Ayumi Morita (Tokyo Metro) won the women's race at Sunday's Nagano Marathon in dominant style, finishing almost 5 minutes ahead of runner-up Chifumi Ito (MRA) in 2:32:58. Hiroki Nagayama (Sumitomo Denko) had a narrower win in the men's race, running down breakaway leader Kiyohito Akiyama (Aichi Seiko) after 35 km to win 2:12:56 to 2:13:27, with last year's winner Kento Nishi (Osaka Gas) 3rd in 2:15:48.
Elsewhere, Sachi Ito (Pacer TC) won the Kasumigaura Marathon in 2:46:38, a 45-minute improvement on her last appearance at Kasumigaura 8 years ago. Yuki Kawauchi (ANDS) won the men's race in 2:19:10. Australian Ciaran Rushton won Kasumigaura's 10-mile race in 49:36 by 4 seconds over Nozomi Sugaya (Komazawa Univ.), with Aya Inden (Takushoku Univ.) winning the women's 10-miler in 59:30.
At the Shanghai Half Marathon Aoi Ota (GMO) made his corporate league debut with a 1:03:05, far off the podium in a race that saw top 3 Roncer Kipkorir, Edmond Kipngetich and Isaac Kipkemboi all finish with 8 seconds with Kipkorir getting the win in 1:01:07. Ethiopian Ftaw Zeray won the women's race with an excellent 1:06:36 CR.
27th Nagano Marathon
Nagano, 20 April 2025
Women
1. Ayumi Morita (Tokyo Metro) - 2:32:58
2. Chifumi Ito (MRA) - 2:37:43
3. Saki Shimada (OKB) - 2:43:04
4. Catherine Wanjiru Njunge (Kenya) - 2:45:21
5. Seika Iwamura (Y&I) - 2:48:42
6. Chika Ueno (Team FOR) - 2:52:38
7. Asami Morino (Restart) - 2:54:42
8. Asami Furuse (unattached) - 2:58:17
9. Sayaka Yasukawa (awake) - 2:59:35
10. Kaori Aman (65 Base) - 3:03:00
Men
1. Hiroki Nagayama (Sumitomo Denko) - 2:12:56
2. Kiyohito Akiyama (Aichi Seiko) - 2:13:27
3. Kento Nishi (Osaka Gas) - 2:15:48
4. Kosuke Tsujimura (Osaka Gas) - 2:18:01
5. Ethan Shuley (U.S.A.) - 2:18:13
6. Naoto Hashimoto (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 2:18:34
7. Shusei Ohashi (Kodaira T&F Assoc.) - 2:18:56
8. Yuta Yoshitomi (Nishitetsu) - 2:19:33
© 2025 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
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