CR Holder Teruki Shimada Returns to Launceston Half

CR Holder Teruki Shimada Returns to Launceston Half - Preview and Streaming

Last year's McGrath Launceston Running Festival Peppers Silo Half Marathon in Tasmania, Australia shaped out into a great Australia vs. Japan dual meet, with Jessica Stenson outrunning Yumi Yoshikawa to take the women's title in a 1:09:51 CR, and Teikyo University school record holder Teruki Shimada executing a tactically brilliant race to drop Isaac Heyne, then-NR holder Brett Robinson, and Teikyo teammate Jinya Ozaki for the win in 1:01:12, just a second off the Australian all-comers record.

Marathon NR holder Andy Buchanan took that record down to 1:01:08 at the Gold Coast Half a month later, but its chances of surviving this weekend aren't looking good. Shimada leads last year's top 4 back to Launceston this year, and there's a lot of tough new competition. 2025 National Corporate Half winner Tsubasa Ichiyama, Australia's Haftu Strintzos, new Teikyo record holder Yuta Asakawa and American Ethan Shuley have all run faster that Buchanan's record, and all but Shuley have gone under 61 minutes. With good weather forecast for Sunday it'd be surprising not to see the first sub-61 on Australian soil happen.

Yoshikawa is back in the women's race too fresh off a 1:09:14 PB in Osaka in January, but she's got a tough one in front of her. Australian NR holder Isobel Batt-Doyle leads the field with a 1:07:17 best, not quite enough to challenge the 1:06:39 all-comers record but fast enough to make Stenson's 1:09:51 CR look easy. New Zealand's Georgie Grgec is 1 second faster than Yoshikawa, meaning Yoshikawa is going to have to work to equal her 2nd-place finish last year. Ayaka Shimoyamada and Kaho Onishi are in the race too, making their international debuts like Asakawa and Shuley in the men's race.

Live streaming of the race starts at 7:45 a.m. local time on Youtube. JRN will be on-site working as the elite field coordinator and covering the action live.

McGrath Launceston Running Festival
Peppers Silo Half Marathon Elite Field

Launceston, Australia, 31 May 2026

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

Men

Tsubasa Ichiyama (Japan/Sunbelx) - 1:00:22 (2025 Nat'l Corp. Half)

Haftu Strintzos (Australia) - 1:00:36 (2025 Marugame Half)

Yuta Asakawa (Japan/Teikyo Univ.) - 1:00:54 (2026 Marugame Half)

Teruki Shimada (Japan/Logisteed) - 1:00:56 (2025 Marugame Half)

Ethan Shuley (U.S.A.) - 1:01:02 (2026 Osaka Half)

Isaac Heyne (Australia) - 1:01:13 (2025 Launceston Half)

Brett Robinson (Australia) - 1:01:20 (2025 Launceston Half)

Jinya Ozaki (Japan/NTT) - 1:01:24 (2025 Launceston Half)

Liam Boudin (Australia) - 1:01:26 (2026 Marugame Half)

Ryuichi Yoshioka (Japan/Honda Tochigi) - 1:01:38 (2025 Marugame Half)

Ed Goddard (Australia) - 1:02:01 (2024 Ageo City Half)

Ryan Gregson (Australia) - 1:03:00 (2025 Launceston Half)

Jake Barraclough (Great Britain) - 1:03:42 (2025 Marugame Half)

Women

Isobel Batt-Doyle (Australia) - 1:07:17 (2025 Marugame Half)

Georgie Grgec (New Zealand) - 1:09:13 (2025 Berlin Half)

Yumi Yoshikawa (Japan/Canon) - 1:09:14 (2026 Osaka Half)

Ayaka Shimoyamada (Japan/TT Runners)- 1:10:41 (2026 Osaka Half)

Genevieve Gregson (Australia) - 1:10:49 (2026 Ballarat Half)

Tara Palm (Australia) - 1:10:55 (2025 Osaka Half)

Sinead Diver (Australia) - 1:10:56 (2025 Melbourne Half)

Kaho Onishi (Japan/Route Inn Hotels) - 1:11:38 (2026 Marugame Half)

Vanessa Wilson (Australia) - 1:12:59 (2024 Gold Coast Half)

Sarah Klein (Australia) - 1:13:19 (2025 Launceston Half)

Danette Sheehan (Canada) - 1:14:03 (2026 Ballarat Half)

Waseda 2/2 With National University Ekiden CR

The last time Waseda University won the National University Ekiden in 2010 it pulled off something that had never been done and has never been duplicated since then, breaking the course records to win all 3 major university ekidens in a single season. After leading the top 7 teams under the CR to take last month's Izumo Ekiden , Waseda came one step closer to repeating history with a massive CR win at today's 58th National University Ekiden . 2026 Hakone Ekiden champ Aoyama Gakuin University 's leading runner Ibuki Sugiyama was the only thing that stopped Waseda from leading wire to wire, giving EVERYTHING to improbably outkick Waseda's 1st-year 1500 m sensation Ojiro Honda and hand off in the top spot, maybe the single most memorable performance of the day. But from there it was a blowout, with Waseda 1st-years Yota Mashiko and Haruki Niizuma breaking the CRs on the next 2 stages, 2nd-year Rui Suzuki doing the same on the Fifth Stage, and 4th-year Shinsaku Kudo ...

Kondo Runs Fastest-Ever Japanese Time at TCS New York City Marathon

Coming at a key point in ekiden season, few elite-level Japanese athletes run the TCS New York City Marathon, but this year 3 were on the line, 2026 Osaka Women's Marathon 6th-placer Rie Kawauchi (Otsuka Seiyaku), last year's Osaka Marathon men's runner-up Ryota Kondo (Mitsubishi Juko), and former men's NR holder Kengo Suzuki (Nike). In t he women's race , Kawauchi, a 2:24:16 runner, lost touch with the lead group before 20 km, going through halfway in 1:14:04 en route to an 18th-place finish in 2:31:29. Surprisingly, that was still the 4th-fastest time ever by a Japanese woman in New York, and the fastest since double Olympic medalist Yuko Arimori ran 2:31:12 in 2000. In the men's race , both Kondo and Suzuki took turns surging to the front, Suzuki doing it early and paying for it with splits of 1:04:06/1:08:09, ultimately landing 23rd in 2:12:15. Kondo, whose Osaka run last year was a solid debut of 2:05:39, was in it til the end and made multiple moves ov...

National University Ekiden Preview

Waseda University made history at the Izumo Ekiden on Oct. 12, leading the top 7 teams under the old CR to win by nearly a minute over the 6-stage, 45.1 km course. At 8 stages totaling 106.8 km, Sunday's National University Ekiden demands a balance between the kind of track speed that brought Waseda success at Izumo and the longer distances that make up January's Hakone Ekiden. Last year Waseda was 5th at Nationals , and with a better lineup this time around its chances of another win here are non-zero. But with the top 13 teams all having better rosters than last year it's got the potential to be an historic race like Izumo with multiple teams going under the 5:06:47 CR. TV Asahi has the live broadcast starting at 7:45 a.m. local time Sunday, with the race at 8:10 a.m. Official streaming is on TVer with a VPN. Last year's runner-up Chuo University has the best lineup in Nationals history, with the first-ever 8-man 5000 m average under 13:30 and the first-ever sub...

japan running news

Search This Blog