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 Yoshida is the big boy in the field, with the 2nd-fastest 5000 m best, 13:30.30, and the fastest 10000 m and half marathon times, 27:47.01 and 1:00:31. Never having made it to NYC, CGU is coming in hot with two of its other best half marathoners on the list, Hiro Konda at 1:02:08 and Seia Hotta at 1:02:14.

2nd at the Izumo and National University Ekiden this season, Komazawa University has sent more people to New York than any other school, and its chances this time pretty much lie with 3rd-year Aoi Ito, 1:01:16 for the half marathon. The team that beat Komazawa at both ekidens, Koku Gakuin University has also never had a runner score one of the NYC Half tickets, but this time around it has A-lister Goki Takayama 1:01:42, and top-tier members Genta Tsuru, 1:02:15 and Kuranosuke Yoshida, 1:02:29, on its list.

Other top collegiate names include Sho Fukuda (Teikyo Univ.), 1:02:03, Kodai Miyaoka (Hosei Univ.), 1:02:07, Kyohei Oda (Daito Bunka Univ.), 1:02:09, and Kazusa Nakanuma (Chuo Univ.), 1:02:19. Sub-28:30 10000 m runners Fumiya Oshima (Hosei Univ.), Kihiro Iriyama (Daito Bunka Univ.) and Ryota Shibako (Teikyo Univ.) will be looking to run half marathon times that match their track credentials. There's a noticeable shortage of Kenyan talent up front, but Duncan Kisaisa (Senshu Univ.), Evans Kiprop (Daito Bunka Univ.), Solomon Mutuku (Soka Univ.) and even visiting Australian Edward Goddard are all good enough to factor into the front pack.

Live streaming of the Ageo City Half Marathon will be posted on the race website shortly before the race. JRN will be on-site in the lead car to cover the race live.

Federation Tells World Championships Marathoner Horibata To Go On Diet

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/news/20110307-OHT1T00258.htm translated by Brett Larner Having made the 2011 World Championships marathon team by running a PB of 2:09:25 to come in 3rd overall and as the top Japanese finisher at the Mar. 6 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, Hiroyuki Horibata (24, Team Asahi Kasei), talked to the media at Osaka Airport on Mar. 7. Following Sunday's race Rikuren director Keisuke Sawaki , 67, told Horibata, "Let's cut things down a bit until the World Championships," directing him to go on a diet. The 189 cm Horibata weighs 72 kg [~6'3", 160 lbs]. When he joined Team Asahi Kasei in 2005 at age 18 he weighed 65 kg, and this weight is still generally listed on his profile at races and in the media. "For some reason it never changes," he said with a grin. His coach Takeshi Soh , 58, commented, "If he was hungrier for glory his world would change completely," slapping the 'heavyweight division runner...

Rui Aoki Wins National University Men's Half Marathon - Weekend Results

Yuka Ando 's win at the Nagoya Women's Marathon was the big news of the weekend, but there were other high-level races happening, even in Nagoya. Held in parallel with the marathon, the Nagoya City Half Marathon saw Australians Natalie Rule and Ed Goddard take easy wins by about 2.5 minutes each, Rule in 1:13:57 and Goddard in 1:04:01. The new Biwako Marathon also had a non-Japanese winner, China's Yousheng Guan scoring 1st in 2:14:58 with Japan's Hirohito Sugai next in 2:16:40. Mikiko Ota won the women's race in 2:50:44. The Shizuoka Marathon returned for its first running in five years, with club runner Shumpei Oda leading the top 7 men under 2:20 in 2:15:36. Women's winner Remi Tanaka ran 2:41:23, beating runner-up Ayumi Sano by exactly 7 minutes. And in Tokyo, Rui Aoki continued what has been a great season so far for Koku Gakuin University with a win at the National University Men's Half Marathon . Aoki and Hiro Konda of Chuo Gakuin Unive...

Tomita Breaks Gold Coast Half CR

After a great season so far that has included a win on the New Year Ekiden First Stage in January and a 1:00:58 PB at the National Corporate Half in February, Shumpei Tomita (Logisteed) added another one with a 1:00:52 CR for the win at the China Airlines Gold Coast Half Marathon . Pacer James Hansen and 2-time winner Brett Robinson went out fast, with Australian 10 km NR holder Sam Clifford and Chuo University student Daichi Fujita closing it up to make a lead quartet that hit 5 km in 14:12. Clifford soon dropped off, and when Hansen stepped off at 10 km in 28:44 it was down to just Robinson and Fujita. Fujita, who came into the race with only a 1:03:57 best, couldn't hang with the more experienced Robinson and faded, although to his credit he hung on for a new PB of 1:02:55 in 12th. Robinson looked like he had a 3rd title down, but by 15 km, hit in 43:33, he'd been run down by the front end of the chase pack, Tomita, veteran Kazuto Kawabata and debuting Australian Ed ...

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