Starting in front of the Ehime Prefectural Government building in Matsuyama and ending in Shiroyama Park, the 62nd Ehime Marathon took place Sunday. First across the finish line was Chuo University 4th-year Kazusa Takanuma in 2:13:00. Takanuma had previously run the 2023 Hokkaido Marathon, where he struggled in to a 2:43:37 finish. His win this time took over 30 minutes off that time in just his second attempt at the distance. A native of Shizuoka, Takanuma went to Tomioka J.H.S. and Fujieda Meisei H.S. Even though he never made it to a national-level competition, after entering Chuo he began to improve. During his 2nd year he ran the half marathon at the Kanto Region University Championships, placing 22nd in the D1 race. He was never named to Chuo's starting roster for any of the major university ekidens, but at last year's Marugame Half Marathon he clocked an excellent 1:02:19 PB. After graduating next month he will join the Suzuki team, where he plans to focus on the m...
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