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

Murayama and Sasaki Making U.S. Debut at New York Mini 10 km

Every year since 2012 that there's been a United Airlines NYC Half , JRN has partnered with the NYRR and November's Ageo City Half Marathon to bring two top-tier collegiate Japanese men to the NYC Half for what's usually been their international debuts. For years we've wanted to extend that program to include top collegiate women, but that has always faced 2 problems. For one, while the half marathon distance is the main focus for Japanese collegiate men due to the stage lengths at the Hakone Ekiden, few collegiate women run it. Those that do run the National University Women's Half Marathon in Matsue, held the same day as the NYC Half. This year, though, we're finally making it happen in a slightly different way. Amisa Murayama and Nazuki Sasaki of 2025 Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden national collegiate championship runner-up Tohoku Fukushi University are joining the field for the NYRR's Mastercard New York Mini 10 km on June 6. After running an 18:14 CR ...

Australian YouTuber Handed Lifetime Ban by Ageo City Half Marathon After Running 1:06 with Another Runner's Bib (updated)

After discussion with their race's chief JAAF referee, on Nov. 27 the organizers of the Ageo City Half Marathon handed down a lifetime ban from their event against 36-year-old Australian Matt Inglis Fox for running the Nov. 15 race wearing the bib number of another JAAF-registered runner. The incident came to light after Fox posted on his personal Instagram account that he had run a PB of 1:06:33 and finished 203rd in Ageo with a 10 km split of 31:03, along with photos and video of himself in the race wearing a bib number beginning with 11. Fox did not appear in the results by name or in that time or place, the closest match being a 1:06:54 gross, 1:06:50 net finish time with a 31:21 10 km split for 18th place in the JAAF-registered division and 209th overall by bib number 1129, registered to a non-Japanese Tokyo-resident club runner. The club runner, Harrisson Uk , readily confirmed that he had given his bib to Fox, saying, "I gave my number to Matt. It wasn't me."...

Some Reflections on the Ekiden

by Brett Larner This ekiden season I've had a few thoughts kicking around, and watching this week's Hakone Ekiden a few of them became clearer. These are still in progress, but at the moment this is what I'm thinking in terms of running as a spectator sport and about the quality of Japanese men's distance running right now. Quality: Japanese men's running is coming up very, very quickly. I was in the lead car at November's Ageo City Half Marathon , where 18 men, 17 of them university runners, broke 63 minutes. As it was going on we all thought it was a slow race because there were so many people running that pace all the way, no separation at all in the mass of the pack. See the JRN header photo above, taken just past halfway. That's pretty unusual in Japan, especially at the university level; generally you'll get a handful of guys who run an aggressive pace and a mass running dead on a safe pace, 3:00/km in a half marathon, for example. Th...

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