Nduta and Akidor Win at Sanyo Ladies Road Race

Alongside the National High School Girls Ekiden, the Nittai University Women's Long Distance Time Trials meet and Sanyo Ladies Road Race 10 km and half marathon made it a busy weekend for women's running in Japan.

At Nittai, Momoka Kawaguchi (Uniqlo) was just off her PB in the 5000 m, winning the A-heat in 15:26.59 by almost 20 seconds over teammate Yume Goto. Nokoka Hosaka (SID Group) took the 3000 m A-heat in 9:25.42, leading the top 5 under 9:30.

At Sanyo, a lead group of 4 went through 5 km in 16:09 in the 10 km before Lucy Nduta (Ehime Ginko) threw in a massive surge to win in a negative split 31:49. Janet Nyiva (Panasonic) held steady for 2nd in 32:17, with Mao Uesugi (Tokyo Metro) fading slightly but holding off the fast-closing Hikaru Kitagawa (Universal Entertainment) for 3rd 32:38 to 32:41. Part of the original lead quartet, Daisy Jerop (Josai Kokusai Univ.) blew up big time in the 2nd half, finishing 16th in 33:34.

Margaret Akidor (Comodi Iida) just missed her CR from last year in the half marathon but still pulled off the repeat win, dropping 10 km CR holder Agnes Mwikali (Kyocera) after 15 km to take 1st in 1:07:52. Mwikali was 2nd in 1:08:01, with Tabitha Kamau Njeri (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) and Nanaka Izawa (Starts) both getting under 70 minutes in 1:09:26 and 1:09:36.

