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Local Reporter Otawa, 23, Breaks Ohtawara Marathon CR


The Ohtawara Marathon and 10 km took place Nov. 23 at DI Stadium in Ohtawara, Tochigi. 2803 people started the marathon at 10:00 a.m., with 2354 people finishing for a finisher rate of 84.0%. The race has a cutoff time of 4 hours, and all participants are able to use special drink tables.

Most years there is a headwind blowing from the mountains of Nasu in the 2nd half of the race, but this year there was almost no wind and cloudy skies. Itto Otawa, a 23-year-old Tochigi local, won the men's marathon in a 2:13:04 course record. Otawa ran this year's Hakone Ekiden for Senshu University, placing 15th on the Ninth Stage. After graduating in March he was hired by the Shimotsuke Newspaper in Tochigi, where he works as a reporter. In August he ran a PB of 2:16:29 at the Hokkaido Marathon.

"At work I'm mainly in charge of the Nikko beat," Otawa said. "My goal in Ohtawara this time was to break the course record. I've run a PB every time so far in the marathon, and I'm super happy to have won the only marathon in my home prefecture of Tochigi."

Asked about his training, Otawa said, "I run about 600 km a month. I usually do 20-25 km in the morning before work. At university we did a lot of group runs, but these days I pretty much train by myself. I've always been good at running alone, so doing long runs by myself doesn't bother me at all. I'm planning to run the Tokyo Marathon next year and want to run a good one there."

Saitama's Tomomi Sawahata won the women's race in 2:38:49, with a total of 9 women breaking 2:50.

Ohtawara Marathon

Ohtawara, Tochigi, 23 Nov. 2025

Men
1. Itto Otawa - 2:13:04 - CR
2. Tatsuya Itagaki - 2:15:03
3. Kenta Murayama - 2:15:20
4. Kazuki Takanuma - 2:16:36
5. Yoshinobu Otsu - 2:19:11
6. Kazuya Namera - 2:19:56

Women
1. Tomomi Sawahata - 2:38:49
2. Eri Suzuki - 2:40:53
3. Kana Numata - 2:42:33
4. Natsuki Tomii - 2:44:59
5. Miyuki Shibata - 2:45:27
6. Rieko Koshi - 2:45:29
7. Junko Ganbara - 2:47:38
8. Sonoka Nakayama - 2:48:36
9. Mirei Sugai - 2:48:37

source article:
translated and edited by Brett Larner

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Comments

Anonymous said…
This is an amazing race, great settings and very good organization.
November 29, 2025 at 12:35 AM
Anonymous said…
Further to the comment above, I had the pleasure of running it as a "new" race - maybe its 2nd season in 1991 - when it was a half marathon with supporting 5km. Even then the whole set up was excellent. Good memories.
December 4, 2025 at 4:56 PM
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