Marathon Weekend Roundup

The Kumanichi 30 km and Ome 30 km were the two big road races this past weekend, but there were at least 5 big mass-participation marathons with decent semi-elite results Sunday too.

The Kyoto Marathon saw the fastest times of the weekend, with local boy Yuma Morii beating Yudai Fukuda 2:16:19 to 2:16:50 to win. Fuka Hirokawa won the women's race by over 3 minutes in 2:45:09, but 3rd-placer Miyu Fukada had a much faster net time, 2:41:09 versus her gun time of 2:50:16. It's not clear why she started so far back.

The Kumamoto Castle Marathon had a great race up front between last year's winner and CR holder Hiroaki Furukawa and Hyuga Abe. Abe missed Furukawa's CR by 12 seconds but beat Furukawa by 14, going 2:16:26 to 2:16:40. Michiru Kato won out over the ageless Mai Fujisawa in the women's race, winning in 2:45:32 to Fujisawa's 2:47:11.

Veterans dominated at the Kitakyushu Marathon, where Rio Olympian Hisanori Kitajima, now 40, beat another 40+ runner, Takashi Hashimoto, 2:17:25 to 2:18:08. Like Fukada in Kyoto, Hashimoto's net time was 2:14:21, baffling given his level. Riko Ozawa took the women's race in 2:47:16 by a slim margin over veteran, Chika Tawara, 2nd in 2:48:02.

The Kochi Ryoma Marathon saw the tightest race of the weekend in the men's race. 100 km NR holder Jumpei Yamaguchi dug deep to fight off amateurs Takemaru Yamasaki and Shinya Ohashi, all of them finishing within 32 seconds but Yamaguchi getting the win in 2:20:10. Mai Fukushima was the women's winner in 2:55:58.

With hills and humidity the Okinawa Marathon isn't suited to fast times. Daijiro Seto won the men's title in 2:29:36, with 40+ runner Eri Suzuki winning the women's race in 2:53:51.

Kyoto Marathon

Kyoto, 16 Feb. 2025

complete results

Men

1. Yuma Morii - 2:16:19

2. Yudai Fukuda - 2:16:50

3. Tatsuya Itagaki - 2:18:56

Women

1. Fuka Hirokawa - 2:45:09

2. Miyuki Nishimura - 2:48:18

3. Miyu Fukada - 2:50:16 (2:41:09 net)

Kumamoto Castle Marathon

Kumamoto, 16 Feb. 2025

complete results

Men

1. Hyuma Abe - 2:16:26

2. Hiroaki Furukawa - 2:16:40

3. Yuhi Takami - 2:19:45

4. Taiga Nishihara - 2:19:56

Women

1. Michiru Kato - 2:45:32

2. Mai Fujisawa - 2:47:11

3. Reina Okumura - 2:48:28

4. Seika Iwamura - 2:49:27

Kitakyushu Marathon

Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, 16 Feb. 2025

complete results

Men

1. Hisanori Kitajima - 2:17:25

2. Takashi Hashimoto - 2:18:08 (net 2:14:21)

3. Yuichi Hirotani - 2:24:20

Women

1. Riko Ozawa - 2:47:16

2. Chika Tawara - 2:48:02

3. Yuka Tomitaka - 2:56:25

Kochi Ryoma Marathon

Kochi, 16 Feb. 2025

complete results

Men

1. Jumpei Yamaguchi - 2:20:10

2. Takemaru Yamasaki - 2:20:33

3. Shinya Ohashi - 2:20:42

Women

1. Mai Fukushima - 2:55:58

2. Kaho Morino - 2:57:30

3. Satomi Okabayashi - 3:00:04

Okinawa Marathon

Okinawa, 16 Feb. 2025

complete results

Men

1. Daijiro Seto - 2:29:36

2. Shogo Sasaki - 2:30:56

3. Tomohide Nishikawa - 2:34:05

Women

1. Eri Suzuki - 2:53:51

2. Natsuki Yokoo - 2:55:53

3. Mari Yonekura - 3:01:14

Hakone Ekiden Qualifying Race Entry Roster Sizes Increased from 14 to 16

Hakone Ekiden organizers KGRR have announced details for the qualifying half marathon for next year's 103rd Hakone Ekiden. The Yosenkai qualifying race will be held Oct. 17 in Tachikawa, Tokyo. The combined times of the 10 fastest finishers from each participating team will be used for team scoring, with the 10 fastest teams going on the the main event next January and top-placing individuals from teams that do not qualify being names to the Kanto Region Student Alliance select team. One change from previous years is that the number of runners each school can enter has been increased from 14 to 16. Teams will still only be allowed to have from 10 to 12 athletes on the starting line, but the move gives coaches greater flexibility in making the final decision on their starting rosters. No changes have been made to the qualifying times of 34:00 for 10000 m or 1:13:00 for the half marathon, and the new earlier starting time of 8:30 a.m. introduced last year in an effort to mitigate ...

Japan's Team for Nagoya Asian Games

The JOC announced the full lineups for the men's and women's teams for September's Nagoya Asian Games . Being hosted in Japan the Asian Games are a pretty big deal, and it's pretty close to the maximum of 2 athletes per event. The men's and women's triple jump, the women's 400 m and the women's discus throw only have 1 athlete on the Japanese team, and it's a big FU to the shot putters apparently as nobody was named to either the men's or women's teams even though people ranked lower in the World Athletics Asian rankings than top JPN shot putters Daichi Morishita and Chiharu Saka did make the team in other events. But, let's focus on what it is, not what it isn't. Going off this week's Asian rankings 8 men and 5 women are ranked #1 in their event, with a total of 19 men and 14 women ranked in the top 3. Factor in a limit of 2 per nationality and the relays and Japan's chances of scoring a great medal haul are looking good. M...

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."...

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