It was pretty much a strong tailwind over the first 10 km and just a strong a headwind over the last 10, so it wasn't a surprise that the lead group of men went through 5 km in 13:59 and 10 km in 27:51. Up front in it were 59:30 collegiate record co-holders Richard Etir and Kotaro Shinohara, and sub-59:30 guy Emmanuel Maru. But with the National University Half Marathon having moved to Marugame last year there were a million fast Hakone kids up in it to, Hiromichi Nonaka from Koku Gakuin University leading the way but lots more right behind.
Etir and Maru opened up on the field after the turnaround, and by 15 km Etir was alone, 9 seconds ahead of Maru and on sub-59 pace running into the wind. Like everyone else he struggled to keep pace in the wind, sub-59 slipping away but easily taking the win in 59:07, a CR and new collegiate record by 23 seconds. Maru ended up almost a minute back in 2nd in 1:00:06. Uruguay's Santiago Catrofe won a sprint finish against Tomoya Ogikubo to set a new NR of 1:00:21 for 3rd, with Ogikubo tying all-time Japanese #8 in 1:00:22 for 4th and top Japanese.
4th and 5th placers Yuma Nishizawa and Neo Namiki both cleared 1:00:30, and Daisuke Sato of Chuo University made up a 10-second gap at 10 km to take the top Japanese collegiate spot at 7th overall in a PB of 1:00:40. The top 20 all broke 61, 11 of them collegiate runners, and excluding 2 people debuting, everyone in the top 25 except Maru and Norway's Sondre Moen ran a PB. A sub-61 half just isn't what it used to be. But the depth was as stellar as you'd expect from a top-tier Japanese half even with the wind, the top 70 going under 62 and 130 under 63. Down in 150th place, Tokyo Paralympic Yuki Iwata set a 1:03:12 WR in the ID class.
It was a pretty strong contrast in the women's race, where despite having men around to run with only 3 people in the top 20 ran PBs. 2-time champ Dolphine Omare went out in an aggressive 15:26 and 30:47 through 5 km and 10 km, 1:04:57 pace, but slowed as soon as she went around the turnaround and into the wind. She ultimately missed her own CR from last year by 10 seconds but still took 1st in 1:06:15, her 3rd-straight Marugame title. "She was OK through 20 km, but she really had a hard time in the last km," Omare's coach Stephen Mayaka told JRN post-race. "In better weather she can do 65 for sure."
Saying pre-race that she hoped to run 65, Eilish McColgan went out in 15:34 and 31:18, 1:06:02 pace, but faded even harder than Omare over the next 5 km. But where Omare continued to slow McColgan rallied, faster than Omare by 1 second from 15 to 20 km and by 3 seconds over the last 1.0975. "It was hard," she told JRN. "I was on my own a lot of the time. Men kept coming back to me, which gave me something to target, but they had all gone out too fast and were dying so I kept passing them. There wasn't anyone I could latch onto."
Japan-based Susan Kamotho ran an extremely well-paced debut, only 16:17 through 5 km but then clocking 16:00-16:03-16:02 to move pass Australian Isobel Batt-Doyle for 3rd in 1:07:56. Batt-Doyle hung on to 4th in 1:08:51, telling JRN, "I wanted to run better since I'd run well here before, but it was a hard day out there and I just told myself to make sure I got under 1:09." Tokyo World Championships marathoner Kana Kobayashi took the top Japanese spot at 5th in 1:09:28.
