Skip to main content

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

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

© 2026 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Kanakuri Memorial Meet Streaming and Start Lists

Japan's outdoor Grand Prix season kicks off Saturday in Kumamoto at the Kanakuri Memorial Meet . Streaming will be at the link above starting at 9:30 a.m. local time. Complete timetable and start lists . Main events and some noteworthy entries: GP Women's 800 m Heat 2  - 12:10 p.m. All-time JPN #4 Ayano Shiomi , 2:01.01 GP Men's 800 m Heat 2  - 12:30 p.m. GP Women's 3000 mSC  - 2:45 p.m. All-time JPN #4 Yuzu Nishide , 9:38.95 All-time JPN #5 Manami Nishiyama , 9:39.28 South Korean NR holder Ha-Rim Cho , 9:53.09 GP Men's 3000 mSC  - 3:05 p.m. All-time JPN #2 Ryoma Aoki , 8:18.75 All-time JPN #5 Yutaro Niinae , 8:19.54 All-time JPN #7 Hibiki Obara , 8:22.64 All-time U20 JPN #2 Tetsu Sasaki , 8:29.05 All-time U20 JPN #3 Soma Nagahara , 8:30.37 GP Women's 1500 m Heat 2  - 3:35 p.m. Teresiah Muthoni , 4:02.54 Margaret Ekalale , 4:09.64 all-time JPN #3 Ran Urabe , 4:07.90 All-time JPN #6 Tomoka Kimura , 4:09.79 All-time U20 #5 Mei Sakiyama , 4:13.67 GP Men's 1500...
Post a Comment
Read more

Mashiko Breaks U20 5000 m NR - Weekend Track Roundup

Saturday's Kanakuri Memorial Meet in Kumamoto was the weekend's main event in Japanese track, but there were good results at the Nittai University Time Trials meet in Yokohama too. Emmanuel Maru (Toyota Boshoku) led the men's 5000 m A-heat at Kanakuri in 13:14.06, with Tomonori Yamaguchi (SGH) clocking the fastest Japanese time in 13:16.38 in his first race as a corporate leaguer. Waseda University duo Rui Suzuki and Yota Mashiko went 6-7 in 13:20.64 and 13:22.87, the 18-year-old Mashiko shaving 0.04 off the U20 NR. In 8th, Yamato Yoshii (Toyota) ran a PB of 13:23.92. 3000 mSC NR holder Ryuji Miura (Subaru) continued to struggle after a weak indoor season, finishing 18th of 20 finishers in 13:45.10. 19-year-old Festus Kimorwo (Kurosaki Harima) was under 13:20 in the B-heat too, winning in a 13:19.59 PB. 2 more collegiate men broke 13:30, Daichi Fujita (Chuo Univ.) 8th in 13:28.93 and Riki Koike (Soka Univ.) 9th in 13:29.09. The top 6 in the men's 800 m A-hea...
Post a Comment
Read more

Australian Male Arrested on Drug Smuggling Charges After Entering Japan for Osaka Marathon

On Apr. 9 the Kinki Region Bureau of Health, Labor and Welfare's Drug Control Division arrested Matthew Inglis Fox , 38, an Australian business owner of no known fixed address, on charges of violating the importation regulations of the Narcotics Control Act by smuggling tablets containing marijuana elements from the United States. The suspect had entered Japan in February to run in the Osaka Marathon . The suspect was arrested on suspicion of smuggling approximately 12 pills containing marijuana by sending them from a U.S. airport to Osaka's Kansai Airport using an international courier service on Feb. 19. The Osaka branch of the Customs Service discovered the tablets in arriving cargo and suspected them to be narcotics. Customs contacted the Narcotics Control Division, which then began its investigation of the case. According to the Narcotics Control Division, the suspect denies the charges.  Translator's note: Fox, who received a lifetime ban from the Ageo City Half Mara...
41 comments
Read more