The 66th Karatsu Road Race took place Feb. 8 in Karatsu, Saga. In his first time running the men's 10 mile, Taisei Kiyono (Chugoku Denryoku) ran 47:12 to win. The race came down to a 4-way sprint finish, with Kiyono pulling away on the track to beat 2nd place by just 1 second. 2nd on the 12.3 km opening leg at the Jan. 1 New Year Ekiden, Kiyono already had proven ability. "I was pretty confident of my chances if it came down to a kick," he said. "I didn't think there was any way I was going to lose on the track."
Kiyono was making his debut over 10 miles in windy conditions. "I couldn't tell what the pace was, so it se long," he said. "Winning it was a great experience." After this Kiyono will shift focus to outdoor track season. "I want to make the 5000 m and 10000 m at the National Championships," he said.
In the women's 10 km, Miu Saito (Panasonic), who represented Japan in the 3000 mSC at last fall's Tokyo World Championships, won in 32:21. "It was really windy," she said. "We had a strong headwind on the way out so I didn't think it'd be as bad on the way back, but it still was. Saito ran the race to keep fitness in the off-season. "There aren't any steeple races right now, so I decided to do a road race to kick the season off." Saito started to push after only 4 km, opening a massive lead and beating 2nd place by 44 seconds.
Saito's next race will be the Asian Cross Country Championships in Fukuoka on Feb. 21. Her main goal for the year is September's Asian Games in Nagoya. "I want to focus my peaking this season on the Asian Games," she said. As the NR holder in the 3000 mSC, she hopes to continue moving up on the international scene.
In the high school boys' 10 km, Jin Imamura (Tosu Kogyo H.S.) led an impressive 13 boys under 30 minutes, winning by 25 seconds in 29:07. Moe Imon (Sei Catalina H.S.) won the high school girls' 5 km in 16:24.
66th Karatsu Road Race
Karu, aga, 8 Feb. 2026
1. Taisei Kiyono (Chugoku Denryoku) - 47:12
2. Yusei Tomita (Nihon Univ.) - 47:13
3. Hayato Nomura (Chugoku Denryoku) - 47:17
4. Daiki Murakami (Mitsubishi Juko) - 47:19
5. Masaki Tominaga (Nishitetsu) - 47:26
6. Shinta Miyazawa (Suzuki) - 47:35
7. Yuta Kubode (Chugoku Denryoku) - 47:49
8. Seiryu Morishige (Komazawa Univ.) - 47:51
9. Shota Ushinohama (JFE Steel) - 47:54
10. Takafumi Mikaki (Hioki City Hall) - 48:00
1. Miu Saito (Panasonic) - 32:21
2. Sakura Nishio (Iwatani Sangyo) - 33:05
3. Yumi Yamada (Osaka Gakuin Univ.) - 33:06
4. Shiori Nagumo (Higo Ginko) - 33:23
5. Yuna Furusawa (Osaka Gakuin Univ.) - 34:01
6. Hikaru Fukuyama (Fukuoka Univ.) - 34:09
7. Hikari Tanikado (Fukuoka Univ.) - 34:33
8. Moyu Taniguchi (Toto) - 34:33
9. Mizuki Sanai (Osaka Gakuin Univ.) - 34:41
10. Nene Kitano (Osaka Gakuin Univ.). 35:14
1. Jin Imamura (Tosu Kogyo H.S.) - 29:07
2. Kosuke Sawayama (Jiyugaoka H.S.) - 29:32
3. Teruto Tsugami (Jiyugaoka H.S.) - 29:33
4. Goki Kawazoe (Tosu Kogyo H.S.) - 29:37
5. Tsubasa Matsuo (Iizuka H.S.) - 29:39
6. Yutaro Takenobu (Fukuoka Kogyo H.S.) - 29:39
7. Minori Shitamori (Tosu Kogyo H.S.) - 29:40
8. Eita Uchi (Fukuoka Daiichi H.S.) - 29:40
9. Kai Shigefuji (Tosu Kogyo H.S.) - 29:40
10. Kotaro Hirao (Ube Kojo H.S.) - 29:41
11. Tasuku Miyano (Kyushu Kokusai H.S.) - 29:44
12. Kohei Takahashi (Tosu Kogyo H.S.) - 29:48
13. Yuta Seri (Fukuoka Daiichi H.S.) - 29:57
1. Moe Imon (Sei Catalina H.S.) - 16:24
2. Rena Sasaki (Chikushi Joshi Gakuen H.S.) - 16:31
3. Rena Shimano (Takagawa Gakuen H.S.) - 16:35
4. Sawa Okuma (Chikushi Joshi Gakuen H.S.) - 16:42
5. Mako Shiraishi (Chikushi Joshi Gakuen H.S.) - 16:43
6. Eren Kaneko (Takagawa Gakuen H.S.) - 16:50
source articles:
translated and edited by Brett Larner
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