【Report】Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon 2023 Elite Race

It was rainy with a temperature of 18.0 Degrees Celsius and humidity at 73% at the start of the half marathon. The Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon 2023 took place under very challenging weather conditions including heavy rain.

In the men’s field, Evans Keitany Kiptum (Kenya, Toyota Industries), who represented Kenya at the 2019 World Athletics Cross Country Championships and is currently affiliated with a corporate team, finished with a time of 1:01:10. He took the lead towards the end and won the second Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon. He reflected the race with the words “It was a very hard race because of the rain.”

Bedan Karoki (Kenya, Toyota ) took the lead from the start with a time of 14:06 in the first 5km. He ran solo recording 28:17 at the 10km mark, and had a huge lead of 30 seconds by the 15km mark.

The second group was made up with 4 runners, but Kiptum and Bernard Kimeli (Kenya, Fujitsu) broke off midway, chasing Karoki together. Karoki slowed down between the 15km and 20km mark with a time of 15:06, while Kiptum and Kimeli ran the same 5km in 14:40, reducing the difference. With less than 1km to the finish, just before entering the Japan National Stadium, they caught up with Karoki and passed him.

Kimeli placed second with a time of 1:01:12 and Karoki placed third with a time of 1:01:20.

Kiptum shared his future goal. “I hope to enter the Tokyo Marathon eventually.”

Kotaro Kondo (SG Holdings) led the Japanese runners with a personal best of 1:01:26, improving his previous personal best of 1:03:42 and placing fifth. Kondo ran the second section of the 2023 Hakone Ekiden (Tokyo-Hakone Round-Trip College Ekiden Race) for Aoyama Gakuin University and placed second for the section. He is a 22 year-old who has just joined a corporate team this past spring.

Kenta Murayama (Asahi KASEI), the only Japanese elite runner who had hoped to “run a race that would leave a strong impression on everyone”, struggled from the start and placed 32nd with a time of 1:03:50.

Gladys Chepkurui (Kenya) ruled the women’s elite field on her first visit to Japan. Although she had hoped to break her personal best of 1:05:46, she set a course record of 1:08:03 in the rain. At the press conference, she commented with satisfaction. “The race was not bad. I was able to run my best despite the rain.”

From the start, the three elite runners Chepkurui, Omare Dolphin Nyaboke (Kenya, USE) and Hellen Ekalale (Kenya, Toyota Industries) made up the leading group. Ekalale slowed down midway into the race, leaving Chepkurui and Omare to compete head-to-head to the end. Chepkurui picked up speed in the uphill, leaving Omare behind.

Chepkurui maintained a consistent 5km pace at 16:02, 16:04, 16:10, and 16:17.

Omare placed second with a time of 1:08:13, while Ekalale came in third at 1:09:59

Among the Japanese runners, Natsuki Ogawa (Suzuki Athlete Club) placed 4th with a time of 1:14:34, improving her personal best of 1:15:38.

Despite the very harsh weather conditions with heavy rains at the start of the race, runners were smiling afterwards, enjoying the afterglow of having participated in the Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon 2023.