Japan’s two massive races this weekend each have a number of pleasure round them, however chilly rain threatens to carry again the standard of performances persons are hoping for.
On the Kagawa Marugame Worldwide Half Marathon there are 19 males with instances within the 58-60 minute vary inside the final 3 years, and amongst them someday coaching companions Tomoki Ota and Kotaro Shinohara, 1:00:08 and 1:00:11 in Marugame 2 years in the past, can be taking a severe shot on the 1:00:00 Japanese nationwide file. Shinohara instructed JRN that he’s focusing on 59:45, and that Ota is his solely actual competitors to get the NR. The rain forecast appears mild with headwinds within the first half and tailwinds on the return journey, so between that and a entrance group together with Alexander Mutiso, Cleophas Kandie, Bedan Karoki and Emmanuel Maru it is attainable considered one of them, or another person, will flip in Japan’s first sub-60.
The ladies’s race options Dolphine Omare, Sara Corridor, Pauline Kamulu and Dominique Scott within the 66-67 minute vary, with Japan’s high expertise being Rika Kaseda, 1:08:11, and debuting sub-31 observe 10000 m runner Haruka Kokai. BS Fuji has the dwell TV broadcast beginning at 10:30 a.m. native time, but it surely would not look to be accessible on TVer at this level. JRN can be on-site in Marugame.
Throughout the water, the Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon has a reasonably attention-grabbing race lined up. After working 2:06:18 to win final yr’s Osaka Marathon in his debut, Koku Gakuin College ekiden captain Kiyoto Hirabayashi has chosen Beppu-Oita for his observe up. It is a lower-key alternative that his coach Yasuhiro Maeda stated was made with a purpose to preserve the stress down. The one sooner runner within the discipline, Kenyan Vincent Kipchumba, final completed a marathon at London 2021 when he ran his PB of two:04:28, so Hirabayashi’s essential competitors will most likely be 2:06:57 man Shohei Otsuka, and possibly final yr’s winner Derese Workneh or fellow Ethiopian Tesfahun Akalnew if issues go a bit slower.
Different collegiate runners making their debuts together with KGU’s Goki Takayama and a trio from 2025 Hakone Ekiden winner Aoyama Gakuin College may be components, particularly given AGU’s latest historical past of success at Beppu-Oita. Chilly rain is within the forecast, and given how skinny Hirabayashi is that would appear to work in opposition to him, however he excelled in precisely the identical form of situations in Osaka final yr. TBS is broadcasting Beppu-Oita dwell at 11:50 a.m., with streaming on the Youtube hyperlink above.
One other good half with a number of collegiate runners, the Kanagawa Half Marathon additionally occurs Sunday in Yokohama. No discipline itemizing is out there at this level, however with a flat course and all the time a stable collegiate discipline it is often a quick race.
