japan running news

Japan's other big marathon this weekend, the Katsuta Marathon saw a tough four-way race in the men's marathon that came down to a sprint finish in the home straight. Tokyo University graduate student Hiroaki Furukawa , who last year launched action against the Hakone Ekiden organizers for not including a select team in the field for Hakone's 100th edition, passed Sota Yamamoto in the final meters to take 1st in 2:17:28 to Yamamoto's 2:17:29. 3rd and 4th-place Tatsuya Inagaki and Yudai Hiruta weren't far behind, Inagaki finishing in 2:17:41 and Hiruta in 2:17:56. The women's race wasn't as close, but the top three were still only a little more than a minute apart. Kana Numata scored the top spot in 2:44:34, with Natsuki Tomii 2nd in 2:45:33 and Natsumi Kuroda 3rd in 2:45:56. Furukawa and Numata both scored invitations to April's Boston Marathon for their wins, the only Japanese athletes currently in the elite field. In the 10 km race, high schoole...

The world's deepest half marathon returned after a 3-year absence Sunday in Ageo, Saitama. In its 35th anniversary year the Ageo City Half Marathon debuted a tweaked new World Athletics-certified course that moved its starting point onto the road outside the stadium traditionally used for its start and finish.  Boniface Mulwa (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) took off from the massive main pack after a leisurely 14:48 opening 5 km, pursued at first by national record holder Yusuke Ogura and Kensuke Tsubura of this season's Izumo and National University Ekiden course record breaker Komazawa University . But Mulwa's sub-14 split from there to 10 km was too much for them, and he ran the rest of the way complete alone out front. Ageo's first sub-61 clocking looked to be in the works, but after a short stretch of undulations leading to 15 km Mulwa slowed just enough to miss that and let the chase group start to come back into sight of him. With a kick on the last lap of the track...