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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 Taninaka going to the front and then Kiyama, barely sub-66 for the half marathon but with a 13:37.54 for 5000 m to his name, pushing the pace at 16 km. That dropped most of the pack including Yoshida, and another surge from Murakami cut it down to just him, Kiyama and DBU's 19-year-old Kazura Munakata. Munakata attacked on the downhill of an underpass just before 18 km, and when Murakami and Kiyama dropped he rode that momentum all the way to the win.




Munakata's winning time of 1:01:38 was a new U20 national record, 3 seconds under the old record held by 3000 m SC NR holder Ryuji Miura. Munakata came in with a 28:32.36 best for 10000 m, suggesting he had more in him than his 1:03:13 PB for the half, but his performance here was way beyond anyone's expectations. Kiyama came through in 1:01:59 for 2nd overall, a PB by 4 minutes. As the top 2 Japanese collegiate finishers Munakata and Kiyama scored invitations to next March's United Airlines NYC Half, a development program set up by JRN that has given top-level talent like Paris Olympics 6th-placer Akira Akasaki and former half marathon and marathon NR holder Yuta Shitara their first international racing experience.




Goddard came up to run down Taninaka and others who had fallen off, finishing 3rd overall in a 6-second PB of 1:02:01. "It was a great day," he told JRN post-race. "For years I've looked at the Ageo Half and been like that's just a bucket list race I really want to do. It was a great experience, being in that front pack. They don't lie when they say Japanese races go out pretty quick."

Behind the top 3, almost every single runner in the top 25 ran a PB. Ashiwa and ND Software corporate leaguers both ran sub-63 without breaking their PBs, and likewise for Yuta Nakagawa and Genta Tsuru from Izumo and Nationals winner Koku Gakuin University. CGU's Yoshida was the only other exception, fading to 1:03:00 for 22nd after getting dropped by the Komazawa tag team move at 15 km. Along with Goddard there was a heavier than usual international presence, with Chinese runners Wenjie Wang and Zhongping Chen running PBs of 1:02:38 and 1:03:08 and American Jacob Shiohira running a PB 1:03:19 for 29th overall. The top 3 women all ran PBs too, led by last year's 3rd-placer Aoi Makara in 1:15:31. Conditions might have gotten hot in the last 5 km after the morning cloud cover broke, but overall it was one of the fastest years in Ageo history.

In terms of Ageo's impact on the lead-up to Hakone, Komazawa was the big winner of the day. Along with Kiyama running 1:01:59 for 2nd it had the 3rd, 4th, 7th, 9th, 14th and 16th collegiate finishers, all in sub-63 PBs or debuts. None of its A-list athletes who made up the core of its runner-up teams in Izumo and Nationals ran, meaning Ageo gave it the depth this year's roster has lacked so far. "All our athletes ran well today, especially our 1st-years," head coach Atsushi Fujita told JRN after the race. "This puts us in a very good position."

Daito Bunka also had a good day, Munakata and Kihiro Irihama, 1:02:07 for 6th overall, leading the way but 5 members running new sub-64 PBs. 2024 Hakone Ekiden 3rd-placer Josai University also had the kind of depth-building day Ageo is designed for, 3rd-year Tatsuki Yamanaka and 1st-year Shun Miyake both running PBs under 1:03 and 5 members delivering sub-64 PBs. Koku Gakuin might have been the weak link from the top tier with no new additions to its A-list, but with both Nakagawa and Tsuru still having run under 1:03 it's not really worth reading too much into it at this point. There's still 6 and a half weeks to Hakone, and you can be sure KGU is going to show up at 100% in its shot at joining the tiny club of schools to have swept all 3 major university ekidens in a single season.

37th Ageo City Half Marathon

Ageo, Saitama, 17 Nov. 2024

Women
1. Aoi Makara (unattached) - 1:15:31 - PB
2. Meari Obuchi (unattached) - 1:17:32 - PB
3. Kana Masuda (stylish) - 1:18:24 - PB

Men
1. Kazura Munakata (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 1:01:38 - U20 NR
2. Yudai Kiyama (Komazawa Univ.) - 1:01:59 - PB
3. Edward Goddard (Australia) - 1:02:01 - PB
4. Hibiki Murakami (Komazawa Univ.) - 1:02:04 - PB
5. Haru Taninaka (Komazawa Univ.) - 1:02:05 - debut
6. Kihiro Irihama (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 1:02:07 - PB
7. Itsuki Koizumi (Hosei Univ.) - 1:02:13 - PB
8. Atsumi Ashiwa (Honda) - 1:02:22
9. Mahiro Yoshimoto (Komazawa Univ.) - 1:02:30 - PB
10. Taisei Ichikawa (Chuo Gakuin Univ.) - 1:02:32 - PB
11. Shoya Koyama (Komazawa Univ.) - 1:02:38 - PB
12. Wenjie Wang (China) - 1:02:38 - PB
13. Rinta Miyaoka (Waseda Univ.) - 1:02:39 - PB
14. Ryuto Kawahara (Juntendo Univ.) - 1:02:45 - PB
15. Daisuke Shimojo (ND Software) - 1:02:46
16. Yuta Nakagawa (Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 1:02:46
17. Genta Tsuru (Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 1:02:49
18. Seiryu Morishige (Komazawa Univ.) - 1:02:51 - PB
19. Tatsuki Yamanaka (Josai Univ.) - 1:02:52 - PB
20. Kaisei Yasuhara (Komazawa Univ.) - 1:02:55 - PB
21. Shun Miyake (Josai Univ.) - 1:02:58 - PB
22. Reishi Yoshida (Chuo Gakuin Univ.) - 1:03:00
23. Fumiya Oshima (Hosei Univ.) - 1:03:00 - PB
24. Yuta Asakawa (Teikyo Univ.) - 1:03:02 - PB
25. Ryuki Kobayashi (Josai Univ.) - 1:03:04 - PB
-----
50. Iori Oda (Josai Univ.) - 1:03:42

text and photos © 2024 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

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