Rotich and Chelal Win Kobe Marathon, American Shuley 2nd in 2:11:30

Kenyans Elisha Rotich and Jackline Chelal made it a Kenyan double at the Kobe Marathon, Rotich outrunning American Ethan Shuley by 28 seconds for the win in 2:11:02 and Chelal with an almost 2-minute lead in 2:28:25.

The men's race started off with a lead group of 11, going through 10 km in 30:10 and halfway in 1:03:38. Wearing a mass-participation bib and starting 6 seconds back from the elites, Shuley, whose previous best was a 2:18:13 in Nagano this past April and who has only 2 other races on his World Athletics profile in the last 10 years, both indoor 3000 m, improbably led through 25 km in 1:15:19, 2:07:07 pace, before losing touch. Ethiopian Abay Alemu surged into the lead, only to get run down by Rotich just after 30 km and ultimately dropping out.

Rotich slowed after moving into the top spot but held his margin over Shuley to win 2:11:02 to 2:11:30. Hiromasa Kumahashi (Sanyo Tokushu Seiko) was 3rd in 2:11:45, closing on Shuley fast but running out of ground before getting to him.

The heavy favorite Chelal and the debuting Deborah Samum were together through 15 km in 51:16 before Chelal dropped Samum, steadily opening her lead the rest of the way to win in 2:28:25. Samum was 2nd in 2:30:16, with Kokone Sakai (Sysmex) debuting in 2:35:22 for 3rd. Further back, 67-year-old Mariko Yugeta set a new age group WR of 2:59:02, more than 2 minutes faster than her own 65-69 WR and the oldest-ever sub-3 by a woman.

Kobe Marathon

Kobe, Hyogo, 16 Nov. 2025

complete results

Men

1. Elisha Rotich (Kenya) - 2:11:02

2. Ethan Shuley (U.S.A.) - 2:11:30 - PB

3. Hiromasa Kumahashi (Sanyo Tokushu Seiko) - 2:11:45

4. Takuya Kumashiro (Sanyo Tokushu Seiko) - 2:13:17 - PB

5. Taisei Kato (Asahi Kasei) - 2:15:37

6. Keisuke Yokota (Team Nitro) - 2:15:46

7. Daichi Atsuura (ND Software) - 2:15:52

8. Masami Nagakura (Kurosaki Harima) - 2:15:59 - PB

9. Tomohiro Kaijo (Kanazawa City Hall) - 2:16:24

10. Takeru Ikka (Jupiter RC) - 2:17:46 - PB

-----

DNF - Abay Alemu (Ethiopia)

DNF - Josphat Kiprotich (Kenya)

DNF - Martin Musau (Uganda)

Women

1. Jackline Chelal (Kenya) - 2:28:25

2. Deborah Samum (Kenya) - 2:30:16 - debut

3. Kokone Sakai (Sysmex) - 2:35:22 - debut

4. Natsuki Ogawa (Suzuki) - 2:36:24 - PB

5. Kotomi Tsubokura (Wacoal) - 2:39:00

6. Haruna Takano (PTC) - 2:39:54

7. Catherine Wanjiru Njunge (Kenya) - 2:40:30 - PB

8. Riine Ringi (Estonia) - 2:41:24

9. Ayaka Furukawa (Saysky) - 2:44:16 - PB

10. Runa Toya (Josai Kokusai Univ.) - 2:47:11 - debut

-----

Mariko Yugeta - 2:59:02 - age group WR

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."...

How it Happened

Ancient History I went to Wesleyan University, where the legend of four-time Boston Marathon champ and Wes alum Bill Rodgers hung heavy over the cross-country team. Inspired by Koichi Morishita and Young-Cho Hwang’s duel at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics I ran my first marathon in 1993, qualifying for Boston ’94 where Bill was kind enough to sign a star-struck 20-year-old me’s bib number at the expo. Three years later I moved to Japan for grad school, and through a long string of coincidences I came across a teenaged kid named Yuki Kawauchi down at my neighborhood track. I never imagined he’d become what he is, but right from the start there was just something different about him. After his 2:08:37 breakthrough at the 2011 Tokyo Marathon he called me up and asked me to help him get into races abroad. He’d finished 3rd on the brutal downhill Sixth Stage at the Hakone Ekiden, and given how he’d run the hills in the last 6 km at Tokyo ’11 I thought he’d do well at Boston or New York. “I...

Nat'l University Ekiden Updates Here

Looks like I just went over my update limit on Twitter - sorry, it's the first time I've tried to use it for this. I'll look for another option next time. In the meantime I'll add updates to the comments below. Not sure if that has a max too but I guess we'll find out. Update: Part one of the Nationals commentary can be found here .

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