Skip to main content

Furukawa Wins Katsuta Marathon by 1 Second


Japan's other big marathon this weekend, the Katsuta Marathon saw a tough four-way race in the men's marathon that came down to a sprint finish in the home straight. Tokyo University graduate student Hiroaki Furukawa, who last year launched action against the Hakone Ekiden organizers for not including a select team in the field for Hakone's 100th edition, passed Sota Yamamoto in the final meters to take 1st in 2:17:28 to Yamamoto's 2:17:29. 3rd and 4th-place Tatsuya Inagaki and Yudai Hiruta weren't far behind, Inagaki finishing in 2:17:41 and Hiruta in 2:17:56.

The women's race wasn't as close, but the top three were still only a little more than a minute apart. Kana Numata scored the top spot in 2:44:34, with Natsuki Tomii 2nd in 2:45:33 and Natsumi Kuroda 3rd in 2:45:56. Furukawa and Numata both scored invitations to April's Boston Marathon for their wins, the only Japanese athletes currently in the elite field.

In the 10 km race, high schooler Jecinta Nyokabi rocked a 32:08 to win the women's race by over 2 minutes. Paralympian Yuki Iwata won the men's race by 17 seconds in 30:38.

72nd Katsuta Marathon and 10 km

Hitachinaka, Ibaraki, 26 Jan. 2025

Women's Marathon
1. Kana Numata (Saysky) - 2:44:34
2. Natsuki Tomii (Tokyo T&F Assoc.) - 2:45:33
3. Natsumi Kuroda (GRlab) - 2:45:56
4. Ai Ishikawa (unattached) - 2:54:32
5. Harue Kikuchi (unattached) - 2:57:22
6. Sonoko Koyama (unattached) - 2:59:20

Men's Marathon
1. Hiroaki Furukawa (Tokyo Univ. Grad School) - 2:17:28
2. Sota Yamamoto (Hanni T&F Assoc.) - 2:17:29
3. Tatsuya Inagaki (Mishima RC) - 2:17:41
4. Yudai Hiruta (K-project) - 2:17:56
5. Yoshiki Murase (Takada SDF Base) - 2:18:54
6. Hyuma Abe (Team Nitro) - 2:19:17

Women's 10 km
1. Jecinta Nyokabi (Hakuho Joshi H.S.) - 32:08
2. Haruka Suguro (Hakuho Joshi H.S.) - 34:20
3. Toshika Tamura (Hitachi) - 35:07
4. Kukuri Murai (Hakuho Joshi H.S.) - 35:25
5. Karen Suzuki (Hitachi) - 35:32
6. Mina Numata (Hakuho Joshi H.S.) - 35:58

Men's 10 km
1. Yuki Iwata (one's Para AC) - 30:38
2. Ryota Kikuchi (Suijo H.S.) - 30:55
3. Kaname Suzuki (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 31:20
4. Yusuke Fujimoto (Toyo Univ.) - 31:33
5. Naoki Saito (Hitachi Iryo) - 31:35
6. Taisei Kano (one's Para AC) - 31:36

© 2025 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Osaka Marathon Elite Field

With 3 weeks to go the elite fields for the Feb. 22 Osaka Marathon are out. Given Osaka's history as the elite men-only Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon the women's field is small, with only one entrant, Sinhala Kureshi , having broken 2:21 with her 2:19:53 in Hamburg last spring. Afera Godfay , Mare Dibaba and Rose Chelimo have all run 2:21 to 2:22 in recent races, and Esther Chemtai is an interesting debut off a 1:08:09 at last fall's Cardiff Half. Kaede Kawamura is the highest-level Japanese woman in the field with a 2:25:44 in Osaka 2 years ago. Last year's men's champ and CR breaker Yihunilign Adane is back, his main competition being fellow Ethiopians Bute Gemechu , Mulugeta Asefa Uma and South Africa's Elroy Gelant . 4th last year in 2:05:58, Kyohei Hosoya leads the front of the super deep Japanese field along with Ichitaka Yamashita , Kenta Sonota , Kiyoto Hirabayashi , Yuhei Urano , Yusuke Nishiyama and Daisuke Doi . But where Osaka excels is in deb...
1 comment
Read more

Matsuo Breaks High School Half Marathon Record in 1:02:47

At the 48th Kanagawa Half Marathon at Yokohama's Nissin Olio Group's Isogo Plant, Jinya Ozaki (Teikyo Univ.) outran tough competition from National University Ekiden champion Komazawa University and Hakone Ekiden winner Aoyama Gakuin University to take 1st in the men's race in 1:02:04. AGU's Sho Fukutomi was 2nd in 1:02:07, with Komazawa's Rinta Muta 3rd in 1:02:08. High schooler Nichika Maeda (Miura Gakuen H.S.) took the women's race in 1:16:30. But it was another high schooler who made headlines. 3rd-year Koki Matsuo (Shiritsu Funabashi H.S.) ran 1:02:47, taking 28 seconds off the fastest half marathon time ever run by a Japanese-born high school student. Last summer Matsuo ran the 5000 m at the National High School Track and Field Championships, and in November he went under 14 minutes for 5000 m, his time of 13:55.07 putting him into the top class of high school running. At last fall's Chiba Prefectural High School Ekiden Matsuo set a new CR of 2...
1 comment
Read more

Hirayama Strikes Again, Kabasawa Over Fuwa in Whiteout Conditions at National Corporate Half

With heavy snow hitting most of the country the National Corporate Half Marathon and 10 km in Yamaguchi almost dodged a bullet. Almost. It was -2˚ and windy at the start, but with sunny skies it wasn't too bad. The men went out 15 minutes ahead of the women on sub-61 pace with a massive pack trailing early leader Daisuke Shimojo (ND Software). At times snow was in the air, but even right up to the end the sun was still breaking through. From a few km out a lead trio coalesced of last year's winner Tsubasa Ichiyama (Sunbelx), Kenyan Boniface Mulwa (ND Software) and Taiga Hirayama (Konica Minolta), CR-breaking winner at the Osaka Half Marathon 2 weeks ago. Ichiyama made a break for it with 500 m to go, but on the track at the end Muluwa reeled him back it. Entering the home straight Hirayama threw down and passed them both, bettering his Osaka time by 6 seconds to win in 1:00:44. Muluwa was next in 1:00:45, with Ichiyama, in training for the Tokyo Marathon in 3 weeks, 3rd in...
Post a Comment
Read more