Oe and Maruichi Win Lake Saroma 100 km

It was a high-level men's race at this year's Lake Saroma 100 km Ultramarathon. In cooler conditions than usual at Lake Saroma Tatsuya Inagaki and Masato Tanaka went out hot with a 34:50 opening 10 km, way ahead of pace for Alexsandr Sorokin's 6:05:35 WR and even the unofficial 5:59:20 run by Sibusiso Kubheka last year. Tanaka lost touch with Inagaki before 40 km, but with halfway splits of 2:54:59 and 2:56:05 both were still far under Kubheka's mark. Running 3rd through 5th at that point, Chiharu Kuzukubo, Hirofumi Nakamura and Toru Somiya were all under Sorokin's WR pace too, with 6th-placer Takatoshi Oe just off in 3:02:49.

Inagaki couldn't sustain that kind of performance, and by 60 km Tanaka was back in touch. 10 km Tanaka was 5 minutes ahead and still on 5:54:46 pace, with Oe moving up to 3rd and just over 3 minutes behind Inagaki. 70 km is the marathon's 30 km of the 100 km, and Tanaka began to slow rapidly, over 6 hour pace at 80 km with Oe now in 2nd and 5 minutes back, then on 6:07 pace at 90 km with only a 1:19 lead over Oe and even Tanaka regaining ground. In the end Tanaka could't hold Oe off, Oe winning in 6:10:23 with Tanaka next in 6:12:19 and Inagaki 3rd in 6:16:02. In 4th, Somiya cleared 6:20 too with a 6:19:46, making it one of the deepest years in Lake Saroma history.

The women's race started off as a head-to-head between last year's winner Mikiko Ota and Akiko Maruichi, the pair running together for the first 20 km before Ota opened a lead. But between 40 and 50 km Ota started to fade, and Maruichi went from a minute and a half behind to 10 minutes ahead. Ota started to turn it around over the last 30 km, but in the end Maruichi kept a margin of almost 7 minutes to win in 7:22:23. Ota was next in 7:28:50, with Ako Takigahira 3rd in 7:42:47.

Based on their performances here, post-race the JAU named Oe, Tanaka and Inagaki to the Japanese men's team for September's IAU 100 km World Championships in Ames, Spain alongside NR holder Jumpei Yamaguchi, with Somiya named alternate. Maruichi, Ota and Takigahira join Miho Nakata on the women's team, 4th-placer Ono named alternate.

Mahiro Watanabe won the men's 50 km in 3:07:58, with Hong Kong's Virginia Lo winning the women's title by almost 33 minutes in an excellent 3:22:52.

41st Lake Saroma Ultramarathon

Hokkaido, 28 June 2026

complete results

Men's 100 km

1. Takatoshi Oe - 6:10:23

2. Masato Tanaka - 6:12:19

3. Tatsuya Inagaki - 6:16:02

4. Toru Somiya - 6:19:46

5. Hirofumi Nakamura - 6:22:04

6. Shun Masaoka - 6:38:18

7. Shinji Watanabe - 6:39:41

8. Takahiro Sakaguchi - 6:42:03

9. Takayuki Kibata - 6:43:09

10. Fumio Shimura - 6:45:58

Women

1. Akiko Maruichi - 7:22:23

2. Mikiko Ota - 7:28:50

3. Ako Takigahira - 7:42:47

4. Kaoruko Ono - 7:44:15

5. Saki Shimada - 7:50:43

6. Haruka Yamaguchi - 7:54:41

7. Yuka Tomitaka - 7:59:12

8. Kanako Tomita - 8:03:33

9. Yukari Kiyomiya - 8:08:53

10. Emi Saito - 8:25:34

Men's 50 km

1. Mahiro Watanabe - 3:07:58

2. Daichi Soda - 3:09:14

3. Yasuhiko Shibata - 3:10:33

Women's 50 km

1. Virginia Lo (Hong Kong) - 3:22:52

2. Yoshimi Kishi - 3:55:33

3. Ikuko Hasegawa - 4:02:58

Nagoya Asian Games Test Event Canceled After Insulation Falls From Venue Ceiling

A section of insulation material fell from the ceiling of Nagoya Kinjo Futo Arena, the official venue for squash competition at September's Nagoya Asian Games. There were no injuries, but the city suspended use of the arena until its safety could be guaranteed, resulting in the cancelation of the Asian Games squash test event which was scheduled to have begun on May 14. It is not yet clear whether the arena will be usable for the Asian Games as planned. According to city officials, arena staff found that the insulation material had fallen onto a work walkway 13 m above the ground on the night of May 11. The fallen material was 3.6 m long, 50 cm wide and 2.5 km thick, and was found to be waterlogged. The cause of the accident is unknown, but it is possible that it was caused by rainwater leaking in from the roof. The same insulation material is installed across the entire ceiling, and the city plans to check for the extent of the possible flooding. Asked whether the arena will be re...

Hakone Ekiden Qualifying Race Entry Roster Sizes Increased from 14 to 16

Hakone Ekiden organizers KGRR have announced details for the qualifying half marathon for next year's 103rd Hakone Ekiden. The Yosenkai qualifying race will be held Oct. 17 in Tachikawa, Tokyo. The combined times of the 10 fastest finishers from each participating team will be used for team scoring, with the 10 fastest teams going on the the main event next January and top-placing individuals from teams that do not qualify being names to the Kanto Region Student Alliance select team. One change from previous years is that the number of runners each school can enter has been increased from 14 to 16. Teams will still only be allowed to have from 10 to 12 athletes on the starting line, but the move gives coaches greater flexibility in making the final decision on their starting rosters. No changes have been made to the qualifying times of 34:00 for 10000 m or 1:13:00 for the half marathon, and the new earlier starting time of 8:30 a.m. introduced last year in an effort to mitigate ...

Nomura and Odagiri Go 3-4 at Zevenheuvelenloop 15 km

2010 Zevenheuvelenloop 15 km Nijmegen, Netherlands, 11/21/10 Women click here for complete women's results 1. Genet Getaneh (Ethiopia) - 47:53 2. Florence Kiplagat (Kenya) - 48:07 3. Sayo Nomura (Meijo Univ.) - 49:43 4. Aki Odagiri (Meijo Univ.) - 51:37 5. Benita Willis (Australia) - 51:51 Men click here for complete men's results 1. Leonard Patrick Komon (Kenya) - 41:13 - WR 2. Abera Kuma (Ethiopia) - 42:01 3. Ayele Abshiro (Ethiopia) - 42:01 4. Abraham Kiplimo (Uganda) - 43:03 5. Berhanu Delale (Ethiopia) - 43:08 ----- 14. Kazuya Watanabe (Team Sanyo Tokushu Seiko) - 45:31

japan running news

Search This Blog