Ekiden Alternate Kazusa Takanuma Wins Kanagawa Half Marathon

A large number of universities that raced last month’s Hakone Ekiden competed in the 46th Kanagawa Half Marathon Feb. 4 in Yokohama, with Chuo University 3rd-year Kazusa Takanuma taking the win in a PB 1:02:19. A graduate of Shizuoka’s Fujieda Meijo H.S., Takanuma has never made Chuo’s starting roster for any of the major university ekidens, his main achievement to date having been a 22nd-place finish in last May’s Kanto Regionals half marathon. Before Kanagawa his best was a 1:03:35 from the 2022 Ageo City Half Marathon, and with another 63-minute time last year he showed the potential he has over long distances. His PB in Kanagawa showed the realization of that potential.

2nd in 2023, Chuo had a disappointing 13th-place finish at Hakone this year. Next month star seniors Yamato Yoshii, Shota Nakano and Jin Yuasa will all graduate. On Jan. 30 Takumi Sano was named captain of Chuo’s 2024-25 team, and 3rd-years without ekiden experience like Takanuma are expected to play a key role in the year to come.

51 seconds behind in 2nd was Koku Gakuin University 3rd-year Yuto Numai, breaking his PB by over a minute too. Komazawa University 2nd-year Seiryu Morishige was 3rd in 1:03:14, with the next seven collegiate finishers all going under 1:04. Former Hakone Ekiden Fifth Stage winner Daniel Muiva Kitonyi (Track Tokyo) was the first non-collegiate finisher at 2nd overall in 1:03:04.

Chuo’s Yuta Ida won the 10 km in 30:00. Sumika Hori (Shoin Univ.) won the women’s half marathon in 1:17:43, with Maki Izumida (Daiichi Seimei) taking a close win in the women’s 10 km in 33:51 by 1 second over Haruka Suguro (Hakuho Joshi H.S.).

source article:

translated and edited by Brett Larner