Skip to main content

Muthini Breaks Hakodate Half Course Record


Soka University's Stephen Muthini broke the course record at the Hakodate Half Marathon Sunday to win in a PB 1:01:08. Muthini led from the early going, dragging a lead group of 10 behind him. Past 10 km he picked up the pace, cutting the lead group down to 6, including 2025 Tokyo World Championships marathon team member Yuya Yoshida (GMO). Near 15 km Takuma Yamakawa of Komazawa University went to the front, but Muthini was quick to retake the lead and gradually pulled away from Yamakawa and Yoshida. Yoshida ended up 2nd behind Muthini in a PB of 1:01:23, with Yamakawa 3rd also in a new PB of 1:01:25. Times were fast across the board, with 8 of the top 10 men running lifetime PBs.

Yoshida, a 2-time winner of the Fukuoka International Marathon including a 2:05:16 CR last December, is Japan's leading hope of ending its dry spell of World Championships marathon medals, the last being Tsuyoshi Ogata's bronze at the 2025 Helsinki World Championships. His Tokyo Worlds teammates Ryota Kondo (Mitsubishi Juko) and Naoki Koyama (Honda) struggled, Kondo 19th in 1:03:25 and Koyama 62nd in 1:06:16.

In the women's race, Mizuki Matsuda (Daihatsu) won in 1:09:48, splitting 16:21, 32:44, 49:26 and 1:06:08 en route. Tenmaya's Shiori Yoshizono and Mizuki Nishimura were 2nd and 3rd just over 1:10, with Tokyo Worlds women's team member Kana Kobayashi (Otsuka Seiyaku) 5th in 1:11:37. Marathon national record holder Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) was 6th in 1:11:54 in a tuneup for September's Berlin Marathon.

In the marathon, Minoru Kameda took the men's race in a PB of 2:19:46, the only runner under 2:20. Kasumi Takahama was the women's winner in 2:55:01.

Hakodate Half Marathon and Marathon

Hakodate, Hokkaido, 29 June, 2025

Men's Half Marathon
1. Stephen Muthini (Soka Univ.) - 1:01:08 - CR, PB
2. Yuya Yoshida (GMO) - 1:01:23 - PB
3. Takuma Yamakawa (Komazawa Univ.) - 1:01:32 - PB
4. Shoki Yamaguchi (Soka Univ.) - 1:01:32 - PB
5. Kanta Shimizu (Subaru) - 1:01:41 - PB
6. Koki Kamata (Yakult) - 1:01:55
7. Ichitaka Yamashita (Mitsubishi Juko) - 1:02:07 - PB
8. Yuito Yamamoto (Subaru) - 1:02:26
9. Solomon Mutuku (Soka Univ.) - 1:02:28 - PB
10. Makoto Takewari (Tokai Univ.) - 1:02:54 - PB
-----
19. Ryota Kondo (Mitsubishi Juko) - 1:03:25
62. Naoki Koyama (Honda) - 1:06:16

Women's Half Marathon
1. Mizuki Matsuda (Daihatsu) - 1:09:48
2. Shiori Yoshizono (Tenmaya) - 1:10:17
3. Mizuki Nishimura (Tenmaya) - 1:10:26
4. Sakiho Tsutsui (Univ. Ent.) - 1:10:56
5. Kana Kobayashi (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 1:11:37
6. Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) - 1:11:54
7. Hikaru Kitagawa (Univ. Ent.) - 1:12:06
8. Rie Kawauchi (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 1:13:14
9. Miku Hirashima (Tenmaya) - 1:14:32
10. Mao Kiyota (Suzuki) - 1:17:26

Men's Marathon
1. Minoru Kameda - 2:19:46 - PB

Women's Marathon
1. Kasumi Takahama - 2:55:01



Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

On the Loss of the ARRS Database

At some point in the last few months I discovered that both versions of the ARRS database, the static one and the searchable version , are gone. Last week David Monti posted a link to the ARRS history of an event he covered in Race Results Weekly, I guess copying and pasting a link from last year without looking at it, and that reminded me to write something about the loss of the database. The Association of Road Racing Statisticians was basically a one-man show operated from the remote Northern California shores by Ken Young . When the site existed its intro read: The Association of Road Racing Statisticians (ARRS) is an independent, non-profit organization that collects, analyses and publishes results and statistics regarding elite distance running at distances 3000m and longer...The data of ARRS is stored in the ARRS database, which has more than 1.3 million performances from more than 240,000 races by more than 95,000 elite and sub-elite distance runners worldwide...This website ...
1 comment
Read more

Multiple National Records This Weekend

Olympic and World champion Haruka Kitaguchi got the biggest headlines among Japanese athletes this weekend, overcoming a rough last year and a half that included injury and a coaching change to break her own javelin throw NR by over a meter and a half to win the inaugural WA Ultimate Championship in Budapest. U20 WR and Asian AR holder Ziyi Yan opened with a big 68.05, 0.67 m further than Kitaguchi's best-ever from back in 2023. That could have been the end, but Kitaguchi came back from a 61.15 m first attempt to throw a massive 68.92 m NR on her next one, ultimately enough for the win. She still has a long way to go to match the 18-year-old Yan's 71.74 m from May, but it was a clear statement that Kitaguchi is back. Back home at the National Corporate Track and Field Championships in Kyoto, women's pole vault NR holder Misaki Morota continued a solid comeback season of her own, bettering her NR from May by 1 cm with a 4.51 m on her first attempt. Morota took another 3...
Post a Comment
Read more

Japan's Team Lineup in Copenhagen

Re-upping an earlier post on Japan's team lineup for this weekend's  Copenhagen World Road Running Championships . The JAAF chose not to name any women to the team in the mile. Women 5 km Kana Mizumoto (Edion) - 15:06.98 Rina Kusu (Sekisui Kagaku) - 15:10.91 Half Marathon Yumi Yoshikawa (Canon) - 1:09:14 Wakana Kabasawa (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 1:09:20 Rina Shimizu (Noritz) - 1:09:22 Yuna Takahashi (Shimamura) - 1:09:23 Men Mile Ojiro Honda (Waseda Univ.) - 3:37.53 (1500 m) Tomoki Nakano (Toenec) - 3:37.92 (1500 m) 5 km Yota Mashiko (Waseda Univ.) - 13:20.35 Rui Suzuki (Waseda Univ.) - 13:20.64 Half Marathon Tomoya Ogikubo (Hiramatsu Byoin) - 1:00:22 Yuma Nishizawa (Toyota Boshoku) - 1:00:26 Neo Namiki (Subaru) - 1:00:29 Daisuke Sato (Chuo Univ.) - 1:00:40 © 2026 Brett Larner , all rights reserved
2 comments
Read more