Weekend Road and Track Roundup

A roundup of the main road and track action on the last weekend of Japan's 2024-25 academic and fiscal year:

Doubling off a 2:07:06 PB at the Tokyo Marathon 4 weeks ago, Tatsuya Maruyama took bronze at the Asian Marathon Championships in Jiaxing, China in 2:11:56. Gold went to North Korea's Il Ryong Han in a breakaway 2:11:18, with silver medalist Tianyu Chen of China just ahead of Maruyama in 2:11:50. Japan's Shungo Yokota was a distant 4th in 2:14:00, with Japan-based Mongolian NR holder Ser-Od Bat-Ochir 6th in 2:15:14. Japanese women Kaede Kawamura and Natsumi Matsushita were 5th and 6th in 2:31:26 and 2:34:40, with medals going to China's Bing Wu, gold in 2:26:01, North Korea's Kwang-Ok Ri, silver right behind her in 2:26:07, and defending gold medalist Khishigsaikhan Galbadrakh landing in bronze this time in 2:28:56, her third sub-2:29 performance so far in 2025.
Back home, four men broke 2:20 at the Fukui Sakura Marathon. Ko Kobayashi from the Shindengen Kogyo corporate team got the win in 2:16:37 by nearly a minute over club runner Natsuki Ishibe. The women's race saw Yukie Nagata get the win by just 17 seconds over Momoko Yao, 2:40:31 to 2:40:48. The top 7 women were all under 2:47, pretty good depth for a 3rd-tier Japanese marathon.
On the track, Australia's Maurie Plant Meet was the main event. In his last race before joining Waseda University on April 1, Rui Suzuki ran 13:25.59 for 6th in the 5000 m, the 2nd-fastest Japanese high school mark and 3rd-fastest U20 time ever. Hakone Ekiden champ Aoyama Gakuin University's Masaya Tsurukawa was 9th in 13:26.23, with Shunsuke Yoshii, Tetsu Sasaki and Tomonori Yamaguchi unremarkable in 13:55.79, 13:59.73 and 14:06.17. Ryoji Tatezawa was last by 5 seconds in the men's 1500 m in 3:48.24. Yudai Nishi and Koki Ueyama were only 6th and 7th in the men's 200 m in 21.00 and 21.01. In women's track events, Nagisa Shimotabira was 13th of 14 in the 3000 m in 9:07.01, while Tomoka Kimura and Yume Goto took the bottom two places in the 1500 m in 4:19.97 and 4:31.21. Like Tatezawa, Kimura was 5 seconds behind the closest finisher ahead of her. At the other end of the spectrum, Japanese women took the top 3 places in the 100 mH, Yumi Tanaka getting the win in 13.11 over Chisato Kiyoyama and Hitomi Nakajima.
On the field at Maurie Plant, Tomohiro Shinno won the high jump in a middling 2.20 m, with last year's 3rd-place Naoto Hasegawa 5th at 2.16 m and Takashi Eto ;6th at only 2.12 m. Yuki Yamashita was 4th in the triple jump at 15.67 m (-1.8). Yuji Tsutsumi was last in the men's discus throw at 53.62 m, the only athlete not to throw over 54 m. Nagisa Takahashi was a decent 2nd in the women's high jump after clearing 1.86 m. Momone Ueda and Sae Takemoto went 4-5 in the women's javelin throw at 57.65 m and 56.91 m.
With the 10000 m National Championships coming up in 2 weeks most of the big names gave The TEN a miss this year. Kenta Sekiguchi ran the fastest Japanese men's time of the weekend, 28:07.46 for 5th in the B-heat, with Shotaro Ishihara 9th in 28:14.50. No Japanese women raced.
In Yokohama, the Nittai University Time Trials series kicked off its 2025-26 run even though it was still technically 2024-25. Takuma Akiyoshi from the University of Tokyo had the fastest men's 10000 m at Nittai in 28:45.62, one of 6 men there to break 29 minutes. Juntendo University's Riito Ikema had the fastest 5000 m in 13:36.26, less than half a second ahead of Honda's Nanami Arai. Men's times in the 3000 m, 1500 m and 800 m were unremarkable.
The biggest women's mark went to Nittai's own Miu Saito, who moved up to all-time Japanese #6 in the 3000 m steeplechase and #2 on the collegiate list with a 9:41.57 PB for the win. Corporate leaguer Janet Nyiva edged high schooler Lucy Nduta by 0.35 seconds to win the 5000 m in 15:28.45, with the unattached Sora Shinozakura taking the 3000 m in 9:11.44 after recently quitting the Panasonic corporate team, and Maki Izumida outleaning Kadogo Chebotibin to win the 1500 m in 4:22.36. Saito's Nittai teammate Miko Suzuki won the women's 800 m in 2:13.57.

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...

Nagoya Asian Games Test Event Canceled After Insulation Falls From Venue Ceiling

A section of insulation material fell from the ceiling of Nagoya Kinjo Futo Arena, the official venue for squash competition at September's Nagoya Asian Games. There were no injuries, but the city suspended use of the arena until its safety could be guaranteed, resulting in the cancelation of the Asian Games squash test event which was scheduled to have begun on May 14. It is not yet clear whether the arena will be usable for the Asian Games as planned. According to city officials, arena staff found that the insulation material had fallen onto a work walkway 13 m above the ground on the night of May 11. The fallen material was 3.6 m long, 50 cm wide and 2.5 km thick, and was found to be waterlogged. The cause of the accident is unknown, but it is possible that it was caused by rainwater leaking in from the roof. The same insulation material is installed across the entire ceiling, and the city plans to check for the extent of the possible flooding. Asked whether the arena will be re...

Shikama and Njeri Win Sendai International Half Marathon

Shunsuke Shikama (Logisteed) and Tabitha Njeri Kamau (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) won the Sendai International Half Marathon Sunday in Sendai, Shikama in 1:01:31 and Njeri in 1:09:20. Mizuki Nishimura (Tenmaya) was the top Japanese woman at 2nd overall. The men's race went through 5 km in 14:34 and 10 km in 29:22. Shikama ran alongside top competition including Shoki Yamaguchi (Soka Univ.), who has been running well in half marathons this season, and Tokyo World Championships marathon team member Naoki Koyama (Honda). On a course with many small ups and downs, Shikama attacked on a downhill just after 15 km, quickly breaking free of the lead group of 7. 13 seconds up by 20 km, Shikama covered the last 1.0975 km in 3:06 to seal his first Sendai title. A graduate of Juntendo University , Shikama is in his 4th season with Logisteed. At the 2024 National Corporate Half Marathon he ran 1:00:41, and at last year's East Japan Corporate Ekiden he won the Third Stage. In his marathon d...

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