japan running news

It's a busy weekend on the track across the country. In long distance action the main event is Sunday's 10000 m national championships, held this year a month and a half before the rest of the National Track and Field Championships in an effort to help people produce better performances to maximize their world rankings points. The 10000 m will be held in Osaka's Nagai Stadium just after the Golden Grand Prix Osaka meet, which maxes out this time around with the 3000 m steeplechase.

22 women are entered in the 10000 m including 6 of the 7 who have cleared the 31:50.00 Doha World Championships standard and the only one who has cleared the 31:25.00 Tokyo Olympics standard. That would be the currently world-ranked #3 Hitomi Niiya (Nike Tokyo TC), who lapped 2nd place the last time she ran Nationals back in 2013 en route to a still-standing championships record 31:06.67. #16-ranked Ayuko Suzuki (Japan Post), jointly #22-ranked Kaori Morita (Panasonic) and Mizuki Matsuda (Daiha…

At the May 12 Sendai International Half Marathon, Akito Terui (25, ND Software) finished 6th overall in 1:03:01. As a member of the Kanto Student Alliance team Terui ran the fastest time on the anchor stage at the 2017 Hakone Ekiden. Running for the Nanyo, Yamagata-based ND Software team, Terui embraces the slogan 'From the Northeast to the World.' In Sendai he beat a number of athletes who have qualified for September's MGC Race, the new trials event that will determine the marathon team for the Tokyo Olympics, marking him as a potential contender for future Olympic teams.

In one of the nation's leading half marathons Terui made his presence felt among the elite competitors. Starting off in the third group, mid-race he began to move up through the field to finish as the 4th Japanese man. Three runners he beat in the final stages, 7th-place Daichi Kamino (New Balance), 8th-place Yoshiki Takenouchi (NTT Nishi Nihon) and 10th-place Masato Imai (Toyota Kyushu), were MGC …

Entry lists for the 98th Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships, Japan's most competitive collegiate meet, were released May 14. The meet begins May 23rd at Kanagawa's Sagamihara Gion Stadium.

Celebrating its 25th anniversary as a D1 program, Yamanashi Gakuin University will field its new Kenyan first-year Boniface Murua in the 10000 m on the 23rd and in the final day's 5000 m on the 26th. At 181 cm Murua has a long and dynamic stride that was in full evidence when he ran 14:06.27 at the Setagaya Time Trials meet immediately after his arrival in Japan in April, and in his 28:17.36 follow-up at the Nittai University Time Trials later that month. Asked about his Kanto Regionals debut, the Japanese Murua has learned was just enough for him to answer, "I'll do my best!"

3rd in the 800 m last year, third-year Daichi Setoguchi is also entered for the third year in a row. "I've been 5th and 3rd, so this year I want to deliver the win," …

The IAAF World Relays in Yokohama were the weekend's main track action, but the first round of regional corporate championships and a few other meets brought distance action across the country.

The women's 10000 m was the highlight at the Kansai Region Corporate Championships, with Wacoal teammates Yuka Ando and Mao Ichiyama recovering from decent runs at the London Marathon last month to go 1st and 5th, Ando the fastest in 32:43.18. Their fellow MGC Race 2020 Olympic marathon trials qualifier Madoka Nakano (Noritz) was 2nd in 32:50.18, doubling the next day in the 5000 m where she was 5th in 16:07.24. Former Hakone Ekiden rivals and now teammates at NTT Nishi Nihon, Kenyans Patrick Wambui and Dominic Nyairo went 1-2 in the men's 10000 m in 28:41.84 and 28:43.86. Ryota Motegi (Sumitomo Denko) just missed the meet record in the men's 1500 m, winning in 3:44.12.

At the Chubu Region Corporate Championships Kenyans Rodgers Chumo Kwemoi (Aisan Kogyo) and Macharia Ndirangu …

2018 Jakarta Asian Games marathon silver medalist Keiko Nogami (Juhachi Ginko) turned in one of the best performances of her career Sunday, taking almost two minutes off her half marathon best to win the Sendai International Half Marathon in 1:09:27. One of just fifteen women to have qualified for Japan's MGC Race 2020 Olympic marathon trials, Nogami quickly dropped the more accomplished Rei Ohara (Tenmaya), also an MGC qualifier, to run the last 3/4 of the race alone en route to the fastest winning time in Sendai since 2009. Ohara was next in 1:10:25, with 10000 m collegiate record holder Hikari Yoshimoto (Daihatsu) 3rd in a PB of 1:12:39.

Locally-based Kenyan Alexander Mutiso (ND Software) won the men's race with the same kind of margin as Nogami, running 1:01:10 for the win, Sendai's fastest time since 2010. Back on the roads for the first time since his crash-and-burn shot at a 2:04 at March's Tokyo Marathon, Yuki Sato (Nissin Shokuhin) was 2nd in 1:02:30 ahead of…

https://www.iaaf.org/competitions/iaaf-world-relays/news/iaaf-world-relays-yokohama-2019-day-2

https://www.iaaf.org/competitions/iaaf-world-relays/news/world-relays-yokohama-day-1