Post-Hakone Aoyama Gakuin Half Marathon Action

In our post-Hakone Ekiden analysis of this year's record-breaking race we wrote that winner Aoyama Gakuin University head coach Susumu Hara excels at developing depth of quality and can usually fill gaps caused by graduation. It's a sign of how much depth he has that his B- and C-squad runners occupied podium places at two fast half marathons just a week after Hakone.

The Takanezawa Genki-Up Half Marathon in Tochigi is the usual destination for AGU benchwarmers and has seen some breakthrough performances from future A-squad stars. Local independent Ryuichi Yoshioka got the win in 1:03:00, but AGU runners took the next 6 spots, all under 1:03:40, led by Riku Anjima and Daiki Sasaki in 1:03:04 and 1:03:06. And they weren't even the fastest AGU people in action.

At the rebranded Tokyo New Year Half Marathon, previously the Hi-Tech Half, Kaito Nakamura and Kyosuke Hiramatsu went head-to-head with former 10000 m NR holder Kota Murayama from the GMO corporate team. Murayama, who announced that he will retire after running next month's Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon, got the win in a photo finish with Nakamura, both clocking 1:02:46. Hiramatsu was close behind in 1:02:49 for 3rd, with Toyo University's Koha Kuramoto 4th in 1:02:57 and independent Yudai Fukuda 5th in 1:02:58.

AGU is losing 6 of the 10 members of its Hakone-winning squad including 3 of its very best, but as the results here show there's plenty more coming down the pipeline, including Zen Kuroda, younger brother of Second Stage CR-breaker Asahi Kuroda, 6th in Takezawa in 1:03:16. It still won't be easy for Komazawa University and the other top-end competition to take AGU down come Jan. 2-3 next year.

Takanezawa Genki-Up Half Marathon

Takanezawa, Tochigi, 12 Jan. 2024

1. Ryuichi Yoshioka (Honda Tochigi) - 1:03:00

2. Riku Anjima (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:03:04

3. Daiki Sasaki (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:03:06

4. Aito Sato (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:03:09

5. Taisei Endo (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:03:13

6. Zen Kuroda (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:03:16

7. Kaito Iida (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:03:38

8. Shumon Rohomon (Tokai Univ.) - 1:04:02

9. Junpei Nakano (Tokai Univ.) - 1:04:12

10. Shunto Hamakawa (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:04:23

Tokyo New Year Half Marathon

Kita-ku, Tokyo, 12 Jan. 2024

1. Kota Murayama (GMO) - 1:02:46

2. Kaito Nakamura (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:02:46

3. Kyosuke Hiramatsu (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:02:49

4. Koha Kuramoto (Toyo Univ.) - 1:02:57

5. Yudai Fukuda (Ishikawa T&F Assoc.) - 1:02:58

6. Chihiro Ono (GMO) - 1:03:09

7. Shuto Sugiura (Tokai Univ.) - 1:03:12

8. Shusei Ohashi (Kodaira T&F Assoc.) - 1:03:16

9. Kotaro Ito (Waseda Univ.) - 1:03:18

10. Hibiki Sawanaka (Hosei Univ.) - 1:03:19

Everything You Need to Know About the 2026 Hakone Ekiden

The Hakone Ekiden is the world's biggest road race, 2 days of road relay action with Japan's 20 best university teams racing 10 half marathon-scale legs from central Tokyo to the mountains east of Mount Fuji and back. The level just keeps going higher and higher , hitting the point this year where there are teams with 10-runner averages of 13:33.10 for 5000 m, 27:55.98 for 10000 m, and 1:01:20 for the half marathon. It's never been better, and with great weather in the forecast it's safe to say this could be one of the best races in Hakone's 102-year history, especially on Day One. If you've seen it then you know NTV's live broadcast is the best sports broadcast in the world, with the pre-race show kicking off at 7:00 a.m. Japan time on the 2nd and 3rd and the race starting at 8:00 a.m. sharp. If you've got a VPN you should be able to watch it on TVer starting at 7:50 a.m. on the 2nd , and again at 7:50 a.m. on the 3rd . There's even a 2-hour high...

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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