Kawabata and Hayashida Win Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon

Today's Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon was in one of the few places in the country not hit by heavy snow, but even though it was windier than ideal with a strong tailwind 1st half and headwind 2nd half people ran well.

After a 1:04:31 fast half the men dropped as slow as 16:03 into the wind between 25 and 30 km, but when the pacers dropped a group of 6 broke free from the pack and got the race back on track with a 15:25 split through 35 km. Even though he only had a 2:15:11 PB Kazuto Kawabata was the only one who could sustain that over the next 5 km, and he kept rolling on to win in a new PB of 2:10:27. Amateur Shusei Ohashi dropped a 2:11:01 PB for 2nd, just holding off the debuting Shoki Yamaguchi from Soka University who was 3rd in 2:11:02.

6 of the top 10 ran PBs, the other 4 all running the marathon for the first time and everyone under 2:12:30. Back in 13th, the talented Kenta Murayama from the local Asahi Kasei corporate team brought his career to an end with a 2:14:04, never quite capitalizing on the potential he showed in distances up to the half marathon. Veteran Daiji Kawai was 14th in 2:14:23.

The women's race was a 3-way shared effort between last year's winner Akiko Ogawa, 46-year-old Rieko Koshi and local Reina Hayashida. Ogawa and Hayashida went through halfway in 1:20:56 with Koshi a couple of steps behind, and as Koshi faded further back Hayashida dropped Ogawa. Hayashida won in an 8-minute PB of 2:42:17, with Koshi coming back in the final km to run Ogawa down for 2nd 2:43:25 to 2:43:37.

64th Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon

Nobeoka, Miyazaki, 8 Feb. 2026

complete men's results

complete women's results

Women

1. Reina Hayashida (Nobeoka T&F Assoc.) - 2:42:17 - PB

2. Rieko Koshi (Emoto Juku) - 2:43:25

3. Akiko Ogawa (Koyugun T&F Assoc.) - 2:43:37

Men

1. Kazuto Kawabata (SG Holdings) - 2:10:27 - PB

2. Shusei Ohashi (Kodaira T&F Assoc.) - 2:11:01 - PB

3. Shoki Yamaguchi (Soka Univ.) - 2:11:02 - debut

4. Koki Kamata (Yakult) - 2:11:18 - PB

5. Kanta Ikeda (Chugoku Denryoku) - 2:11:21 - PB

6. Ryuji Kawakita (Nexus RC) - 2:11:53 - PB

7. Kaito Nakamura (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 2:12:04 - debut

8. Masahiro Fukumoto (Kraftia) - 2:12:18 - debut

9. Ibuki Kaneko (JR Higashi Nihon) - 2:12:18 - PB

10. Ryosuke Sasaki (Suzuki) - 2:12:20 - debut

11. Akihito Eishin (Osaka Police) - 2:12:45

12. Masami Nagakura (Kurosaki Harima) - 2:13:09 - PB

13. Kenta Murayama (Asahi Kasei) - 2:14:04

14. Daiji Kawai (Toenec) - 2:14:23

15. Koya Suzuki (Fujitsu) - 2:15:39 - debut

Endo, Nishikawa and Yamakawa Announce Corporate Team Changes

The SG Holdings men's corporate team announced on Oct. 1 that long-distance athletes Hyuga Endo and Yuichiro Nishikawa have joined its roster after leaving the Sumitomo Denko team. Endo, 28, won the Junior Olympics 3000 m while at Koriyama Nishi J.H.S. before going on to Gakuho Ishikawa H.S. where he was the the top Japanese placer in the 5000 m at the National High School Championships 2 years in a row. After graduating from Gakuho Ishikawa he joined the Sumitomo Denko team, winning the National Championships 5000 m in 2021. He won gold at the 2023 Asian Championships and represented Japan at the 2022 and 2023 World Championships. "I will give everything I have as part of the team and work hard toward helping it win the New Year Ekiden," he said of his new environment. Of his personal goals he said, "I want to focus on the 5000 m and reach new levels to compete internationally." Nishikawa, 28, was a member of Tokai University 's winning teams at the H...

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