Kengo Takahashi

Kengo Takahashi (髙橋健吾) is an ultrarunner from Tokyo whose DUV record runs from 100 km road races in 2015 to journey runs, 24-hour races and backyard ultras. DUV lists his club as Shitamachi AC. In April 2026 he won the Last Samurai Standing Backyard Ultra at Kijimadaira, Nagano, a Silver Ticket race, with 77 yards (516.362 km). Kyohei Yoshizawa took the assist with 76, and Yardlore lists the 77 yards as the course record.

It was one of several wins in 2026. In March he won the Little Edo Oedo 230k in 26:02:44, a race he had also won in 2019, and in May he won the open 24-hour race held alongside the IAU 24h Asia and Oceania Championships with 252.141 km, his best 24-hour distance on DUV. RUNNET’s introduction of Japan’s team said he had won all four ultra races he started in 2026. His longer runs include the 513 km River Road Foot Race in 2022, which he finished in 4d 12:14:54.

His first recorded backyard was Last Samurai Standing Tokyo in 2021, where he stopped at 33 yards. At the Gunma race in 2022 he and Koji Tsukada both stopped at 45 yards, so there was no outright winner, and he won the Gunma race in 2023 with 42. He ran 58 yards for eighth place at the Japanese site of the 2024 World Team Championship and 32 yards at the 2025 Big’s Challenge Cup.

Takahashi was fourth on Japan’s selection list for the 2026 Backyard Ultra World Team Championship, which started at 12:00 UTC on 17 October 2026, as the Silver Ticket winner from Kijimadaira. As of 09:04 UTC on 21 October, the organizer’s live results showed him still running in Japan’s national race with 93 yards (623.658 km), 16 more than his previous best. He and Kazuhiro Kawahata were Japan’s last two runners.