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.
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