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Hirayama Strikes Again, Kabasawa Over Fuwa in Whiteout Conditions at National Corporate Half


With heavy snow hitting most of the country the National Corporate Half Marathon and 10 km in Yamaguchi almost dodged a bullet. Almost.

It was -2˚ and windy at the start, but with sunny skies it wasn't too bad. The men went out 15 minutes ahead of the women on sub-61 pace with a massive pack trailing early leader Daisuke Shimojo (ND Software). At times snow was in the air, but even right up to the end the sun was still breaking through. From a few km out a lead trio coalesced of last year's winner Tsubasa Ichiyama (Sunbelx), Kenyan Boniface Mulwa (ND Software) and Taiga Hirayama (Konica Minolta), CR-breaking winner at the Osaka Half Marathon 2 weeks ago. Ichiyama made a break for it with 500 m to go, but on the track at the end Muluwa reeled him back it.

Entering the home straight Hirayama threw down and passed them both, bettering his Osaka time by 6 seconds to win in 1:00:44. Muluwa was next in 1:00:45, with Ichiyama, in training for the Tokyo Marathon in 3 weeks, 3rd in 1:00:46. The top 13 broke 61 minutes, most for the first time. 8 of the top 10 and 19 of the top 25 ran PBs. With wins in 2 of the 3 selection races Hirayama is now a lock for September's World Road Running Championships half marathon team.

The women's race was still sunny at the start, but after about 5 km they seemed to be in a different location from the men, as heavy clouds started to dump steadily increasing snow on them. Injury-prone collegiate 10000 m record holder Seira Fuwa (Mitsui Sumitomo Denko) went to the front at 8 km in her debut and did all the work over the next 11 km as the skies really started to open up. Snow covered the heads of the 5 women left in the lead pack, and by the time Risa Yamazaki (Sekisui Kagaku) made a move at 19 km it was almost a complete white-out.

Kokoro Nakachi (Sysmex) took over from Yamazaki, but she couldn't hold off Wakana Kabasawa (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) over the last km. Slipping and sliding on a now snow-covered track, Kabasawa took the win in a PB of 1:09:20, Nakachi just 4 seconds back in a 1:09:24 PB. The debuting Yamazaki and Fuwa ran 1:09:30 and 1:09:39, and the most accomplished half marathoner up front, Kaede Kawamura (Iwatani Sangyo) was 5th in 1:09:50. Expect to see at least Kabasawa and probably Nakachi too in Copenhagen come September.

The women's field was divided in depth between the half and 10 km, and Yuma Yamamoto (Sekisui Kagaku) had a great one in the 10 km with a 32:01 CR and PB for the win by almost 45 seconds. Struggling through his years at Toyo University after high school stardom, Kosuke Ishida (Subaru) soloed a 29:21 to win the men's 10 km in its 2nd year on the program.

54th National Corporate Half Marathon and 10 km Championships

Yamaguchi, 8 Feb. 2026

1. Yuma Yamamoto (Sekisui Kagaku) - 32:01 - CR, PB
2. Koharu Chugo (Daiichi Seimei) - 32:44 - debut
3. Rina Kusu (Sekisui Kagaku) - 32:47 - debut
4. Momoka Kawaguchi (Uniqlo) - 32:47 - PB
5. Miki Hirai (Uniqlo) - 32:49 - PB
6. Harumi Okamoto (Toyota Jidoshokki) - 32:49 - debut
7. Sara Isobe (Toyota Jidoshokki) - 32:51 - PB
8. Rina Sasaki (Sekisui Kagaku) - 32:59
9. Komachi Ikeda (Kyocera) - 32:59 - PB
10. Momona Yotsumoto (Shiseido) - 33:01 - debut

1. Kosuke Ishida (Subaru) - 29:21 - debut
2. Hideto Kosode (Honda) - 29:54
3. Koki Goto (Takeda Yakuhin) - 30:31 - PB

1. Wakana Kabasawa (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 1:09:20 - PB
2. Kokoro Nakachi (Sysmex) - 1:09:24 - PB
3. Risa Yamazaki (Sekisui Kagaku) - 1:09:30 - debut
4. Seira Fuwa (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 1:09:39 - debut
5. Kaede Kawamura (Iwatani Sangyo) - 1:09:50
6. Shiori Zama (Shimamura) - 1:10:57 - PB
7. Mayu Nishikawa (Starts) - 1:10:59 - PB
8. Manami Nishiyama (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 1:11:20
9. Rina Shimizu (Noritz) - 1:11:21
10. Rio Einaga (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 1:11:25
11. Misaki Ichida (Uniqlo) - 1:11:28 - PB
12. Rion Furukawa (Nitori) - 1:11:32 - debut
13. Anna Suzuki (Shimamura) - 1:11:38
14. Mitsu Ozaki (Sysmex) - 1:11:40
15. Ayari Harada (Daiichi Seimei) - 1:11:51

1. Taiga Hirayama (Konica Minolta) - 1:00:44 - PB
2. Boniface Mulwa (ND Software) - 1:00:45 - PB
3. Tsubasa Ichiyama (Sunbelx) - 1:00:46
4. Tatsuya Maruyama (Toyota) - 1:00:50 - PB
5. Hideto Yamanaka (NTT ExC) - 1:00:52 - PB
6. Kosei Matsunami (Kurosaki Harima) - 1:00:53 - PB
7. Rinto Nakayama (Nishitetsu) - 1:00:53 - PB
8. Ayumu Kobayashi (Subaru) - 1:00:53
9. Haruka Onodera (Toyota Boshoku) - 1:00:54 - PB
10. Koki Asai (Toyota Boshoku) - 1:00:54 - PB
11. Ren Umezaki (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 1:00:57 - PB
12. Haruki Abe (Yasukawa Denki) - 1:00:58 - PB
13. Shunpei Tomita (Logisteed) - 1:00:58 - PB
14. Yuta Shimatsu (ND Software) - 1:01:03 - PB
15. Kakeru Ide (Kurosaki Harima) - 1:01:04 - PB
16. Sota Ueda (Sumitomo Denko) - 1:01:11 - PB
17. Kira Migita (Toyota Kyushu) - 1:01:15 - PB
18. Takumu Kudo (Press Kogyo) - 1:01:17 - PB
19. Kiseki Shiozawa (Fujitsu) - 1:01:18 - PB
20. Kazuki Moriya (Mitsubishi Juko) - 1:01:22
21. Taisei Nakamura (Yakult) - 1:01:23
22. Daisuke Shimojo (ND Software) - 1:01:27 - PB
23. Yuta Azuma (Chudenko) - 1:01:32 - PB
24. Hideyuki Tanaka (Toyota) - 1:01:34
25. Yusuke Tamura (Kurosaki Harima) - 1:01:36
-----
50. Ryu Takaku (Yakult) - 1:02:40
75. Koki Sato (Asahi Kasei) - 1:02:53 - PB
100. Takaya Kumazaki (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 1:03:45 - PB
125. Naoya Sato (Finth) - 1:04:43 - PB
150. Sho Fukuda (Chudenko) - 1:06:16
-----
DNF - Philemon Kiplagat (Aisan Kogyo)

© 2026 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

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Anonymous said…
Good to see Fuwa with a good performance after years of struggles. Still very far to the potential she once had but who knows.

The men half was again impressive with lots of PBs and solid performances. Good to see Ichiyama up front again, Ayumu Kobayashi with a bounceback run after a disaster run at New Year's Ekiden.

Ishida is the biggest mistery of the last few years when it comes to college guys, let's see if he gets a little spark from this.
February 9, 2026 at 10:21 PM
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