In its 77th edition the Marugame Half Marathon had what had to have been the best conditions in its history, and the deep fields made the most of it in both the men's and women's races. 15 hours of heavy rain that let up 2 hours before the start combined with single-digit temperatures and almost no wind to make a cool mist that hung over the area throughout the race. The men's race was hot from the start, 2 pacers taking it through 5 km in 14:05 and 10 km in 28:02, 59:09 pace vs the Japanese NR of 1:00:00. That kind of heat burned off all but 6 people, CR holder Alexander Mutiso, Emmanuel Maru, James Mutuku, Tomoki Ota, Kotaro Shinohara and Kento Baba, but Bedan Karoki and others including a trio of university men were only another few second behind.
Baba, a Rikkyo University runner with a PB of only 1:02:35, was the first to drop off, followed by Mutuku from Yamanashi Gakuin University. Ota and Shinohara, training partners under Komazawa University great Hiroaki Oyagi, lost touch with Mutiso and Maru after 15 km, but the gap never really grew much, and their 56:26 split at 20 km meant that Japan's first, and second, sub-60 clocking was a done deal. It was just a question of who got there first.
Mutiso kicked away from Maru in the last km to win in 59:16, 1 second under his own CR from 2 years ago and 3 seconds ahead of Maru. In the same race 2 years ago Ota outkicked Shinohara by 3 seconds when they ran their PBs of 1:00:08 and 1:00:11. Shinohara went for a long push from 3 km out to try to stop that from happening again, but he couldn't shake Ota off and could only watched as history repeated itself.
Ota finished 3rd in 59:27 to become the first Japanese man to break the hour in the half marathon, a full 33 seconds under the old record. Shinohara was 3 seconds back again in 59:30, 30 seconds under the NR and breaking the collegiate record held by Richard Etir of Tokyo Kokusai University by 2 seconds. Between Hakone and the New Year Ekiden Japanese men have run the equivalent of a sub-60, even sub-59, half marathon countless times, but finally they brought the same focus to the half marathon itself. The results speak for themselves. History.
Ota, who was injured for a lot of 2024, told JRN post-race, "I caught the flu a bit before the New Year Ekiden, so my buildup wasn't great. My main thing was just not to lose to Shinohara." Shinohara, running his last race in the Komazawa university and his first as an On-sponsored athlete, said that he had watched the Houston Half and was motivated by Conner Mantz's U.S. NR performance there. "Mantz was really fast and aggressive," Shinohara said. "But he's only run 2:07 for the marathon, so I felt like something like what he ran in Houston was in range."
In 5th was Waseda University 2nd-year Shinsaku Kudo, 2nd on Hakone's uphill 5th stage last month, with a massive PB of 1:00:06 just 6 seconds off the old NR despite starting with relatively conservative opening splits of 14:12 and 14:11. "I never expected to go that fast!" he told JRN post-race. "I kind of overdid it between 10 and 15 km with a 14:07 when I started catching people and got excited. That burned me later and I would have been under 1 hour if I'd held back. I'll definitely break Shinohara's record before I graduate, though! It's in my sights."
Depth was incredible even by Japanese mega-race standards, with the top 24 all under 61 minutes. Andy Buchanan ran a PB 1:00:28 to make the podium in 7th and come in at all-time Australian #2, with Rory Linkletter likewise hitting a PB 1:00:57 for all-time Canadian #2. Marugame this time was the collegiate men's national championship and the official selection race for this year's World University Games half marathon team. The top 15 collegiate men all went under 61 minutes. Shinohara, who graduates next month, gave selection a miss, but along with Kudo in 1:00:06, Rikkyo's Baba made the cut in 1:00:26 with Ryuto Uehara from Izumo and National University Ekiden champ Koku Gakuin University picking up the 3rd spot in 1:00:30. That would be better than most countries' teams for the World Half Marathon Championships, let alone the World University Games.
Last year Dolphine Nyaboke Omare ran a 1:07:22 CR for the win in the women’s race. With a personal male pacer this year she set out at an ambitious 15:13 for the first 5 km. Every split after than was progressively slower, but Omare still easily beat last year’s time with a massive new CR of 1:06:05.
2nd and 3rd-placers Calli Hauger-Thacker and Isobel Batt-Doyle started more conservatively in 15:46 and held steadier than Omare, far back from her but both beating her old CR. Hauger-Thacker was 2nd in an all-time GBR #3 1:06:58, with Batt-Doyle 3rd in an Australian NR 1:07:17.
4th and 5th-placers Pauline Kaveke Kamulu and Rika Kaseda both cleared 68 minutes and 6th and 7th-place Dominique Scott and Kaede Kawamura were under 69 minutes, making it one of the deepest women’s half marathons ever on Japanese soil. Niigata Meikun High School’s Wakana Hashimoto turned some heads too with a 1:13:30 for 10th.
