Hirabayashi Runs PB at Shanghai Half, WR Holder Nakata Dominates Fuji Five Lakes

Hirabayashi Runs PB at Shanghai Half, WR Holder Nakata Dominates Fuji Five Lakes - Weekend Road Roundup

Returning to the roads after his 2:06:18 win at February's Osaka Marathon, Kiyoto Hirabayashi (Koku Gakuin University) took 5th at Sunday's Shanghai Half Marathon in a PB 1:01:23, just under a minute behind winner Roncer Kipkorir Konga (Kenya) who clocked a CR 1:00:29. After inexplicably running the equivalent of a sub-59 half marathon to win the Hakone Ekiden's Third Stage, Aoi Ota (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) was back to running performances consistent with his other PBs with a 1:02:30 for 8th. His AGU teammate Kyosuke Hiramatsu was 10th in 1:04:00. Women's winner Magdalena Shauri (Tanzania) also set a new CR in 1:09:57.

Aoyama Gakuin runners took the top four spots in the men's half marathon at the Aomori Sakura Marathon, with Hakone alternate Kosei Shiraishi getting the win in 1:04:32 and B-team members Shunto Hamakawa and Kei Kitamura 2nd and 3rd in 1:04:45 and 1:04:48. Club runners took the other division titles, Hina Shinozaki winning the women's half in 1:20:47, Shota Hiwatashi the men's marathon in 2:26:50 and Eri Suzuki the women's marathon in 2:44:57.

The bigger marathon was in Nagano, Keigo Yano (Kao) went for a long surge from 5 km out to drop the rest of a lead group of seven and win the Nagano Marathon in 2:15:53. Yuta Inage (Press Kogyo) took 2nd in 2:17:04 and Haruki Masago (Aichi Seiko) 3rd in his debut in 2:17:20. Rie Kawauchi (Otsuka Seiyaku) soloed a 2:33:16 to win the women's race by over four minutes. The debuting Chisato Kagaya (Tokyo Metro) was one second/km slower that Kawauchi most of the way but tanked over the last 10 km, overtaken by trail runner Chifumi Ito (Shikazoku), 2nd in a 2:37:32 PB, and falling to 3rd in 2:42:05.

A week earlier, Sakiho Tsutsui (Yamada Holdings) ran the Rotterdam Marathon for the second year in a row. After running 2:29:09 last year Tsutsui improved to 2:26:51 this time, but with a more competitive field placed only 10th versus her 8th in 2023.

The popular Fuji Five Lakes Ultramarathon also happened Sunday. Kenshiro Sakamoto won the 120 km Sparta men's division in 10:06:01, Yuichi Aikawa the men's 118 km in 9:13:21, Yusuke Kodama the men's 100 km in a solid 6:56:14, and Takuya Uesugi the men's 62 km in 4:25:28. The only woman entered in the 120 km, Tomomi Bito was a DNF, but 24-hour world record holder Miho Nakata took the 118 km division in 9:22:35 for 2nd overall behind men's winner Aikawa. Mai Arizuka won the women's 100 km in 8:03:28, with Kanako Tomita the women's 62 km winner in 5:14:31.

2026 Tokyo Marathon Elite Field

The Mar. 1 Tokyo Marathon has great fields this year, so let's get right to it. The women's field has 3 of last year's top 10, winner for the 2nd year in a row and Tokyo CR holder Sutume Asefa Kebede , 3rd-placer and 2025 Chicago winner Hawi Feysa , and 5th-placer and 2025 Berlin winner Rosemary Wanjiru , plus 2024 Valencia winner Megertu Alemu , 2025 Prague winner Bertukan Welde , 2024 Paris winner Mestawut Fikir , 2024 Osaka winner Waganesh Mekasha , former WR holder Brigid Kosgei , and a lot more. Japanese hopes pretty much go to all-time #7 Ai Hosoda , 2:20:31 in Berlin 2024 but who announced this month that she is retiring after Tokyo despite having qualified for the 2028 Olympic marathon trials with her 2:23:27 for 6th in Sydney last year. Other internationals include Canadian Malindi Elmore , American Sara Hall , a big Chinese group led by Yuyu Xia , Poland's Aleksandra Brzezińska and Australian Vanessa Wilson . The men's race has 5 of last year's top 1...

Measuring Marathon Courses by Bicycle

http://news.searchina.ne.jp/disp.cgi?y=2013&d=0110&f=column_0110_034.shtml translated by Brett Larner The full marathon is a sport where you compete over 42.195 km, but how do they go about measuring that distance? Today we're going to look a little bit at how they go about certifying the distance of a marathon. The reality is that major international marathons use a bicycle to measure the distance. This rule is an international standard, and the same method of measurement is used everywhere. It was put into place in 1986. In order to ensure that the same method is used everywhere, a bicycle that meets IAAF specifications must be used for measurement. In the case of Japan's major marathons, to be certain that the distance is correct a provisional measurement is first made. Before the course is certified using a bicycle the course is measured using a 50 m-long length of wire to determine that it is in fact 42.195 km. When a bicycle is u...

Ai Hosoda Announces Retirement

photo © 2025 Victah Sailer/Photo Run, all rights reserved On Jan. 8 the Edion women's corporate team announced that Ai Hosoda , 30, will retire at the end of March this year. The Tokyo Marathon will be her last race. At Nagano Higashi H.S. Hosoda ran in the National High School Ekiden her 2nd and 3rd years. During her 3rd year at Nittai University she won both the 5000 m and 10000 m at the Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships, going on to win the bronze medal in the 10000 m at the World University Games in her 4th year at Nittai. After graduating she joined the Daihatsu corporate team, debuting at the 2019 Nagoya Women's Marathon in 2:29:27. 2 years later she transferred to Edion. She qualified for the Paris Olympics marathon trials at the 2022 Nagoya Women's Marathon and finished 3rd in the trials in the fall of 2023, but was later bumped down to Olympic alternate after another athlete ran a faster time. Instead of the Olympics, Hosoda ran the 2024 Ber...

japan running news

Search This Blog