Arao Becomes 1st Man in 40 Years to Score Back-to-Back Ome Road Race Wins

30 km is an under-appreciated distance, and both of Japan's big races at that distance happened Sunday. At the Ome Road Race in western Tokyo's mountains, Sydney Marathon 6th-placer Masato Arao (ND Software) became the first man since the great Kunimitsu Ito in 1985-1986 to win back-to-back years. Arao, who finished 39th of 40 on his leg at the New Year Ekiden last month, stayed in the pack through 20 km before going on the attack, putting over a minute on New Year Ekiden Sixth Stage CR breaker Yudai Shimazu (GMO). Sub-1:31 winning times are rare on the tough and hilly Ome course, but Arao's 1:30:54 almost equaled his 1:30:50 from last year, making him the first Japanese man ever to do it twice and second only to CR holder Ezekiel Cheboitibin. Next up Arao races the Tokyo Marathon, where he is targeting sub-2:06.

Shimazu was 2nd in 1:31:58 and Yuta Nakayama (JR Higashi Nihon) 3rd in 1:32:07. Cheboitibin was only 9th, running almost 8 minutes off his CR in 1:36:42. Shiori Zama (Shimamura) won the women's race by almost 3 minutes over Asuka Yamamoto (Universal Entertainment) - 1:44:57, with Haruka Ito (Komazawa H.S.) taking the high school girls' 10 km in 35:07 and Ryusa Furuya (Takushoku Daiichi H.S.) the high school boys' race in 29:54.

The former home of the 30 km world record, Kumamoto's Kumanichi Road Race is usually a faster race than Ome, but this year the men's race was more of a tense pack race til near the end. Mahiro Sato pulled away late to win in 1:31:51, the third big road title so far this year for the Konica Minolta corporate team following teammate Taiga Hirayama's wins at the Osaka Half Marathon and National Corporate Half Marathon. 2nd through 4th all finished within 7 seconds, Hinata Kuroki (Soka Univ.) taking 2nd in 1:32:25.

Higo Ginko teammates Eriko Otsuka, Miyu Kubo and Hina Tada ran most of the race together and finished close, Otsuka winning in 1:49:50, Kubo next in 1:50:00 and Tada 3rd in 1:50:07.

