Rui Aoki and Shunsuke Kuwata Making U.S. Debut at United Airlines NYC Half

When the National University Half Marathon was canceled in 2011 after the massive earthquake and tsunami struck northeastern Japan 2 days before the race, JRN talked to the New York Road Runners about bringing 2 collegiate runners to the United Airlines NYC Half Marathon the next weekend as a show of support. It wasn't possible to pull it together in the immediate aftermath of the disasters, but a year later we brought 2 young 2nd-years from Hakone Ekiden CR breaker Toyo University, Kento Otsu and Yuta Shitara, who had been the top 2 Japanese collegiate finishers at the Ageo City Half Marathon in November before Hakone.

Shitara ran 1:01:48, at the time the fastest-ever by a Japanese man on U.S. soil, with Otsu running a solid 1:03:15. Thanks to that great start the Ageo-NYC partnership became a regular thing, and except for the pandemic it's continued every year since, expanding this year to June's New York Mini 10 km when 2 runners from Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden runner-up Tohoku Fukushi University, Nazuki Sasaki and Amisa Murayama, will race for the first time.

A Japanese athlete hasn't held the CR in Ageo since Ethiopian Gebretsadik Bekele ran 1:01:26 to better Hideaki Date's 1:02:08 back in 2006. But at last November's race Rui Aoki from Izumo Ekiden winner Koku Gakuin University and Shunsuke Kuwata from National University Ekiden champ Komazawa University pushed each other the whole way, the 4th-year Aoki going 2 seconds under the CR in 1:00:45 for the win and the 2nd-year Kuwata just missing in 1:00:48 to score invitations to NYC. Both were PBs, but at Hakone in January they surpassed those marks, Aoki running the equivalent of a 59:54 half marathon to take the First Stage CR and Kuwata running the equivalent of 1:00:35 on the Second Stage.

Both Aoki and Kuwata skipped February's Marugame Half to focus 100% on NYC. Aoki, a native of Gunma, graduates next week, and in a deep field of sub-60 half marathoners he's hoping to prove that Hakone time wasn't a fluke. From Aichi, Kuwata did a lot of his training for NYC on rolling hills in Japan's southern islands and is focused on trying to stay with the debuting Grant Fisher.

24 Japanese collegiate men have run the United Airlines NYC Half over the years, 9 of them from Komazawa, with Komazawa's Kenta Murayama coming back in 2017 as a corporate league runner with the Asahi Kasei team to run the best-ever Japanese placing and time in NYC, 1:00:57 for 5th on the old faster version of the NYC course. Shitara's 1:01:48 on the old course remains the fastest-ever collegiate time, with Komazawa's Kei Katanishi the fastest on the tougher new course at 1:03:05 for 7th in 2018, the best-ever collegiate placing on either course. With 8 men in the field having broken 60 minutes not including Aoki it'll take an A-list performance to beat Katanishi's placing, but it'll be a surprise if his time survives these 2 next-generation talents.

