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

Mashiko Breaks U20 5000 m NR - Weekend Track Roundup

Saturday's Kanakuri Memorial Meet in Kumamoto was the weekend's main event in Japanese track, but there were good results at the Nittai University Time Trials meet in Yokohama too. Emmanuel Maru (Toyota Boshoku) led the men's 5000 m A-heat at Kanakuri in 13:14.06, with Tomonori Yamaguchi (SGH) clocking the fastest Japanese time in 13:16.38 in his first race as a corporate leaguer. Waseda University duo Rui Suzuki and Yota Mashiko went 6-7 in 13:20.64 and 13:22.87, the 18-year-old Mashiko shaving 0.04 off the U20 NR. In 8th, Yamato Yoshii (Toyota) ran a PB of 13:23.92. 3000 mSC NR holder Ryuji Miura (Subaru) continued to struggle after a weak indoor season, finishing 18th of 20 finishers in 13:45.10. 19-year-old Festus Kimorwo (Kurosaki Harima) was under 13:20 in the B-heat too, winning in a 13:19.59 PB. 2 more collegiate men broke 13:30, Daichi Fujita (Chuo Univ.) 8th in 13:28.93 and Riki Koike (Soka Univ.) 9th in 13:29.09. The top 6 in the men's 800 m A-hea...
Post a Comment
Read more

Australian YouTuber Handed Lifetime Ban by Ageo City Half Marathon After Running 1:06 with Another Runner's Bib (updated)

After discussion with their race's chief JAAF referee, on Nov. 27 the organizers of the Ageo City Half Marathon handed down a lifetime ban from their event against 36-year-old Australian Matt Inglis Fox  for running the Nov. 15 race wearing the bib number of another JAAF-registered runner. The incident came to light after Fox posted on his personal Instagram account that he had run a PB of 1:06:33 and finished 203rd in Ageo with a 10 km split of 31:03, along with photos and video of himself in the race wearing a bib number beginning with 11. Fox did not appear in the results by name or in that time or place, the closest match being a 1:06:54 gross, 1:06:50 net finish time with a 31:21 10 km split for 18th place in the JAAF-registered division and 209th overall by bib number 1129, registered to a non-Japanese Tokyo-resident club runner. The club runner, Harrisson Uk , readily confirmed that he had given his bib to Fox, saying, "I gave my number to Matt. It wasn't me."...
81 comments
Read more