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Marugame Half Marathon Elite Field (updated)


The elite field has been announced for the Feb. 1 Kagawa Marugame International Half Marathon. The women's race has a good matchup up front between 2 of the stars of last year's race, Dolphine Omare and Isobel Batt-Doyle, and British duo Eilish McColgan and Charlotte Purdue. The current #1 woman in Japanese collegiate athletics, Daito Bunka University's Sarah Wanjiru, and sub-15 5000 m runner Susan Kamotho who has yet to run even 10000 m are interesting debuts, with Japanese hopes pretty much resting on Tokyo World Championships marathon team members Yuka Ando and Kana Kobayashi.

Last year's runner-up Emmanuel Maru is the favorite in the men's race, but right behind him there's a tasty duel between collegiate half marathon record co-holders Richard Etir and Kotaro Shinohara. Past Fukuoka International Marathon winner Sondre Moen, Dennis Kipruto, Yuma Nishizawa and Josphat Ledama Kisaisa round out the front end of the field.

The relocation of the National University Men's Half Marathon from Tachikawa to Marugame last year had a profound impact on the level of collegiate men's times, with Shinohara going sub-60, 14 other university men running 60 minutes, and 37 more running 61 minutes. Along with the now-graduated Shinohara, 5 of the 60-minute men from last year, Kento Baba, Hiro Konda, Hiromichi Nonaka, Hikaru Tsujihara and Haru Taninaka, are back, and with around 30 collegiate runners with sub-62 PBs entered this time expect a lot more to join the sub-61 club too.

78th Kagawa Marugame International Half Marathon

Elite Field Highlights
Marugame, Kagawa, 1 Feb. 2026
times listed are athletes' best in last 3 years except where noted

Women
Eilish McColgan (Great Britain) - 1:05:43 (Berlin 2023)
Dolphine Omare (Kenya/Uniqlo) - 1:06:05 (Marugame 2025)
Isobel Batt-Doyle (Australia) - 1:07:17 (Marugame 2025)
Charlotte Purdue (Great Britain) - 1:08:02 (Marugame 2024)
Yuka Ando (Shimamura) - 1:08:18 (Osaka 2024)
Kana Kobayashi (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 1:09:09 (Gifu Seiryu 2025)
Georgie Grgec (New Zealand) - 1:09:13 (Berlin 2025)
Azusa Sumi (Univ. Ent.) - 1:09:21 (Sanyo Ladies 2017)
Hikaru Kitagawa (Univ. Ent.) - 1:10:50 (Matsue Ladies 2023)
Mirai Waku (Univ. Ent.) - 1:11:12 (Osaka 2023)
Ayumi Morita (Tokyo Metro) - 1:11:46 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2025)
Kaede Hagitani (Saku T&F Assoc.) - 1:11:59 (Tokyo Legacy 2025)

Debut
Sarah Wanjiru (Kenya/Daito Bunka Univ.) - 31:41.80 (Bochum 2025)
Kaho Onishi (Route Inn Hotels) - 32:27.71 (Abashiri 2024)
Susan Kamotho (Bears) - 14:59.63 (Nittai Univ. 2023)

