Big Japanese Results in Berlin

Results at this year's Berlin Marathon were big overall, with 6 women under 2:21 and 14 men under 2:07, and in both the women's and men's races multiple Japanese athletes had great days. In the women's race Paris Olympics marathon alternate Ai Hosoda (Edion) and Tokyo Olympics marathon alternate Mizuki Matsuda (Daihatsu) ran the entire way together, 1:10:13 through halfway and 2:13:09 at 40 km. Hosoda had the better closing speed, finishing in an all-time Japanese #7 2:20:31 for 5th.

Matsuda, who had previously broken 2:21 in her win at the 2022 Osaka International Women's Marathon, took 10 seconds off her time in that race for an all-time Japanese #8 2:20:42 for 6th. Having floated retirement after missing the Paris team, it was a great payoff for Matsuda's decision to give it one more go. Hosoda's 2:20 was a major breakthrough, but as her 5th time going under 2:22 Matsuda's performance solidified her position as one of Japan's best ever.

After a 2:06:53 debut for 7th in Osaka last year the Toshinari Takaoka-coached Yohei Ikeda (Kao) was sent to the Asian Games instead of being named to the Budapest World Championships team. In Berlin he, Yusuke Tamura (Kurosaki Harima) and Yuhei Urano (Fujitsu) went out together on 2:05:45 pace with another group including Kento Kikutani (Toyota Boshoku) and Hideyuki Tanaka (Toyota) a short distance back.

Ikeda accelerated to NR pace after 10 km, hitting halfway in 1:02:25, leaving Tamura and Urano to drop back to the following group at 1:02:35. At 30 km Ikeda was on 2:05:06 pace, Tamura, Urano and Tanaka all dead on 2:06-flat pace. By 40 km Ikeda had jumped up to 7th overall, and with a strong last kick overtook Ethiopian Tadese Takele right before the finish to take 6th in 2:05:12, the 2nd-fastest time ever by a Japanese man and only 16 seconds off the NR.

Tamura was next at 19th in a PB 2:07:38, another big step by one of the more interesting people in Japanese athletics. Urano blew up hard, dropping to 46th in 2:16:27 after being overtaken by Kikutani, 30th in 2:11:17, Tanaka, 31st in 2:11:21, and amateur Yuji Shibukawa (Gunma United AC), who wasn't far off his 2:15:40 best from Tokyo this year with a 2:16:26 for 45th to edge Urano at the line.

Up front, Ethiopian athletes pulled off the double. In the women's race they took the top 4 spots, with Tigist Ketema running a solid 2:16:42 for the win by just over 2 minutes. Milkesa Mingesha won the men's race, leading 4 men under 2:04 with a 2:03:17.

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

Shiojiri, Kasai and Tazawa Scratch from Hachioji Long Distance, 5000 m Dropped from Program (updated)

On Nov. 15 the East Japan Corporate Federation announced that 10000 m national champion and Paris Olympian Jun Kasai (Asahi Kasei) and Budapest World Championships team member Ren Tazawa (Toyota) have both withdrawn from the 10000 m at the Nov. 23 Hachioji Long Distance meet. This year's Hachioji Long Distance features a special heat set up to target the 27:00.00 qualifying standard for next year's Tokyo World Championships. Along with Kasai and Tazawa, national record holder Kazuya Shiojiri (Fujitsu) and other top-level Japanese talent are scheduled to compete. After last January's New Year Ekiden , Tazawa sustained an injury that forced him to miss May's National Championships 10000 m and other races including the Paris Olympics. At the end of September he ran 13:36.99 for 5th at the Yogibo Athletics Challenge Cup meet, but, he said, "My balance felt off and the back of my left knee hurt." In Kasai's case, after winning the national title in M

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