26th Nittai University Women's Long Distance Time Trials

Yokohama, Kanagawa, 20 Dec. 2025

complete results

3000 m A-Heat

1. Nokoka Hosaka (SID Group) - 9:25.42

2. Honomi Muramatsu (Tokai Sagami H.S.) - 9:25.79

3. Aiko Minomo (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 9:25.94

4. Mayu Hirata (Wacoal) - 9:26.52

5. Honoka Inoue (Tokai Sagami H.S.) - 9:26.91

6. Moe Kawajiri (GRlab Hyogo) - 9:30.26

7. Ayari Shiozaki (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 9:30.52

8. Momo Okazaki (Chuo Yokohama H.S.) - 9:35.39

9. Rin Kamiyanagi (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 9:35.46

10. Yuna Kamogari (Kinjo Gakuen H.S.) - 9:35.60

5000 m A-Heat

1. Momoka Kawaguchi (Uniqlo) - 15:26.59

2. Yume Goto (Uniqlo) - 15:45.76

3. Rina Kusu (Sekisui Kagaku) - 15:47.79

4. Yuka Sakajiri (Wacoal) - 15:54.67

5. Hikaru Hamano (Chuo Univ.) - 15:54.95

6. Eriko Otsuka (Higo Ginko) - 15:56.76

7. Suzuna Kinoshita (Chuo Univ.) - 15:57.53

8. Ayaka Segi (Meijo Univ.) - 15:57.66

9. Rion Furukawa (Nitori) - 15:57.80

10. Moe Koda (Starts) - 16:00.21

44th Sanyo Ladies Road Race

Okayama, 21 Dec. 2025

complete results

10 km

1. Lucy Nduta (Ehime Ginko) - 31:49

2. Janet Nyiva (Panasonic) - 32:17

3. Mao Uesugi (Tokyo Metro) - 32:38

4. Hikaru Kitagawa (Univ. Ent.) - 32:41

5. Sakiho Tsutsui (Univ. Ent.) - 32:49

6. Ayumi Morita (Tokyo Metro) - 32:49

7. Naomi Muthoni (Univ. Ent.) - 32:53

8. Azusa Sumi (Univ. Ent.) - 32:56

9. Shuho Takahashi (Nitori) - 32:59

10. Aika Murakami (Tokyo Metro) - 32:59

Half Marathon

1. Margaret Akidor (Comodi Iida) - 1:07:52

2. Agnes Mwikali (Kyocera) - 1:08:01

3. Tabitha Njeri Kamau (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 1:09:26

4. Nanaka Izawa (Starts) - 1:09:36

5. Sora Shinozakura (Yokohama T&F Assoc.) - 1:11:02

6. Asa Kobayashi (Noritz) - 1:11:26

7. Madoka Nakano (Iwatani Sangyo) - 1:11:36

8. Hisami Ishii (Sysmex) - 1:11:37

9. Yuki Toyoda (Ehime Ginko) - 1:11:43

10. Rina Shimizu (Noritz) - 1:11:52

Asian Games Preview - Entries, Timetable and Live Results

Back in Japan for the first time in 32 years and representing 60% of the world's population, with more athletes competing across all sports than at the Olympics, the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games are already underway. Athletics competition starts tomorrow and runs through Tuesday the 29th. Some of the biggest names on the entry list include: Rumesh Tharanga Pathirage (SRI) - men's javelin throw - 2026 World Ultimate Championships gold and 2026 Diamond League champion Haruka Kitaguchi (JPN) - women's javelin throw - 2026 World Ultimate Championships and 2024 Paris Olympics gold Birhanu Balew (BRN) - men's 5000 m/10000 m - 2026 Diamond League 5000 m champion Sanghyeok Woo (KOR) - men's high jump - 2025 Tokyo World Championships silver Hayato Katsuki (JPN) - men's marathon race walk - 2025 Tokyo World Championships bronze Abderrahman Samba (QAT) - men's 400 mH - 2025 Tokyo World Championships bronze Jiale Zhang (CHN) - women's hammer throw - 2025 Tokyo W...

Asian Games Competition Schedule

The daily athletics event schedule for September's Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games . Wednesday, Sept. 23 7:30 - Women's / Men's Half Marathon Race Walk Final Thursday, Sept. 24 10:00 - Women's Heptathlon 100 mH 10:20 - Mixed 4x400 m Relay Heats 10:30 - Men's Triple Jump Heats 10:40 - Women's Heptathlon High Jump 19:05 - Men's High Jump Heats 19:13 - Women's Heptathlon Shot Put 19:33 - Women's 100 m Heats 19:44 - Women's Triple Jump Final 20:08 - Men's 100 m Heats 20:55 - Men's Discus Throw Final 21:00 - Women's Heptathlon 200 m 21:25 - Women's 10000 m Final 22:15 - Mixed 4x400 m Relay Final Friday, Sept. 25 10:00 - Women's Heptathlon Long Jump 10:30 - Men's 400 m Heats 11:25 - Women's Heptathlon Javelin Throw 19:05 - Women's Shot Put Final 19:13 - Women's 100 m Semifinal 19:33 - Men's 100 m Semifinal 20:03 - Women's Pole Vault Final 20:11 - Women's Heptathlon 800 m 20:32 - Men's 10000 m Final 20:40 - M...

Updates to Japan's Home Team at Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games

This week the JAAF announced changes to the lineup for its home team at next week's Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games . The main change announced was the withdrawal of Ririka Hironaka from the women's 10000 m, leaving only Nozomi Tanaka to do it as part of a 1500-5000-10000 triple. In theory it seems like it would be pretty easy and swap in an alternate, but apparently not. No announcement of withdrawals for Tomonori Yamaguchi , who missed June's National Championships 5000 m with injury, or high jumper Ryoichi Akamatsu , who hasn't competed since early last October and made the Asian Games team based his 8th-place finish over a year ago at the Tokyo World Championships. Complete entry lists, schedule and results are available here . The latest Japanese team lineup, with current Asian ranking limited to 2 athletes per country, and best performance in 2025-26: Men 100 m 6 - Shuhei Tada (Sumitomo Denko) - 10.10 (+1.4) 9 - Yuki Koike (Sumitomo Denko) - 10.06 (+1.4) 200 m 1 - Tow...

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