Half marathon action continues next weekend with the National Corporate Half Marathon and 10 km Championships, featuring a men’s 10 km for the first time.
77th Kagawa Marugame International Half Marathon
Marugame, Kagawa, 2 Feb. 2025
Men
1. Alexander Mutiso (Kenya/ND Software) - 59:16 - CR
2. Emmanuel Maru (Kenya/Toyota Boshoku) - 59:19
3. Tomoki Ota (Toyota) - 59:27 - NR
4. Kotaro Shinohara (Komazawa Univ.) - 59:30 (NR) - Collegiate NR
5. Shinsaku Kudo (Waseda Univ.) - 1:00:06
6. Kento Baba (Rikkyo Univ.) - 1:00:26
7. Andy Buchanan (Australia) - 1:00:28
8. James Mutuku (Kenya/Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) - 1:00:30
9. Ryuto Uehara (Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 1:00:30
10. Yudai Kiyama (Komazawa Univ.) - 1:00:32
11. Reishi Yoshida (Chuo Gakuin Univ.) - 1:00:34
12. Hafte Strintzos (Australia) - 1:00:36
13. Ledama Kisaisa (Kenya/Kao) - 1:00:36
14. Bedan Karoki (Kenya/Toyota) - 1:00:40
15. Yuta Yoshinaka (Chuo Univ.) - 1:00:45
16. Hiro Konda (Chuo Gakuin Univ.) - 1:00:45
17. Rui Aoki (Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 1:00:47
18. Hikaru Tsujihara (Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 1:00:51
19. Hiromichi Nonaka (Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 1:00:54
20. Teruki Shimada (Teikyo Univ.) - 1:00:56
21. Ryota Tominaga (Nittai Univ.) - 1:00:56
22. Haru Taninaka (Komazawa Univ.) - 1:00:57
23. Rory Linkletter (Canada) - 1:00:57
24. Shoya Yonei (JR Higashi Nihon) - 1:00:59
25. Ryuto Hirashima (Nittai Univ.) - 1:01:02
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44. Suguru Osako (Nike) - 1:01:28
50. Yusuke Ogura (Yakult) - 1:01:35
75. Kenji Yamamoto (Mazda) - 1:01:51
100. Soma Nagahara (Juntendo Univ.) - 1:02:25
125. Kaeda Hayashi (Teikyo Univ.) - 1:02:49
150. Kyoya Akazawa (Okayama Univ.) - 1:03:38
175. Shuta Taguchi (Senshu Univ.9 - 1:04:13
200. Dean Menzies (Australia) - 1:05:08
217. Yuki Kawauchi (ANDS) - 1:05:49
250. Hayashi Kido (Okayama Univ.) - 1:07:26
300. Kinnosuke Yonekura (Okayama Univ.) - 1:09:12
Women
1. Dolphine Nyaboke Omare (Kenya/Uniqlo) - 1:06:05 - CR
2. Calli Hauger-Thacker (Great Britain) - 1:06:58 (CR)
3. Isobel Batt-Doyle (Australia) - 1:07:17 (CR) - NR
4. Pauline Kaveke Kamulu (Kenya/Route Inn Hotels) - 1:07:33
5. Rika Kaseda (Daihatsu) - 1:07:53
6. Dominique Scott (South Africa) - 1:08:22
7. Kaede Kawamura (Iwatani Sangyo) - 1:08:58
8. Rie Kawauchi (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 1:11:17
9. Io Akashi (18 Ginko) - 1:12:27
10. Wakana Hashimoto (Niigata Meikun H.S.) - 1:13:30
11. Azusa Mihara (Route Inn Hotels) - 1:14:23
12. Hinako Kiyosaki (Universal Entertainment) - 1:15:43
13. Azumi Niwa (Ehime Ginko) - 1:16:55
14. Remi Nishina (Josai Kokusai Univ.) - 1:19:04
15. Daeun Jeong (South Korea) - 1:20:29
text and photos © 2025 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
Comments
2 points for me: impressive to see Shinohara and other college runners running this fast a few weeks after the peak of Hakone.
Would have been amazing to have Keita Sato, Aoi Ota, Hishida, Kuroda and others in the field as well. Makes you wonder how many runners would go sub 60 if they ran a course like this in Hakone Ekiden days/peak conditions. (not taking into account the corporate guys who would make it an even more insane field)
Fascinating and kudos to Tomoki Ota obviously. Now let's see Shinohara adding star power to an already stacked corporate field.
Point 2: We know Komazawa's depth and projected line up next year will be high level already. 1st year Taninaka going sub 61 only adds to that.
This race though was particularly encouraging for Koku Gakuin. Yes, they are losing Yamamoto/Hirabayashi but here they had 4 guys going sub 61 and with them being mostly 2nd/3rd years it shows they'll be top 3 depth again next Ekiden season.
Great times ahead for the entire movement.