japan running news

This was one of the busiest weekends of the year for Japanese marathons, with at least five big races across the country. The fastest was the Kanazawa Marathon with a field of 13,000, with Kenta Fukumura winning for the second year in a row in 2:16:51 and Chifumi Ito  running an almost 9-minute PB of 2:34:45 to break the women's course record. At the 10,000-runner Mito Komon Manyu Marathon in Ibaraki, Japan-based Kenyan Benjamin Ngandu won in 2:19:10, the only man to go under 2:20. Kana Numata won the women's race in 2:46:09, Honoka Kurosaki taking 2nd in 2:48:24 and Akiko Maruichi 3rd in 2:49:48. A total of 6,847 people ran the Shimada Oigawa Marathon in Shizuoka. Shunsuke Matsui won the men's race in 2:22:34, with local Natsumi Yamauchi winning the women's race in 3:00:16. With a field of 25,000 the Yokohama Marathon was the biggest, if not the fastest of the weekend. Rikuto Okubo won the men's race in 2:23:45, with former corporate leaguer Yukari Yasu...

This was Japan's biggest marathon weekend since pre-pandemic, with at least four major races going off as scheduled. With 11,597 finishers the Kanazawa Marathon was the fastest of them. Last year's women's winner Mai Fujisawa , 48, ran her fastest time of her six certified marathons so far this year, winning again in 2:38:29. Erika Omi led 8 other women under 2:50, 2nd to Fujisawa in 2:42:55. The men's race was closer, with Kenta Fukumura edging last year's winner Junichi Ushiyama by 17 seconds to win in 2:16:20. 3rd-placer Hayato Sugimoto was the only other runner under 2:20, running 2:19:27. The Mito Komon Manyu Marathon in Ibaraki also saw a close men's race. Former Nihon University star and longtime Japan resident Benjamin Ngandu returned from a 4-year drug suspension to win in a course record 2:18:02, outkicking this year's 100 km World Championships silver medalist Jumpei Yamaguchi by 12 seconds. Shinobu Ayabe won the women's race in 2:4...