Skip to main content

Selemon Barega and Rebecca Mwangi Win Tokyo Legacy Half, Osako Debuts in Li Ning


Compared to yesterday's Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai half marathon conditions were tougher for the Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon today, and the effects of the warmer weather showed in the results.

With people like Tokyo Olympics 10000 m gold medalist Selemon Barega, 57:50 for the half marathon, and 59:30 collegiate record co-holder Richard Etir in the race the men went out in a leisurely 14:52 for the downhill first 5 km, with Sydney Marathon 6th placer Masato Arao in the lead and a pack of over 50 in tow. Victor Kipchirchir made a couple of tries to get things moving, shaking the front pack down to 16 by 10 km and 9 by 15 km. Things really broke up on the same hill that featured near the end of the Tokyo World Championships marathons, leaving it down to Barega, Etir, Benard Kimeli and Paul Kuira with 1 km to go.

Barega and Etir were head-to-head heading onto the track, and even though Etir tried to pull off a replay of the Tokyo Worlds men's marathon finish Barega hung on for the win with both of them clocking 1:01:22. Kimeli was 3rd in 1:01:34, with 5000 m NR holder Suguru Osako taking the top Japanese spot in 1:01:45 in his road debut in Li Ning shoes. After dropping back when things took off, early leader Arao rallied to pass Hakone Ekiden First Stage CR holder Yamato Yoshii on the hill, taking 8th in 1:02:12 as the only man in the top 10 to run a PB.

The women's race went out more conservatively than planned too. In her half marathon debut former Japan resident Rebecca Mwangi hoped to hit a sub-67 time, but along with #1-ranked Janet Nyiva, 1:07:37 in Gifu this past spring, and debuting Ethiopian Meskerem Mamo they only went out on low-1:09 pace. Mwangi and Nyiva pushed it ever so slightly after that, their projected finish dropping to 1:08:55 by 10 km, and from there Mwangi kept incrementing it up.

In the end Mwangi won it in 1:08:46, Nyiva falling 23 seconds back for 2nd in 1:09:09. Mamo faded hard over the 2nd half but still didn't have any serious threats from the Japanese competition, taking 3rd in 1:10:58 with top Japanese finisher Kaede Kawamura far back in 4th in 1:11:42. Just behind her, former top-tier track runner Kaede Hagitani had an OK debut after deciding to come out of retirement, taking 5th in 1:11:59. 7th-place Ayaka Shimoyamada was the only woman in the top 10 to run a PB, clocking 1:13:33.

Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon

Tokyo, 19 Oct. 2025

Men
1. Selemon Barega (Ethiopia) - 1:01:22
2. Richard Etir (Kenya/Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) - 1:01:22
3. Benard Kimeli (Kenya/Fujitsu) - 1:01:34
4. Paul Kuira (Kenya/JR Higashi Nihon) - 1:01:40
5. Benard Langat (Kenya/Honda) - 1:01:42
6. Suguru Osako (Li Ning) - 1:01:45
7. Victor Kipchirchir (Kenya) - 1:02:01
8. Masato Arao (ND Software) - 1:02:12 - PB
9. Yamato Yoshii (Toyota) - 1:02:26
10. Vincent Raimoi (Kenya/Suzuki) - 1:02:35
11. Go Kiriyama (Suzuki) - 1:02:37
12. Ichitaka Yamashita (Mitsubishi Juko) - 1:02:50
13. Bedan Karoki (Kenya/Toyota) - 1:02:54
14. Ethan Shuley (U.S.A.) - 1:03:06 - PB
15. Yujiro Koshiba (Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) - 1:03:08 - PB

Women
1. Rebecca Mwangi (Kenya) - 1:08:46 - debut
2. Janet Nyiva (Kenya/Panasonic) - 1:09:09
3. Meskerem Mamo (Ethiopia) - 1:10:58 - debut
4. Kaede Kawamura (Iwatani Sangyo) - 1:11:42
5. Kaede Hagitani (Saku T&F Assoc.) - 1:11:59 - debut
6. Madoka Nakano (Iwatani Sangyo) - 1:13:27
7. Ayaka Shimoyamada (Sysmex) - 1:13:33 - PB
8. Mao Kiyota (Suzuki) - 1:14:29
9. Natsuki Ogawa (Suzuki) - 1:14:51
10. Yuna Arai (Sekisui Kagaku) - 1:16:14

© 2025 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee

Labels:

Comments

Anonymous said…
I was very excited to see Kaede Hagitani have a strong debut in the half marathon given that it was her first competitive race in a long time. She looked strong finishing and even though the time is not impressive, given the conditions it's a very solid start to her Los Angeles Olympics marathon campaign. Of course, there is a big difference between a half and full marathon so there is a lot of work to do. Nicely done by Kaede Kawamura to be the top Japanese finisher.
October 19, 2025 at 5:44 PM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

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...
3 comments
Read more

Kuroda Conquers the Mountain to Give Aoyama Gakuin the Hakone Ekiden Day One CR Again

After a wild New Year Ekiden corporate men's national championships yesterday that saw new CR on 6 of the race's 7 stages and a 7-second miss on the one that wasn't broken, Day One of the 102nd Hakone Ekiden more than lived up to what the pros had done 24 hours earlier. Only one runner, Chuo University 's Yamato Yoshii in 2022, had ever broken 61 minutes for the 21.3 km First Stage , but when Chuo's Daichi Shibata took it out on CR pace the entire field went with him. It took a while for Ageo City Half winner Rui Aoki of Izumo Ekiden champ Koku Gakuin University to move up to the front, but when he did it was decisive. Aoki crushed the CR in 1:00:28, 59:54 half marathon pace, and behind him the next both Shibata and the Kanto Region Student Alliance select team's So Kawasaki from Tsukuba University also went under Yoshii's old 1:00:40 record. 4th through 8th broke 61, setting the tone for the rest of the day. Chuo, KGU, last year's top 2 Aoyama...
4 comments
Read more

GMO Wins First National Title at Era-Changing 2026 New Year Ekiden

Things have really been coming up fast the last year or so in Japanese distance running, but even so this year's New Year Ekiden really felt like the era has changed. GMO took the lead on the second of the race's 7 legs and went on to take over 2 minutes off the overall course record for the 100.0 km course, winning its first national title in 4:44:00. En route 6 of the 7 legs had new CR, a lot of them with multiple people breaking them, and the only leg that didn't, the 12.3 km First Stage, saw Shunpei Tomita of Logisteed run 34:23, only 7 seconds off the CR held by sub-27 Kenyan Martin Mathathi . The level at the collegiate Hakone Ekiden keeps going up up up , and that showed here as 3 of the new stage CR were set by guys in their first season in the corporate leagues who were some of the biggest stars at Hakone last year. Aoyama Gakuin University grad Aoi Ota sneaked in 1 second ahead of Toyota 's Jin Yuasa to set a 46:00 CR on the 15.9 km Fifth Stage. Collegi...
1 comment
Read more