It's the point in the season where Hakone Ekiden-bound university coaches are farming out their squads to half marathons to sort through the contenders to make their 16-runner Hakone entry rosters. Next weekend's Ageo City Half Marathon is the biggest of them, but two key races happened today. In rainy conditions at the Setagaya 246 Half in Tokyo, Shoki Yamaguchi (Soka Univ.) won a sprint finish against sub-60 man Paul Kuira (JR Higashi Nihon), Kuira overtaking Yamaguchi after Yamaguchi had pulled away over the last km but Yamaguchi fighting back on the track. Both clocked 1:01:46, but Yamaguchi succeeded in snagging the win away from Kuira right before the line.
In 3rd, Aito Sato led a massive group from 2025 Hakone champ Aoyama Gakuin University with a PB of 1:01:57 for 3rd. 5 other AGU runner were under 63 minutes, all but one breaking 62:30 and most in PBs, with Kotaro Suzuki (Chuo Univ.), 8th in 1:02:28, and Yota Aoteki (Hosei Univ.), 10th in 1:02:46 breaking up AGU's control of the rest of the top 10. Former Nitori member Kaede Okajima (Kanto RC) won the women's race in 1:18:07, with 50-year-old Junko Ganbara running an excellent 1:20:09 for 3rd.
AGU's Sota Orita, 13:28.78 for 5000 m in high school, was at the Miyako Salmon Half in Iwate for his half marathon debut instead of Setagaya. Orita soloed a 1:02:51 for the win, opening up 9 seconds on Kosei Niitani from National University Ekiden champion Komazawa University, 2nd in a PB of 1:03:00. Also debuting, AGU's Ao Funakoshi ran 1:03:02 for 3rd. The duel between AGU and Komazawa was a preview of what is probably to come at Hakone less than 2 months from now.
Atsumi Nagashima (Saysky) won the women's race in Miyako in 1:25:15.
20th Setagaya 246 Half Marathon
Tokyo, 9 Nov. 2025
Women
1. Kaede Okajima (Kanto RC) - 1:18:07
2. Remi Tanaka (Hiratsuka T&F Assoc.) - 1:19:01
3. Junko Ganbara (Kasai Runners) - 1:20:09
Men
1. Shoki Yamaguchi (Soka Univ.) - 1:01:46
2. Paul Kuira (JR Higashi Nihon) - 1:01:46
3. Aito Sato (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:01:57 - PB
4. Kyosuke Hiramatsu (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:02:04 - PB
5. Kaito Nakamura (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:02:08 - PB
6. Kenta Torii (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:02:23 - PB
7. Keito Kumai (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:02:25 - PB
8. Kotaro Suzuki (Chuo Univ.) - 1:02:28 - PB
9. Ibuki Sugiyama (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:02:32 - debut
10. Yota Aoteki (Hosei Univ.) - 1:02:46 - PB
39th Miyako Salmon Half Marathon
Miyako, Iwate, 9 Nov. 2025
Women
1. Atsumi Nakashima (Saysky) - 1:25:01
2. Norie Kamamachi (unattached) - 1:27:59
3. Kako Washizu (Tohoku Univ.) - 1:28:26
Men
1. Sota Orita (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:02:51 - debut
2. Kosei Niitani (Komazawa Univ.) - 1:03:00 - PB
3. Ao Funakoshi (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:03:02 - debut
4. Ryosuke Kamimura (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:03:05 - debut
5. Hijiri Komatsu (Komazawa Univ.) - 1:03:27 - debut
© 2025 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
Comments
Depth like this is what may make the difference on day 2. Lets see what happens at Ageo.