training Menu In January I ran a total of 681 km. Key workouts: Jan. 11: 1000 m x 5 at 2:50/km Jan. 12: 22.5 km Jan. 15: 9 km variable pace Jan. 17: 25 km Jan. 24: 1000 m x 8 at 2:52/km Jan. 27: 1 km + 4 km + 2 km Jan. 30: 16 km at 3:18/km avg. In January I was tired from the New Year Ekiden and had some knee pain after it, so I just jogged for 10 days until I started doing workouts again on the 11th. That's why I only ran 681 km for the month. But even on the jog days I was aware that I had the Corporate Half coming up, so I was doing around 30 km. It's pretty meat and potatoes, but I think it was really important. February (training for the 10 days before...

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