The organizing committee of the Yaizu Minato Half Marathon announced this week that its 41st edition on Apr. 5 will host the 105th Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships. Launched in 1919, with over 100 years of history Kanto Regionals is Japan's premier college track meet. Every year it is held over the course of 4 days in mid-to-late May, with this year's 105th edition scheduled for May 21-24 at Tochigi's Kanseki Stadium. This year the half marathon, typically held on a short loop course around the host stadium, will be held a month and a half earlier in Yaizu in conjunction with that race's longstanding pair marathon collegiate race that combines the top 2 times from participating universities to determine a team score.
he Kanto Regionals half marathon was staged as a 25-mile race at the meet's first edition, then as a marathon for its 29th through 47th editions and a 30 km for the 48th through 67th editions before settling into its current format at the 68th edition. Split into 2 divisions, a top-8 placing scores points toward a university's overall score, with 1st earning 8 points and 8th 1 point.
Qualifying times for this year's Kanto Regionals half marathon in both divisions are 30:00.00 for 10000 m, 1:01:40 for 20 km and 1:05:00 for the half marathon, with up to 3 entrants allowed per university. Last year Yamanashi Gakuin University's Brian Kipyegon won the Division 1 race in 1:01:14, with Yudai Kiyama of Komazawa University taking the Division 2 race in 1:01:43.
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