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Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon Preview and Streaming


Following Saturday's Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai qualifier half marathon, the weekend's other big half is Sunday's Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon. The Tokyo Marathon Foundation has been trying to get this race off the ground for the last few years, and it is pretty cool. Starting and finishing on the track in the National Stadium built for the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and following basically the same course as the one originally planned for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, the MGC Race Olympic marathon trials, and last month's Tokyo World Athletics Championships marathon, it's quickly gotten popular as a mass participation race.

But as an elite race it's got a few problems. The uphill finish that was such an important strategic part of the MGC and World Championships marathons means it'll never be as fast as it could be. And its timing in the middle of ekiden season severely limits the number of Japanese athletes and Japan-based Africans who can run it, especially for women as the Princess Ekiden qualifying race for the National Corporate Women's Ekiden is the same day. There's a little bit of a silver lining there, as the National Corporate Federation is looking at finally adding a seeded bracket to the New Year Ekiden specifically to free up top-level people from top-tier teams to run the Tokyo Legacy Half.

But anyway, the fields are what they are, and they're not bad. On the women's side Janet Nyiva and Kaede Kawamura are the only sub-70 women in the race, but they've got some interesting competition from Rebecca Mwangi, debuting off a 31:13 road 10 km this year, Gold Coast Marathon CR breaker Yuki Nakamura, and returning former track star Kaede Hagitani. Ethiopian Meskerem Mamo hasn't raced since 2021 and didn't do anything longer than 5 km even back then, but she's set to debut here too for whatever reason.

Tokyo Olympics 10000 m gold medalist Selemon Barega is the heavy favorite in the men's race, where his main competition is collegiate half marathon record co-holder Richard Etir fresh off Monday's Izumo Ekiden, sub-60 man Benard Langat, and 2:05:43 marathoner Victor Kipchirchir. The currently fastest Japanese man in the field is Kotaro Kondo at 1:01:26, and right behind him Suguru Osako and Yohei Ikeda are running in prep for the Valencia Marathon in December. Hakone Ekiden First Stage CR holder Yamato Yoshii will be running his first half marathon since going to the corporate leagues, and Masato Arao will also be back on the roads after his breakthrough 2:07:42 PB for 6th at the Sydney Marathon in August.

The race will be streamed live starting at 7:45 a.m. local time Sunday, with the wheelchair race starting at 8:00 and the main event at 8:05.

Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon Elite Field Highlights

Tokyo, 19 Oct. 2025
times listed are athletes' best within last 3 years except where noted

Women
Janet Nyiva (Kenya/Panasonic) - 1:07:37 (Gifu Seiryu Half 2025)
Kaede Kawamura (Iwatani Sangyo) - 1:08:58 (Marugame Half 2025)
Madoka Nakano (Iwatani Sangyo) - 1:10:40 (Gold Coast Half 2025)
Mao Kiyota (Suzuki) - 1:10:56 (Osaka Half 2024)
Yuki Nakamura (Panasonic) - 1:12:23 (Porto Half 2024)
Yuna Arai (Sekisui Kagaku) - 1:12:47 (Gifu Seiryu Half 2024)
Natsuki Ogawa (Suzuki) - 1:14:08 (Tokyo Legacy Half 2024)
Rebecca Mwangi (Kenya) - debut - 31:13 (Durban 10k 2025)
Kaede Hagitani (Saku T&F Assoc.) - debut - 31:35.67 (Tokyo 2022)
Meskerem Mamo (Ethiopia) - debut - 14:54 (5km de Lille 2021)

Men
Selemon Barega (Ethiopia) - 57:50 (Valencia Half 2023)
Richard Etir (Kenya/Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) - 59:30 (Berlin Half 2025)
Benard Langat (Kenya/Honda) - 59:58 (Lisbon Half 2025)
Bedan Karoki (Kenya/Toyota) - 1:00:38 (Tokyo Legacy Half 2024)
Vincent Yegon (Kenya/Honda) - 1:00:39 (RAK Half 2025)
Paul Kuira (Kenya/JR Higashi Nihon) - 1:00:47 (Ageo City Half 2023)
Benard Kimeli (Kenya/Fujitsu) - 1:00:52 (Tokyo Legacy Half 2024)
Andrew Lorot (Kenya/YKK) - 1:01:04 (Tokyo Legacy Half 2024)
Justus Muasya (Kenya/Fujisan GX) - 1:01:18 (Marugame Half 2025)
Kotaro Kondo (SGH) - 1:01:26 (Tokyo Legacy Half 2023)
Suguru Osako (Tokyo T&F Assoc.) - 1:01:28 (Marugame Half 2025)
Yohei Ikeda (Kao) - 1:01:29 (Osaka Half 2023)
Takayuki Iida (Fujitsu) - 1:01:30 (National Corporate Half 2024)
Masato Arao (ND Software) - 1:02:53 (Ichinoseki Half 2024)
Victor Kipchirchir (Kenya) - 2:05:43 (Barcelona Marathon 2025)
Yamato Yoshii (Toyota) - 27:36.33 (National Championships 10000 m 2025)

© 2025 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

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Comments

Anonymous said…
Fantastic to see Kaede Hagitani's name in the starting line up. I remember reading an article a while back saying she was returning to athletics but then she never appeared in any races of note that I could find and no updates either on whether she was injured and perhaps decided to retire again. I hope she performs well as I believe she intends to qualify for the Los Angeles Olympics in the marathon. Also interested to see how Yuki Nakamura goes in this. She's been relatively quiet this year compared to her great 2024 season.
October 17, 2025 at 7:42 AM
MARTIN BRYAN said…
always fascinating seeing how these elite lineups come together. The Tokyo Legacy course looks brutal with that uphill finish but still such a special event to run through the Olympic route. I’m training for a marathon next year, so I love following these build-up races and seeing how the pros handle the conditions and pacing strategies.
October 25, 2025 at 8:29 PM
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