Men
Emmanuel Maru (Kenya/Toyota Boshoku) - 59:19 (Marugame 2025)
Richard Etir (Kenya/Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) - 59:30 (Berlin 2025)
Kotaro Shinohara (Fujitsu) - 59:30 (Marugame 2025)
Sondre Moen (Norway) - 1:00:11 (Marugame 2024)
Dennis Kipruto (Kenya/Nihon Yakka Univ.) - 1:00:17 (Yosenkai 2023)
Kento Baba (Rikkyo Univ.) - 1:00:26 (Marugame 2025)
Yuma Nishizawa (Toyota Boshoku) - 1:00:29 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2025)
Josphat Ledama Kisaisa (Kenya/Kao) - 1:00:36 (Marugame 2025)
Ken Nakayama (Honda) - 1:00:38 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2022)
Tamaki Fujimoto (Logisteed) - 1:00:40 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2025)
Hiro Konda (Chuo Gakuin Univ.) - 1:00:45 (Marugame 2025)
Hikaru Tsujihara (Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 1:00:51 (Marugame 2025)
Hiromichi Nonaka (Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 1:00:54 (Marugame 2025)
Ryota Tominaga (Komori Corp.) - 1:00:56 (Marugame 2025)
Haru Taninaka (Komazawa Univ.) - 1:00:57 (Marugame 2025)
Yusaku Nomura (Toyota) - 1:00:58 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2025)
Shoya Yonei (JR Higashi Nihon) - 1:00:59 (Marugame 2025)
Takuma Ohama (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 1:01:08 (Marugame 2025)
Kenta Sekiguchi (SG Holdings) - 1:01:09 (Marugame 2025)
Kento Nishi (Osaka Gas) - 1:01:09 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2024)
Kaisei Okada (Chuo Univ.) - 1:01:11 (Marugame 2025)
Evans Kipkemei (JFE Steel) - 1:01:11 (Hakodate 2023)
Isaac Heyne (Australia) - 1:01:13 (Launceston 2025)
Takumi Orihashi (Soka Univ.) - 1:01:16 (Marugame 2025)
Tatsuya Tsunashima (YKK) - 1:01:16 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2025)
Masanori Sumida (Aichi Seiko) - 1:01:18 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2025)
Yuta Nakayama (JR Higashi Nihon) - 1:01:19 (Marugame 2025)
Yudai Hara (Teikyo Univ.) - 1:01:21 (Ageo 2025)
Ryo Goda (Yasukawa Denki) - 1:01:22 (Marugame 2024)
Santiago Catrofe (Uruguay) - 1:01:23 (Boston 2025)
Nozomi Sugaya (Komazawa Univ.) - 1:01:24 (Ageo 2025)
Daisuke Sato (Chuo Univ.) - 1:01:26 (Marugame 2025)
Sodai Shimizu (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 1:01:26 (Marugame 2024)
Kenshin Noda (Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 1:01:29 (Ageo 2025)
Junpei Kakazu (Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 1:01:30 (Ageo 2025)
Naoto Hashimoto (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 1:01:32 (Marugame 2025)
Akito Noda (Hosei Univ.) - 1:01:32 (Marugame 2025)
Kyosuke Kogure (SID Group) - 1:01:34 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2025)
Yusuke Ogura (Yakult) - 1:01:35 (Marugame 2025)
Takuma Akiyoshi (Tokyo Univ.) - 1:01:38 (Marugame 2025)
Sota Namikawa (Chuo Univ.) - 1:01:38 (Marugame 2025)
Ryuichi Yoshioka (Honda Tochigi) - 1:01:38 (Marugame 2025)
Kazura Munakata (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 1:01:38 (Ageo 2024)
Sakito Matsuzaki (NTT Nishi Nihon) - 1:01:39 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2025)
Koki Obayashi (SG Holdings) - 1:01:39 (Marugame 2025)
Liam Boudin (Australia) - 1:01:40 (Launceston 2025)
Haruki Minatoya (NTT Nishi Nihon) - 1:01:40 (Marugame 2025)
Shiki Ueyama (Senshu Univ.) - 1:01:41 (Marugame 2025)
Daichi Shibata (Chuo Univ.) - 1:01:41 (Marugame 2024)
Taisei Ichikawa (Chuo Gakuin Univ.) - 1:01:43 (Marugame 2025)
Yoshihiro Kusuoka (Teikyo Univ.) - 1:01:43 (Marugame 2025)
Hayato Oguma (Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 1:01:46 (Marugame 2025)
Duncan Maina (Kenya/Senshu Univ.) - 1:01:47 (Yosenkai 2024)
Hagumi Ogi (Mazda) - 1:01:49 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2024)
Taishi Ito (NTT Nishi Nihon) - 1:01:50 (Marugame 2023)
Arata Iiguni (Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 1:01:51 (Marugame 2025)
Keigo Yano (Kao) - 1:01:52 (Osaka 2024)
Taisei Kiyono (Chugoku Denryoku) - 1:01:53 (Osaka 2024)
Ryota Natori (Konica Minolta) - 1:01:55 (Osaka 2023)
Ryotaro Yoshihara (Aichi Seiko) - 1:01:56 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2024)
Rei Matsunaga (JR Higashi Nihon) - 1:01:56 (Ageo 2023)
Aito Sato (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:01:57 (Setagaya 246 2025)
Manato Takata (Nihon Univ.) - 1:01:58 (Ageo 2025)
Yuta Asakawa (Teikyo Univ.) - 1:01:59 (Marugame 2025)

Debut
Yamato Hamaguchi (Chuo Univ.) - 27:53.85 (MARCH Taikosen 2025)

© 2026 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

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Anonymous said…
Great field, may not happen to have a stellar peak winning performance but should be a very deep and fast race.
January 17, 2026 at 7:56 AM
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