One of many top-tier individuals on the beginning record at 1:02:07, Kodai Miyaoka (Hosei Univ.) took the race out quick, however the complete pack was keying off the quickest man within the race, Reishi Yoshida (Chuo Gakuin Univ.), 1:00:31. Yoshida reeled Miyaoka in earlier than 5 km and stored issues regular within the low-1:01 vary, carrying down the lead group to round 10 together with his CGU teammate Taisei Ichikawa, a quartet from Izumo and Nationwide College Ekiden runner-up Komazawa College, 2 runners from native Daito Bunka College, 2:07:54 marathoner Atsumi Ashiwa (Honda), and Australian Ed Goddard.
Proper after 15 km Komazawa went into motion, Yudai Kiyama, Hibiki Murakami and Haru Taninaka going to the entrance after which Kiyama, barely sub-66 for the half marathon however with a 13:37.54 for 5000 m to his identify, pushing the tempo at 16 km. That dropped a lot of the pack together with Yoshida, and one other surge from debuting 1st-year Haru Taninaka lower it down to only him, Kiyama and DBU’s 19-year-old Kazura Munakata. Munakata attacked on the downhill of an underpass simply earlier than 18 km, and when Taninaka and Kiyama dropped he rode that momentum all the way in which to the win.
Munakata’s successful time of 1:01:38 was a brand new U20 nationwide file, 3 seconds below the outdated file held by 3000 m SC NR holder Ryuji Miura. Munakata got here in with a 28:32.36 greatest for 10000 m, suggesting he had extra in him than his 1:03:13 PB for the half, however his efficiency right here was means past anybody’s expectations. Kiyama got here by means of in 1:01:59 for 2nd general, a PB by 4 minutes. As the highest 2 Japanese collegiate finishers Munakata and Kiyama scored invites to subsequent March’s United Airways NYC Half, a improvement program arrange by JRN that has given top-level expertise like Paris Olympics Sixth-placer Akira Akasaki and former half marathon and marathon NR holder Yuta Shitara their first worldwide racing expertise.
Goddard got here as much as run down Taninaka and others who had fallen off, ending Third general in a 6-second PB of 1:02:01. “It was an important day,” he advised JRN post-race. “For years I’ve seemed on the Ageo Half and been like that is only a bucket record race I actually wish to do. It was an important expertise, being in that entrance pack. They do not lie once they say Japanese races exit fairly fast.”
Behind the highest 3, virtually each single runner within the prime 25 ran a PB. Ashiwa and ND Software program company leaguers each ran sub-63 with out breaking their PBs, and likewise for Yuta Nakagawa and Genta Tsuru from Izumo and Nationals winner Koku Gakuin College. CGU’s Yoshida was the one different exception, fading to 1:03:00 for twenty second after getting dropped by the Komazawa tag staff transfer at 15 km. Together with Goddard there was a heavier than ordinary worldwide presence, with Chinese language runners Wenjie Wang and Zhongping Chen operating PBs of 1:02:38 and 1:03:08 and American Jacob Shiohira operating a PB 1:03:19 for twenty ninth general. The highest 3 girls all ran PBs too, led by final 12 months’s Third-placer Aoi Makara in 1:15:31. Circumstances may need gotten scorching within the final 5 km after the morning cloud cowl broke, however general it was one of many quickest years in Ageo historical past.
When it comes to Ageo’s influence on the lead-up to Hakone, Komazawa was the massive winner of the day. Together with Kiyama operating 1:01:59 for 2nd it had the Third, 4th, seventh, ninth, 14th and sixteenth collegiate finishers, all in sub-63 PBs or debuts. None of its A-list athletes who made up the core of its runner-up groups in Izumo and Nationals ran, that means Ageo gave it the depth this 12 months’s roster has lacked to date. “All our athletes ran properly right this moment, particularly our 1st-years,” head coach Atsushi Fujita advised JRN after the race. “This places us in an excellent place.”
Daito Bunka additionally had a great day, Munakata and Kihiro Irihama, 1:02:07 for Sixth general, main the way in which however 5 members operating new sub-64 PBs. 2024 Hakone Ekiden Third-placer Josai College additionally had the form of depth-building day Ageo is designed for, Third-year Tatsuki Yamanaka and 1st-year Shun Miyake each operating PBs below 1:03 and 5 members delivering sub-64 PBs. Koku Gakuin may need been the weak hyperlink from the highest tier with no new additions to its A-list, however with each Nakagawa and Tsuru nonetheless having run below 1:03 it is not likely value studying an excessive amount of into it at this level. There’s nonetheless 6 and a half weeks to Hakone, and you may make certain KGU goes to indicate up at 100% in its shot at becoming a member of the tiny membership of colleges to have swept all 3 main college ekidens in a single season.
thirty seventh Ageo Metropolis Half Marathon
Ageo, Saitama, 17 Nov. 2024
Ladies
1. Aoi Makara (unattached) – 1:15:31 – PB
2. Meari Obuchi (unattached) – 1:17:32 – PB
3. Kana Masuda (trendy) – 1:18:24 – PB
Males
1. Kazura Munakata (Daito Bunka Univ.) – 1:01:38 – U20 NR
2. Yudai Kiyama (Komazawa Univ.) – 1:01:59 – PB
3. Edward Goddard (Australia) – 1:02:01 – PB
4. Hibiki Murakami (Komazawa Univ.) – 1:02:04 – PB
5. Haru Taninaka (Komazawa Univ.) – 1:02:05 – debut
6. Kihiro Irihama (Daito Bunka Univ.) – 1:02:07 – PB
7. Itsuki Koizumi (Hosei Univ.) – 1:02:13 – PB
8. Atsumi Ashiwa (Honda) – 1:02:22
9. Mahiro Yoshimoto (Komazawa Univ.) – 1:02:30 – PB
10. Taisei Ichikawa (Chuo Gakuin Univ.) – 1:02:32 – PB
11. Shoya Koyama (Komazawa Univ.) – 1:02:38 – PB
12. Wenjie Wang (China) – 1:02:38 – PB
13. Rinta Miyaoka (Waseda Univ.) – 1:02:39 – PB
14. Ryuto Kawahara (Juntendo Univ.) – 1:02:45 – PB
15. Daisuke Shimojo (ND Software program) – 1:02:46
16. Yuta Nakagawa (Koku Gakuin Univ.) – 1:02:46
17. Genta Tsuru (Koku Gakuin Univ.) – 1:02:49
18. Seiryu Morishige (Komazawa Univ.) – 1:02:51 – PB
19. Tatsuki Yamanaka (Josai Univ.) – 1:02:52 – PB
20. Kaisei Yasuhara (Komazawa Univ.) – 1:02:55 – PB
21. Shun Miyake (Josai Univ.) – 1:02:58 – PB
22. Reishi Yoshida (Chuo Gakuin Univ.) – 1:03:00
23. Fumiya Oshima (Hosei Univ.) – 1:03:00 – PB
24. Yuta Asakawa (Teikyo Univ.) – 1:03:02 – PB
25. Ryuki Kobayashi (Josai Univ.) – 1:03:04 – PB
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50. Iori Oda (Josai Univ.) – 1:03:42
textual content and images © 2024 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