78th Kagawa Marugame International Half Marathon
Marugame, Kagawa, 1 Feb. 2026
Women
1. Dolphine Omare (Kenya/Uniqlo) - 1:06:15
2. Eilish McColgan (Great Britain) - 1:07:08
3. Susan Kamotho (Kenya/Bears) - 1:07:56 - debut
4. Isobel Batt-Doyle (Australia) - 1:08:51
5. Kana Kobayashi (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 1:09:28
6. Hikaru Kitagawa (Univ. Ent.) - 1:10:29 - PB
7. Sarah Wanjiru (Kenya/Daito Bunka Univ.) - 1:10:50 - debut
8. Yuka Ando (Japan/Shimamura) - 1:11:00
9. Ayumi Morita (Tokyo Metro) - 1:11:16 - PB
10. Kaho Onishi (Route Inn Hotels) - 1:11:38 - debut
11. Charlotte Purdue (Great Britain) - 1:11:57
12. Sakura Yumiki (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 1:12:33 - debut
13. Munkhzaya Bayartsogt (Mongolia) - 1:12:43 - PB
14. Azusa Sumi (Univ. Ent.) - 1:12:53
15. Chisato Kagaya (Tokyo Metro) - 1:14:24
16. Rebecca Lowe (Australia) - 1:15:24
17. Hanami Koga (SID Group) - 1:15:29
18. Mirai Waku (Univ. Ent.) - 1:16:10
19. Manami Takami (Nagato T&F Assoc.) - 1:18:11
20. Portia Olsen (Australia) - 1:21:22
Men
1. Richard Etir (Kenya/Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) - 59:07 - CR, Univ NR
2. Emmanuel Maru (Kenya/Toyota Boshoku) - 1:00:06
3. Santiago Catrofe (Uruguay) - 1:00:21 - NR
4. Tomoya Ogikubo (Hiramatsu Byoin) - 1:00:22 - PB
5. Yuma Nishizawa (Toyota Boshoku) - 1:00:26 - PB
6. Neo Namiki (Subaru) - 1:00:29 - PB
7. Daisuke Sato (Chuo Univ.) - 1:00:40 - PB
8. Sondre Moen (Norway) - 1:00:46
9. Haruka Yamamoto (Juntendo Univ.) - 1:00:46 - PB
10. Takuma Ohama (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 1:00:48 - PB
11. Hiromichi Nonaka (Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 1:00:51 - PB
12. Sodai Shimizu (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 1:00:52 - PB
13. So Kawasaki (Tsukuba Univ.) - 1:00:53 - PB
14. Itsuki Takaishi (Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 1:00:53 - debut
15. Kazura Munakata (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 1:00:53 - PB
16. Shota Yamaguchi (Nihon Univ.) - 1:00:54 - PB
17. Yuta Asakawa (Teikyo Univ.) - 1:00:54 - PB
18. Ryo Goda (Yasukawa Denki) - 1:00:55 - PB
19. Riku Tamame (Juntendo Univ.) - 1:00:56 - PB
20. Takuya Hanyu (Toyota Boshoku) - 1:00:58 - debut
21. Daichi Shibata (Chuo Univ.) - 1:01:00 - PB
22. Kyosuke Kogure (SID Group) - 1:01:00 - PB
23. Tatsuya Tsunashima (YKK) - 1:01:01 - PB
24. Masanori Sumida (Aichi Seiko) - 1:01:01 - PB
25. Takuma Akiyoshi (Tokyo Univ.) - 1:01:01 - PB
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50. Sota Harada (Rikkyo Univ.) - 1:01:39 - PB
75. Seigo Sato (Teikyo Univ.) - 1:02:10 - PB
100. Soma Nagahara (Juntendo Univ.) - 1:02:29
125. Takumi Iwata (JFE Steel) - 1:02:54
150. Yuki Iwata (one's Para AC) - 1:03:12 - WR
175. Itsuki Okazaki (Surugadai Univ.) - 1:03:45
200. Yusuke Sato (Chuo Gakuin Univ.) - 1:04:26 - PB
225. Mirai Ogawa (Meiji Univ.) - 1:05:03
250. Asai Ouchi (Takushoku Univ.) - 1:05:44
text and photos © 2026 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
Comments
Well done to Etir, well done to the top guys and have to say that Koku Gakuin will likely feel much better at the perspective or losing their 4th years when they have runners giving this kind of performance. Nonaka is a sure thing but having Takaishi debuting 1.00.53 as a first year is certainly encouraging. Does that give him the u20 NR for half marathon? Or is it a couple of months too late for that? I know Noda established the NR in november as a first year too so was wondering if Takaishi stole it or it doesn't count.
Chuo had very good performances too and I was surprised to see Yamamoto and Tamame from Juntendo running those times and improving that much. No idea how that program made that kind of progress over the last 12 months but it confirms the great result they had at Hakone one month ago.
The more we see these kind of performances from all these schools, the longer it makes the wait for the next Ekiden season.