NR Attempt at Marugame, Hirabayashi at Beppu-Oita

NR Attempt at Marugame, Hirabayashi at Beppu-Oita - Weekend Preview

Japan's two big races this weekend both have a lot of excitement around them, but cold rain threatens to hold back the quality of performances people are hoping for.

At the Kagawa Marugame International Half Marathon there are 19 men with times in the 58-60 minute range within the last 3 years, and among them sometime training partners Tomoki Ota and Kotaro Shinohara, 1:00:08 and 1:00:11 in Marugame 2 years ago, will be taking a serious shot at the 1:00:00 Japanese national record. Shinohara told JRN that he is targeting 59:45, and that Ota is his only real competition to get the NR. The rain forecast looks light with headwinds in the first half and tailwinds on the return trip, so between that and a front group including Alexander Mutiso, Cleophas Kandie, Bedan Karoki and Emmanuel Maru it's possible one of them, or someone else, will turn in Japan's first sub-60.

The women's race features Dolphine Omare, Pauline Kamulu and Dominique Scott in the 66-67 minute range, with Japan's top talent being Rika Kaseda, 1:08:11, and debuting sub-31 track 10000 m runner Haruka Kokai. BS Fuji has the live TV broadcast starting at 10:30 a.m. local time, but it doesn't look to be available on TVer at this point. JRN will be on-site in Marugame.

Across the water, the Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon has a pretty interesting race lined up. After running 2:06:18 to win last year's Osaka Marathon in his debut, Koku Gakuin University ekiden captain Kiyoto Hirabayashi has chosen Beppu-Oita for his follow up. It's a lower-key choice that his coach Yasuhiro Maeda said was made in order to keep the pressure down. The only faster runner in the field, Kenyan Vincent Kipchumba, last finished a marathon at London 2021 when he ran his PB of 2:04:28, so Hirabayashi's main competition will probably be 2:06:57 man Shohei Otsuka, and maybe last year's winner Derese Workneh or fellow Ethiopian Tesfahun Akalnew if things go a little slower.

Other collegiate runners making their debuts including KGU's Goki Takayama and a duo from 2025 Hakone Ekiden winner Aoyama Gakuin University could also be factors, especially given AGU's recent history of success at Beppu-Oita. Cold rain is in the forecast, and given how thin Hirabayashi is that would seem to work against him, but he excelled in exactly the same kind of conditions in Osaka last year. TBS is broadcasting Beppu-Oita live at 11:50 a.m., with streaming on the Youtube link above.

Another good half with a lot of collegiate runners, the Kanagawa Half Marathon also happens Sunday in Yokohama. No field listing is available at this point, but with a flat course and always a solid collegiate field it's usually a fast race.

Australian Male Arrested on Drug Smuggling Charges After Entering Japan for Osaka Marathon

On Apr. 9 the Kinki Region Bureau of Health, Labor and Welfare's Drug Control Division arrested Matthew Inglis Fox , 38, an Australian business owner of no known fixed address, on charges of violating the importation regulations of the Narcotics Control Act by smuggling tablets containing marijuana elements from the United States. The suspect had entered Japan in February to run in the Osaka Marathon . The suspect was arrested on suspicion of smuggling approximately 12 pills containing marijuana by sending them from a U.S. airport to Osaka's Kansai Airport using an international courier service on Feb. 19. The Osaka branch of the Customs Service discovered the tablets in arriving cargo and suspected them to be narcotics. Customs contacted the Narcotics Control Division, which then began its investigation of the case. According to the Narcotics Control Division, the suspect denies the charges. Translator's note: Fox, who received a lifetime ban from the Ageo City Half Mara...

Long Time Coming - Akira Akasaki and Haruka Onodera's Road to the 2022 United Airlines NYC Half

Back in pre-pandemic days Akira Akasaki and Haruka Onodera were still in college, Akasaki at Takushoku University and Onodera at Teikyo University . At the 2019 Ageo City Half Marathon they frontran most of the race together, dead set on finishing in the top two Japanese collegiate spots to win invitations to the 2020 United Airlines NYC Half. For Akasaki it had already been a year and a half wait. Inspired by Kenta Murayama 's 1:00:57 5th place in finish in New York in 2017 and Kei Katanishi 's 7th-place in 2018, Akasaki went for it his junior year in his debut at the 2018 Ageo Half . "Coming up to 10 km I was in the lead pack and feeling good, so I knew I had a shot at going to New York and got pretty excited," he said. But right after the 10 km turnaround point he tripped and fell, and by the time he was back up the lead group was out of range. He finished 20th in 1:03:07, over a minute and a half behind top Japanese university man Ken Nakayama . "I was f...

My Training for 1:00:44

Hi, I'm Ayumu Kobayashi . Today I'm going to write about this year's National Corporate Half Marathon and the training I did for it. I hope other runners will find it even a little bit helpful. At the Corporate Half on Feb. 13 I was 10th in 1:00:44. My goal had been to run 61 minutes, so I hit that target. My Training Menu In January I ran a total of 681 km. Key workouts: Jan. 11: 1000 m x 5 at 2:50/km Jan. 12: 22.5 km Jan. 15: 9 km variable pace Jan. 17: 25 km Jan. 24: 1000 m x 8 at 2:52/km Jan. 27: 1 km + 4 km + 2 km Jan. 30: 16 km at 3:18/km avg. In January I was tired from the New Year Ekiden and had some knee pain after it, so I just jogged for 10 days until I started doing workouts again on the 11th. That's why I only ran 681 km for the month. But even on the jog days I was aware that I had the Corporate Half coming up, so I was doing around 30 km. It's pretty meat and potatoes, but I think it was really important. February (training for the 10 days before...

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