58th Ome Road Race

Ome, Tokyo, 15 Feb. 2026

complete results

Men's 30 km

1. Masato Arao (ND Software) - 1:30:54

2. Yudai Shimazu (GMO) - 1:31:58

3. Yuta Nakayama (JR Higashi Nihon) - 1:32:07

4. Akihiro Kaneko (Comodi Iida) - 1:32:20

5. Takumi Oishi (Suzuki) - 1:32:35

6. Takuma Akiyoshi (Tokyo Univ.) - 1:32:48

7. Yuichi Sato (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:33:56

8. Ryo Kuchimachi (Subaru) - 1:36:12

9. Ezekiel Cheboitibin (Kenya) - 1:36:42

10. Ruon Oikawa (ND Software) - 1:36:54

Women's 30 km

1. Shiori Zama (Shimamura) - 1:44:57

2. Asuka Yamamoto (Univ. Ent.) - 1:47:41

3. Anna Matsuda (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 1:52:32

4. Eri Suzuki (Kumashiro T&F Assoc.) - 1:55:53

5. Mitsuko Hirose (Tokyo Wings) - 1:57:39

High School Girls' 10 km

1. Haruka Ito (Komazawa H.S.) - 35:07

2. Reika Kitamura (Komazawa H.S.) - 35:41

3. Ayane Kobayashi (Komazawa H.S.) - 35:58

4. Yuho Fujii (Komazawa H.S.) - 36:27

5. Arisa Otsuka (Fussa H.S.) - 37:47

High School Boys' 10 km

1. Ryusa Furuya (Takushoku Daiichi H.S.) - 29:54

Kumanichi Road Race

Kumamoto, 15 Feb. 2026

complete results

Men's 30 km

1. Mahiro Sato (Konica Minolta) - 1:31:51

2. Hinata Kuroki (Soka Univ.) - 1:32:25

3. Koki Kobayashi (SG Holdings) - 1:32:31

4. Takuto Aramaki (Juntendo Univ.) - 1:32:32

5. Sota Sumihara (Aisan Kogyo) - 1:33:38

6. Kaito Iida (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 1:34:11

7. Yuito Nakamura (SG Holdings) - 1:34:34

8. Kento Otsu (Chuo Hatsujo) - 1:34:55

Women's 30 km

1. Eriko Otsuka (Higo Ginko) - 1:49:50

2. Miyu Kubo (Higo Ginko) - 1:50:00

3. Hina Tada (Higo Ginko) - 1:50:07

Nagoya Women's Marathon Preview and Streaming (updated)

Japan's winter marathon season of 6 major races in 7-straight weekends wraps up Sunday with the world's largest women-only marathon, the Nagoya Women's Marathon . The weather is looking pretty good, 6˚ at the start rising to 10˚ by the finish and sunny skies, but a moderate 7 m/s NW wind means a headwind finish that might impact the potential for some fast times. Official streaming kicks off at 9:00 a.m. local time. Live results will be here . Sheila Chepkirui won last year in 2:20:40, breaking away from Sayaka Sato and Eunice Chebichii Chumba at 30 km and hanging on for the win. Sato negative split a 2:20:59 PB for 2nd, Chumba fading to 3rd in 2:21:36. All 3 are back this time, but they have pretty serious competition from Aynalem Desta , 2:17:37 in Amsterdam last fall, and Selly Chepyego Kaptich , 2:20:03 in Barcelona 2023. And of course, Japanese NR holder Honami Maeda . Maeda ran 2:18:59 at the Osaka International Women's Marathon in 2024 to make the Paris Oly...

Kosgei Runs Fastest-Ever Marathon in Asia, Tadese Repeats, 4 New NR, and 5 Qualify for Olympic Trials at Tokyo Marathon

Conditions weren't fantastic at the Tokyo Marathon , a bit too warm and sunny, a bit too windy, a lot too much cedar pollen in the air, but it was still a record-breaking day. Except for a race-morning DNS from men's NR holder Tomoki Suzuki there weren't any surprises in the wheelchair races, where world record holders Catherine Debrunner and Marcel Hug of Switzerland scored solo wins, Debrunner outgunning training partner and all-time #2 Eden Rainbow-Cooper by 4 minutes and Hug winning by 7 minutes in 1:21:09. The women's marathon was a slow burner, starting behind target pace on track for 2:17:00 at 5 km but ramping up all the way to the finish. CR holder and 2-time defending champ Sutume Asefa Kebede and 2022 champion / former WR holder Brigid Kosgei stayed side-by-side the entire way, shadowed by a pack of Ethiopians that dwindled down to just Bertukan Welde . The projected finish got closer and closer to Sutume's 2:15:55 CR, then past it and into 2:14 ter...

Hassan Runs NR/CR for Osaka Win, Dibaba Hits Women's CR, Yoshida and Shuley Earn Legends

This was maybe the most entertaining marathon in years. After rocking the 2nd leg at last year's Hakone Ekiden Hibiki Yoshida (Sunbelx) ran an incredible 1:01:01 CR for the 21.9 km New Year Ekiden 2nd leg last month, equivalent to a 58:47 half marathon. That predicted a 2:03:27 marathon if he ever ran one, and when Yoshida announced he was debuting at this year's Osaka Marathon he wasted no time in saying it'd be a shot at the 2:04:55 NR. Things went out fast enough with a 14:50 split through 5 km, 2:05:11 pace, but Yoshida just couldn't hold back and took off at 8 km. He clearly DGAF about what was probably going to happen as his projected finish kept getting faster, 2:04:41, 2:04:15, 2:03:51, 2:03:40, edging closer and closer to what his New Year time predicted, but not helped along by the fact that he missed 4 out of his first 5 drink bottles. People laughed, and then cheered him on. 30 km was the first time he slowed, his finish projection dropping to 2:03:53, an...

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