United Airlines NYC Half Men's Field Highlights

New York, U.S.A., 15 March 2026

times listed are athletes' best within last 3 years except where noted

Abel Kipchumba (Kenya) - 59:09

Adriaan Wildschutt (South Africa) - 59:13

Daniel Ebenyo (Kenya) - 59:14

Patrick Kiprop (Kenya) - 59:14

Mohammed El Youssfi (Morocco) - 59:21

Alex Maier (U.S.A.) - 59:23

Ryan Ford (U.S.A.) - 59:47

Rory Linkletter (Canada) - 59:49

Patrick Dever (Great Britain) - 1:00:11

Sondre Moen (Norway) - 1:00:11

Zouhair Talbi (U.S.A.) - 1:00:41

Rui Aoki (Japan/Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 1:00:45

Shunsuke Kuwata (Japan/Komazawa) - 1:00:48

Alex Masai (Kenya) - 1:00:51

Jack Rowe (Great Britain) - 1:00:53

Joe Klecker (U.S.A.) - 1:01:06

Peter Lynch (Ireland) - 1:01:15

Camren Todd (U.S.A.) - 1:01:23

Hendrik Pfeiffer (Germany) - 1:01:28

Tummy Tsegay (Eritrea) - 1:01:50

Galen Rupp (U.S.A.) - 1:02:01

Jacob Thomson (U.S.A.) - 1:02:26

Joel Reichow (U.S.A.) - 1:02:30

Max Turek (Canada) - 1:02:45

Haftu Knight (U.S.A.) - 1:02:47

Matt Leach (Great Britain) - 1:03:05

Nick Hauger (U.S.A.) - 1:03:06

Kieran Tuntivate (Thailand) - 1:03:19

Grant Fisher (U.S.A.) - debut

Gulveer Singh (India) - debut

Waseda Leads Top 7 Teams Under Izumo Ekiden CR, Ivy League Best-Ever 3rd (updated)

3rd last year, Waseda University scored its first Izumo Ekiden win since 2010, taking almost 2 minutes off the CR and leading the top 7 teams under the old record of 2:07:51 for the complete 6-stage, 45.1 km course. Waseda was 16 seconds back in 7th after the First Stage, but its 2nd runner Ojiro Honda made that up easily and put them 6 seconds out front. A massive 22:56 CR for the 8.5 km Third Stage by Shadrack Kipkemei (Nihon Univ.) dropped Waseda back to 2nd even though its runner Ryuki Suzuki broke the old CR too, but back-to-back CR on the next 2 stages by 1st-year Haruki Niizuma and Shunpei Yamaguchi put anchor Shinsaku Kudo out of reach of the rest of the field. Kudo duly won the 10.2 km anchor stage in 29:00, bypassing a 2:06 time entirely for a new 2:05:56 CR, just under 2:48/km average pace for the complete course. Defending champ Koku Gakuin University struggled a bit in the first half of the race but came on strong in the longer second half with 4th and 5th runners...

Kipyegon Repeats, Toyo Wins Hakone Ekiden Qualifier in First Appearance in 21 Years

Back for the first time in 21 years after a disastrous 14th-place finish at the 102nd Hakone Ekiden this past January, Toyo University hit one out of western Tokyo's Showa Kinen Park with a solid win at the Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai, the half marathon that serves as the official qualifying race for the 103rd Hakone Ekiden. The top 10 teams in the Hakone auto-qualify for the following year, with the rest having to run the Yosenkai in October with a squad of 10 to 16 runners out of which the top 10 score on aggregate time, with the 10 fastest schools joining the Hakone field and top individuals from non-qualifying teams names to the Kanto Region Student Alliance select team to make up the complete Hakone field of 21. Driven in large part by an aggressive run from 3rd-year Yu Miyazaki , one of only 2 Japanese athletes to go with the big African contingent up front, Toyo won in 10:31:30, 1:03:09 or 2:59.6/km per athlete. As the first team to have broken the 3:00/km average pace barrie...

Ngetich and Mutiso Take Down Tokyo Legacy Half CR

In its 5th edition the Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon scored 2 new course records via Kenyans from the Ikaika agency, with 10 km WR holder Agnes Ngetich blasting 3 minutes off the old record to win by over 4 in 1:04:23, and Alexander Mutiso skimming just 1 second under the CR for the win by 5 seconds in 59:51. The 2 races played out completely differently, even if the paydays were the same for the winners. Surrounded by an envelope of male runners all the way to the final 100 m, Ngetich was out hard on the downhill in the first 5 km, hitting it on sub-64 pace in 15:08 before leveling out on the flat middle 10 km. Her next 2 splits projected to 1:04:09 and 1:04:17, and even with the uphill back to the stadium in the last 5 km she didn't fall far off from that, winning in 1:04:23. Runner-up Tabitha Njeri Kamau was nearly a mile back in 1:08:28, with Kamau's Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo teammate Kazuna Kanetomo dropping a 1:10:17 PB for 3rd. Now an independent, track Olympian Kaede Ha...

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