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Tsurukawa Leads Aoyama Gakuin to Team Title at Yaizu Minato Half Marathon


The 39th Yaizu Minato Half Marathon happened Sunday, starting and finishing in the fishing port area of Yaizu, Shizuoka. In Yaizu Minato's unique Pair Marathon team competition that combines the two fastest times from competing universities to determine the winner, 2024 Hakone Ekiden champ Aoyama Gakuin University took the team title thanks to 4th-year Masaya Tsurukawa's overall win in 1:02:49 and 3rd-year Daichi Kanda's 1:03:04 for 3rd for a combined time of 2:05:53. Non-scoring member Sena Minawatari was 4th in 1:03:07, showing Aoyama Gakuin's depth of strength in Yaizu too.

Toyo University was 2nd in 2:06:041, with Taiga Usune running 1:03:10 and Hiroto Baba 1:03:31. Koku Gakuin University took 3rd in 2:06:51, Toma Tanaka at 1:03:18 and Shoma Kamada 1:03:33. Tokai University's Yuki Kani ran an excellent 1:02:59 for 2nd.

But although the Yaizu Minato Half Marathon is a JAAF-certified course, a mistake by the organizers in placing a cone at the turnaround point meant the course this year was slightly short and that times including the team marks will be unofficial. A spokesperson for the race said, "We'd like to apologize to every team and athlete. We will measure and report later how short the course was." The mistake was realized in time to correct it for the general division race, which started five minutes after the university race. Results from the general division race will be official.

39th Yaizu Minato Half Marathon

National Pair Marathon Championships
Yaizu, Shizuoka, 7 April 2024

University Men (short course)
1. Masaya Tsurukawa (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:02:49
2. Yuki Kani (Tokai Univ.) - 1:02:59
3. Daichi Kanda (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:03:04
4. Sena Minawatari (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:03:07
5. Taiga Usune (Toyo Univ.) - 1:03:10
6. Toma Tanaka (Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 1:03:18
7. Hijiri Komatsu (Komazawa Univ.) - 1:03:19
8. Hiroto Baba (Toyo Univ.) - 1:03:31
9. Shoma Kamada (Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 1:03:33
10. Koichi Shoji (Chuo Univ.) - 1:03:48
11. Daisuke Yamaguchi (Chuo Univ.) - 1:03:58
12. Tomohiro Inuzuka (Senshu Univ.) - 1:04:00
13. Shunsuke Nishimaki (Nittai Univ.) - 1:04:16
14. Koki Ueda (Shibaura Kogyo Univ.) - 1:04:20
15. Ruki Sasaki (Surugadai Univ.) - 1:04:20
16. Kosuke Shimura (Obirin Univ.) - 1:04:23
17. Ren Waseda (Surugadai Univ.) - 1:04:31
18. Ikumu Sunaba (Reitaku Univ.) - 1:04:35
19. Kyohei Tominaga (Obirin Univ.) - 1:04:40
20. Koki Akiyama (Shibaura Kogyo Univ.) - 1:04:42
21. Rikuto Tsukamoto (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) - 1:04:58
22. Hayate Watanabe (Rissho Univ.) - 1:05:13
23. Shun Shinmoto (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) - 1:05:19
24. Sota Yamasaki (Chuo Univ.) - 1:05:21
25. Yoshiki Omura (Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) - 1:05:34
26. So Tamura (Komazawa Univ.) - 1:05:39
27. Ryuto Hasegawa (Shibaura Kogyo Univ.) - 1:05:39
28. Masaya Iwasaki (Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 1:05:58
29. Yu Kurotani (Chuo Gakuin Univ.) - 1:06:07
30. Kosei Niitani (Komazawa Univ.) - 1:06:26
31. Yuki Sakamoto (Reitaku Univ.) - 1:06:26
32. Riku Hibino (Senshu Univ.) - 1:06:29
33. Hiroaki Maeda (Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) - 1:06:45
34. Kyosuke Nagayoshi (Toyo Univ.) - 1:06:46
35. Shoki Sugimoto (Reitaku Univ.) - 1:06:51
36. Daichi Sudo (Tokai Univ.) - 1:06:53

Pair Marathon Team Results (short course)
1. Aoyama Gakuin University - 2:05:55
2. Toyo University - 2:06:41
3. Koku Gakuin University - 2:06:51
4. Chuo University - 2:07:46
5. Surugadai University - 2:08:51
6. Komazawa University - 2:08:58
7. Shibaura Kogyo University - 2:09:02
8. Obirin University - 2:09:03
9. Tokai University - 2:09:52
10. Yamanashi Gakuin Univ. - 2:10:17
11. Senshu University - 2:10:29
12. Reitaku University - 2:11:01
13. Tokyo Kokusai University - 2:12:24

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