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

Khishigsaikhan and Kuira Break Ageo City Half Marathon CRs (updated)

Stellar conditions and a solid fields meant times were going to be fast at the Ageo City Half Marathon , and in both the women's and men's races the front end took full advantage of the day. In the midst of the super-deep men's field Khishigsaikhan Galbadrakh , the top Mongolian in this summer's Budapest World Championships marathon and in last month's Hangzhou Asian Games marathon, ran steady and strong, splitting 33:29 at 10 km, 1:10:38 pace, before pushing the 2nd half. Khishigsaikhan crossed the finish line 1:10:32, 1:22 under the old course record, 3:35 ahead of 2nd-place Kana Kobayashi , and a massive 4:16 off the Mongolian women's national record. Khishigsaikhan is currently training in Japan and ran Ageo in prep for next month's Taipei City Marathon, where she was 3rd last year. The men's race went out hard, with Kenyan Brian Kipyegon (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.), NR holder Yusuke Ogura (Yakult) and the ambitious Rei Matsunaga (Hosei) leading the ...
1 comment
Read more

A Few Words on Chicago

by Brett Larner photos by Dr. Helmut Winter Chicago comes at a tough time for Japan's corporate leagues, just before the start of the fall ekiden season's regional qualifiers.  Although just about every team has more than enough people to fill their lineups for these relatively minor events, head coaches will usually not let their better athletes do an October marathon, whether because of the limited recovery time in the event that they decide a big gun has to run in a qualifier, or because it would give them the hassle of explaining to the parent corporation why a star is off doing his or her own thing instead of being there for the team.  As a result you typically only see Japanese runners at Chicago when they are looking to drop something big, as with Yukiko Akaba  (Team Hokuren) and Yoshinori Oda  (Team Toyota) this year, or, like the block of  Japanese men at 2:12~2:13 , as part of a corporate federation junket for promising third-tier men to get the exp...
Post a Comment
Read more

Tanaka and Hashioka Win Gold - World U20 Championships Day Two Japanese Results

Working together to execute an aggressive frontrunning team strategy born from failure two years ago in Bydgoszcz , 2018 Asian U20 3000 m gold medalist Nozomi Tanaka and 2018 Asian Junior Cross Country gold medalist Yuna Wada opened a massive lead over the African Junior Cross Country medalist Ethiopian duo of Meselu Berhe and Tsige Gebreselama in the early going of the Tampere World U20 Championships women's 3000 m. Tanaka took the lead from the gun before Wada went out front at 200 m to set a fast pace. Through splits of 3:00 and 3:03 for the first 2000 m, Tanaka kicked hard from 300 m out to close with a 2:51 for Japan's first-ever gold medal in the event, winning in a PB of 8:54.01. Berhe and Gebreselama caught Wada on the back corner but weren't even close to matching Tanaka, taking 2nd and 3rd in PBs just under the 9-minute mark. Wada just held off Kenyan Jenali Jemutai Yego for 4th in 9:00.50, seeming happy in post-race interviews to have helped a teammate ...
Post a Comment
Read more