National University Women's Half Marathon, The TEN, United Airlines NYC Half and More

National University Women's Half Marathon, The TEN, United Airlines NYC Half and More - Weekend Preview

There are a lot of Japanese athletes racing overseas this weekend, but at home the main action is the National University Women's Half Marathon Sunday in Matsue. Last year's runner-up Rio Einaga of Osaka Gakuin University and 3rd and 5th-placers Saki Harada and Nanase Tanimoto from six-time national champion Meijo University lead the entry list, with their top competition including Saki Arai of Daito Bunka University, the anchor stage winner at December's Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden national championship, Yuiri Ogata, Sakurako Yanai and Momoko Shimada from Mt. Fuji runner-up team Nittai University, and Yui Yoshii, Momona Yotsumoto and Mariya Noda from 3rd-place team Daito Bunka University. Complete entry list here.

Overseas, the biggest block of Japanese athletes will be at Sound Running's The TEN in California. With a best of 31:34.39 Mikuni Yada (Edion) is the only Japanese woman in the meet, running the 10000 m Paris section. Hibiki Obara (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) is in the men's 1500 m, and the men's 10000 m Early and Tracktown sections have Itta Tameike (Chuo Univ.), Takato Suzuki (SGH), Shu Hasegawa (Kao) and Shotaro Ishihara (Tokai Univ.). But the men's 10000 m Paris section is the main event from the Japanese point of view, with 7 men on the entry list of 40:

Kazuya Shiojiri (Fujitsu) - 27:09.80 - NR
Tomoki Ota (Toyota) - 27:12.53 - all-time JPN #2
Tatsuhiko Ito (Honda) - 27:25.73 - all-time JPN #5
Keita Sato (Komazawa Univ.) - 27:28.50 - U20 AR, all-time JPN #8
Kazuki Tamura (Sumitomo Denko) - 27:28.92 - all-time JPN #9
Mebuki Suzuki (Komazawa Univ.) - 27:30.69
Kotaro Shinohara (Komazawa Univ.) - 27:38.66

Hopes are high that the race will see Japan's first sub-27. Complete entry lists here. Streaming here.

In New York, three Japanese men are in the United Airlines NYC Half. 2024 national cross-country champ Tomonori Yamaguchi (Waseda Univ.) and Rei Matsunaga (Hosei Univ.) are running as part of JRN's collegiate development collaboration project between November's Ageo City Half Marathon and the United Airline NYC Half. Yamaguchi's Waseda teammate Taishi Ito is also running, all three of them holding sub-62 bests. Top entries in the field include 58:07 man Abel Kipchumba, the legend Kenenisa Bekele, and U.S. Olympic marathon trials runner-up Clayton Young. Complete entry lists here. Streaming here.

Lastly, 2:28:51 marathoner Shiho Kaneshige (GRlab Yamaguchi) is the lone Japanese athlete lining up at the Sands China Macao International 10K in Macau. Kaneshige has a track 10000 m best of 32:41.46 and hopes to take a shot at the event's course record of 35:26.

Arao Becomes 1st Man in 40 Years to Score Back-to-Back Ome Road Race Wins

30 km is an under-appreciated distance, and both of Japan's big races at that distance happened Sunday. At the Ome Road Race in western Tokyo's mountains, Sydney Marathon 6th-placer Masato Arao (ND Software) became the first man since the great Kunimitsu Ito in 1985-1986 to win back-to-back years. Arao, who finished 39th of 40 on his leg at the New Year Ekiden last month, stayed in the pack through 20 km before going on the attack, putting over a minute on New Year Ekiden Sixth Stage CR breaker Yudai Shimazu (GMO). Sub-1:31 winning times are rare on the tough and hilly Ome course, but Arao's 1:30:54 almost equaled his 1:30:50 from last year, making him the first Japanese man ever to do it twice and second only to CR holder Ezekiel Cheboitibin . Next up Arao races the Tokyo Marathon, where he is targeting sub-2:06. Shimazu was 2nd in 1:31:58 and Yuta Nakayama (JR Higashi Nihon) 3rd in 1:32:07. Cheboitibin was only 9th, running almost 8 minutes off his CR in 1:36:42. Shi...

Nagoya Women's Marathon Elite Field

Last year's top 3 Sheila Chepkirui , Sayaka Sato and Eunice Chebichii Chumba are back for this year's Nagoya Women's Marathon on Mar. 8, but things are being set up more for it to be a race between Chepkirui, 2:17:49 in Berlin 2023, Aynalem Desta , 2:17:37 in Amsterdam last fall, and Japanese NR holder Honami Maeda , 2:18:59 at the Osaka International Women's Marathon in 2024. Aynalem has the freshest sub-2:20 of the 3, with neither Chepkirui nor Maeda having done it in 2 years. Maeda's only recent result is a 1:10:07 from Houston last month, but when she ran her NR she didn't have any kind of tuneup race to indicate her fitness so it's probably best not to read too much into that. If it goes out as a 2:18 race those are the only 3 who can probably hang with it. If it turns out to be more of a 2:20 race like when Chepkirui won in 2:20:40 last year then there's a group of 7 at the 2:20-2:22 level who will be in the picture, including Chumba, Selly Chep...

Osaka Marathon Preview

The Osaka Marathon is Sunday, one of Japan's biggest mass-participation races and the next stop on the calendar for its elite marathoners hoping to qualify for the L.A. Olympics marathon trials in the fall of 2027. Last year it snowed mid-race, but this year is looking warmer than ideal given the season, with sunny skies, almost no wind, and temps forecast to be 11˚ at the start and rising to 19˚ by the time the winners are finishing. NHK is broadcasting Osaka with a heavy emphasis on the men's race, and if you've got a VPN you should be able to watch it from overseas. There's also official streaming on Youtube starting at 8:30 a.m. local time, although it doesn't look like it's the same as what NHK will be showing. Given Osaka's history at the elite level as the continuation of the men-only Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, the women's field is small relative to the men's, just enough to tick World Athletics' label requirements and with almost no do...

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