Nishimura and Akiyama both win Izu for 3rd time!

In the most epic edition of Izu Trail Journey ever, Hirokazu Nishimura and Honoka Akiyama both scored their third victory at the event in impressive style. Nishimura made his move at the very end after a smart and controlled race, while Akiyama was the outstanding female athlete this year finishing even in eleventh overall.

Heavy rain characterised the first five hours of the 70km race across the Izu peninsula south of Tokyo. While it wasn’t that cold, the wind along the mountain passes ensured that the rain-soaked runners had to protect themselves and layer-up to prevent hypothermia. Still, many participants would suffer that fate. Including none other than John Ray Onifa, the 2023 ATM Champion who was keen to be the first male foreigner to win ITJ. Alas, his bid ended at CP 3 and km 52, when he had already been dropped for good by the top five in the race. Also the young Natsuke Tomii, third female last year, would not make it to the finish along with over 650 others who had taken the start. Many others actually did not even turn up at the start due to the bad weather. Unseen at this event, just showing how tough it was out there and how rain can suddenly turn a fairly runable trail race into an absolute slugfest.

Yuya Kawasaki took the bull by the horns and went solo at the front, crossing the Nishina Pass first . Although the rain finally stopped right after the front runners crossed the Pass, there were no stunning Mount Fuji views this time. Short distance specialist Shoma Otagiri was close in second and also Hajime Kasagi and Hirokazi Nishimura were within just a few minutes. Tatsuya Itagaki was in fifth but losing touch with the lead quartet, as John Ray Onifa behind him also kept losing terrain. Hisashi Kitamura was running 14th at this point. One checkpoint later at km 52, three runners were practically back together. The one missing was Kawasaki, who seemed to be paying a bit of a price for his earlier attack. While Kasagi and Otagiri gave it their best shot on the ondulating final 15km, the experience of Nishimura proved decisive. When the winner of 2019 and 2023 and second-placer last year, made his move at the end of the race, the others no longer had a response. Nishimura crossed the new finish line in 6h13. Otagiri took second just under two minutes later, Kasagi third. Kawasaki and Itagaki held on to rank four and five, but Kento Tamura barely made it to sixth as Hisashi Kitamura ran a superb second part of the race to take seventh place still. Yuta Matsuyama suffered from the cold and came in in 36th place. He has placed Top 20 before in ITJ.

Some way behind Honoka Akiyama, who took her victory in 7h14, it was Arika Ito and newcomer Saegusa Moeka who scored second and third. The latter only started trail running three months ago! To note, both also still finished in the overall Top 50, which means something at Izu.

The next Japanese qualifier for Season 11’s ATM Championship ranking is Deep Japan Ultra in Niigata at the end of June.