Kiyama and Murakami Making International Debuts at United Airlines NYC Half

Since the start of JRN's collegiate development program in 2012, a partnership between the New York Road Runners and the Ageo City Half Marathon that brings two of the top male university half marathoners in the country to the United Airlines NYC Half every year, a total of 25 athletes have made the trip. For most of them it's been their first time racing outside Japan. 10 of the 25 have been from Komazawa University, including 4 of the 5 fastest times and 4 of the 5 best placings. Kenta Murayama's 1:00:57 for 5th in 2017 leads both lists and still stands as the fastest half marathon ever run by a Japanese man on U.S. soil.

This year two more Komazawa runners are in New York as numbers 24 and 25, Yudai Kiyama and Hibiki Murakami. At Ageo last November Kiyama and Murakami ran PBs of 1:01:59 and 1:02:04 for 2nd and 4th overall to pick up invites to the NYC Half. A 3rd-year, Kiyama was a national-level 1500 m runner in high school. At Komazawa he struggled to make its starting roster for the 3-race ekiden season, making only the 10-man Hakone Ekiden squad his 2nd year in 2024, where he was 12th on the downhill Sixth Stage.

This past season he missed the Izumo Ekiden and National University Ekiden teams again, but his Ageo performance marked a breakthrough that was enough to have Komazawa head coach Atsushi Fujita give him the responsibility of handling the important First Stage at Hakone. He ran well, leading the chase pack behind breakaway leader Shunsuke Yoshii of Chuo University and showing his roots as a 1500 m runner with a fast kick that put him 2nd behind Yoshii. A month later he made a massive breakthrough at the Marugame Half Marathon, running as high in the field as 7th in a race where the top 4 all broke 60 minutes, dropping to 15th by 20 km, but coming back with the fastest close in the field to retake 10th.

A 2nd-year, Murakami's standout performance in high school was a win on the 2021 National High School Ekiden's Seventh Stage where he anchored Sera H.S. to the national title. Like Kiyama he didn't make Komazawa's starting roster for any of the 3 ekidens his first year, but after missing Izumo last fall he made his debut 2 weeks before Ageo with a 5th-place run on the National University Ekiden's Fifth Stage. His Ageo time earned him a place on one of Hakone's 2 longest legs, the 23.1 km Ninth Stage, where he was 5th again. Marugame was good to Murakami too as he ran a new PB of 1:01:46.

1:00:32 makes Kiyama the fastest Japanese collegiate runner ever to line up in New York, where he is ranked 5th in the field. Murakami is the 3rd-fastest ever behind Kiyama and Murayama. With other alumni of the program like Yuta Shitara and Akira Akasaki having gone on to break national records and make single-digit placings at the Olympics, good runs in New York would mark Kiyama and Murakami as top people to watch in the next generation of Japanese distance runners. Streaming of the United Airlines NYC Half starts at 7:00 a.m. local time Sunday.

Rui Aoki and Shunsuke Kuwata Making U.S. Debut at United Airlines NYC Half

When the National University Half Marathon was canceled in 2011 after the massive earthquake and tsunami struck northeastern Japan 2 days before the race, JRN talked to the New York Road Runners about bringing 2 collegiate runners to the United Airlines NYC Half Marathon the next weekend as a show of support. It wasn't possible to pull it together in the immediate aftermath of the disasters, but a year later we brought 2 young 2nd-years from Hakone Ekiden CR breaker Toyo University , Kento Otsu and Yuta Shitara , who had been the top 2 Japanese collegiate finishers at the Ageo City Half Marathon in November before Hakone. Shitara ran 1:01:48, at the time the fastest-ever by a Japanese man on U.S. soil, with Otsu running a solid 1:03:15. Thanks to that great start the Ageo-NYC partnership became a regular thing, and except for the pandemic it's continued every year since, expanding this year to June's New York Mini 10 km when 2 runners from Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden runne...

Kuwata Runs Fastest-Ever Half Marathon by Japanese Man Outside Japan at United Airlines NYC Half

When the NYRR changed the United Airlines NYC Half course back in 2018 to more or less its current Boston-style hilly one-way version it seemed like it had been repurposed from a fast course to something more tactical. That went out the window last year with new course records of 59:09 and 1:07:04 from Abel Kipchumba and Sharon Lokedi , and this year's results backed that up. Hellen Obiri ground Lokedi down and took over 30 seconds off her CR, winning in 1:06:33 with Lokedi only 6 seconds off what she ran in 2025 but a distant 2nd in 1:07:10. British road 10 km NR holder Megan Keith rolled up hard late in the race to finish 3rd in 1:07:13 less than 10 seconds off old CR too. The men's race saw a big group of 18 attack the hilly first half on sub-59 pace, American Joe Klecker leading through 5 km in 13:57 and Houston Marathon winner Zouhair Talbi through 10 km in 27:56. Right up in it was Shunsuke Kuwata , a 20-year-old 2nd-year at 2025 National University Ekiden champ Koma...

Chepkirui Over Sato Again to Win 2nd-Straight Nagoya Women's Marathon, Chen Breaks Malaysian NR (updated)

This year's Nagoya Women's Marathon felt like a changing of the guard, with some the bigger domestic names over the last few years fading early and a lot of newer faces stepping up with quality debuts or second marathons. The front group was set to be paced for 2:20 flat with the 2nd group at 2:23:30 to hit the auto-qualifying time for the 2027 MGC Race, Japan's L.A. Olympics marathon trials race in Nagoya. Up front things went out OK, but after a 33:10 split at 10 km Ayuko Suzuki , 2:21:22 here 2 years ago, lost touch, ultimately finishing 23rd in 2:33:28. Windy conditions started to play with pacers' ability to keep things steady and the pace slowed majorly over the next 10 km, but even with a 34:05 second 10 km there were big-name casualties. 2024 Nagoya winner Yuka Ando was next to drop, ending up 17th in 2:30:32. NR holder Honami Maeda was next, followed quickly by Bahraini Kenyan Eunice Chumba and debuting Wakana Kabasawa . Maeda faded to 21st in 2:31:21, whil...

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