Kanaguri Memorial Meet Entry Lists Published

by Brett Larner

After most of its spring road season was cancelled in the wake of the Mar. 11 disasters to strike its northeastern region, a sign came that Japan's running community has started to get back on its feet in the form of the release of the entry lists for the first major domestic track meet of the season, the Apr. 9 Kanaguri Memorial Meet in Kumamoto on Japan's southernmost main island of Kyushu.

The A-heats of the men's and women's 5000 m promise much of the best action. In the men's 5000 m, along with Josephat Ndambiri (Kenya/Team Komori Corp.), Ibrahim Jeilan (Ethiopia/Team Honda) and a host of other top Japan-based African talent, two runners will receive special focus. Hakone Ekiden star Ryuji Kashiwabara (Toyo Univ.) kicks off his senior year with the stress of his home prefecture Fukushima being the site of Japan's ongoing nuclear troubles. Having run 28:23 for 10000 m last fall as a high school student in earthquake and tsunami-hit Sendai, Kenta Murayama (Komazawa Univ.) will begin his university career at the meet after having lived through the disasters.

Also in the men's 5000 m is 2011 World Championships men's marathon team member Hiroyuki Horibata (Team Konica Minolta) in his first appearance since his 2:09:25 PB at the Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon in early March. Two other contenders for the World Championships marathon squad, Yoshinori Oda (Team Toyota) and 5000 m national record holder Takayuki Matsumiya (Team Konica Minolta) are also on the entry list.

The women's 5000 m includes a number of athletes who were to run the cancelled Mar. 20 National Jitsugyodan Half Marathon Championships along with a number of more track-focused runners. 1500 m national record holder Yuriko Kobayashi (Team Toyota Jidoshoki) has the fastest PB in the field and is scheduled to double at both 1500 m and 5000 m. Her best competition in the 5000 m comes from Ethiopian Betelhem Moges (Team Denso) and Kenyan Sally Chepyego (Team Kyudenko). Also noteworthy is 10000 m junior national record holder Megumi Kinukawa (Team Mizuno), still struggling to make a comeback after years lost to injury and illness. Other top contenders include Kobayashi's teammate Kazue Kojima (Team Toyota Jidoshoki) and her former university teammate Michi Numata (Ritsumeikan Univ.)

2011 Kanaguri Memorial Track & Field Meet

Entry List Highlights

click here for complete entry lists

Men's 5000 m A-Heat Highlights

Taku Fujimoto (Kokushikan Univ.)

Daniel Gitau (Kenya/Team Fujitsu)

Hiroyuki Horibata (Team Konica Minolta)

Ibrahim Jeilan (Ethiopia/Team Honda)

Ryuji Kashiwabara (Toyo Univ.)

John Maina (Kenya/Takushoku Univ.)

Takayuki Matsumiya (Team Konica Minolta)

Kenta Murayama (Komazawa Univ.)

Duncan Muthee (Kenya/Takushoku Univ.)

Patrick Mwaka (Kenya/Team Aisan Kogyo)

Alex Mwangi (Kenya/Team YKK)

Josephat Ndambiri (Kenya/Team Komori Corp.)

Yoshinori Oda (Team Toyota)

Cosmas Ondiba (Kenya/Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.)

Suguru Osako (Waseda Univ.)

Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin)

Yusuke Takabayashi (Team Toyota)

Tsuyoshi Ugachi (Team Konica Minolta)

Titus Waroru (Kenya/Chinzai H.S.)

Edward Waweru (Kenya/Team NTN)

Ikuto Yufu (Komazawa Univ.)

Women's 5000 m A-Heat Highlights

Sally Chepyego (Kenya/Team Kyudenko)

Mayumi Fujita (Team Juhachi Ginko)

Ai Igarashi (Team Sysmex)

Ann Karindi (Kenya/Team Toyota Jidoshoki)

Megumi Kinukawa (Team Mizuno)

Yuriko Kobayashi (Team Toyota Jidoshoki)

Kazue Kojima (Team Toyota Jidoshoki)

Nanae Kuwashiro (Team Toto)

Hiroko Miyauchi (Team Kyocera)

Yoko Miyauchi (Team Kyocera)

Betelhem Moges (Ethiopia/Team Denso)

Seika Nishikawa (Team Sysmex)

Michi Numata (Ritsumeikan Univ.)

Mika Okunaga (Team Kyudenko)

Chepkirui Wins Nagoya Women's Marathon

Heavy-duty favorite Sheila Chepkirui took the win at Sunday's Nagoya Women's Marathon , pulling away after 30 km to cruise in for 1st in 2:20:40. Erratic pacing early saw the first and second groups only seconds apart for much of the first half of the race, the top group slower than planned and the 2nd group a bit ahead of schedule. At halfway in 1:10:37 the front group included Chepkirui, #2-ranked Ruti Aga and last year's runner-up Eunice Chumba , and Japanese contingent Sayaka Sato , Rika Kaseda , Natsuki Omori and Mao Uesugi . Omori was the first to drop, then Uesugi, then Aga, who ultimately dropped out before 30 km. When the pacers stopped at 30 km Chepkirui made a move that dropped Kaseda and strung out Chumba and Sato behind her, but all four came back together once before another surge put Kaseda away for good. As Chepkirui inched away Sato and Chumba passed each other repeatedly, and Chumba could only watch as the top Japanese runner got away from her again thi...

Who's Running Tokyo Worlds?

The Japanese marathon teams will be the most prestigious ones to be on for September's Tokyo World Championships, and with Sunday's Nagoya Women's Marathon the window for Japanese athletes to get onto the JAAF's shortlist closed. Who's on it? The final decision won't be made until Mar. 26, but let's look through the selection criteria and see who's guaranteed, who's pretty likely, and who has a chance. 1. Marathon medalists at the Paris Olympics - There weren't any, so nobody makes the team this way. Akira Akasaki (Kyudenko) and Yuka Suzuki (Daiichi Seimei) were the top placers, both of them running PBs in the Olympics to finish 6th. You'd think that would count for something a year later, but you'd think wrong. 2. JMC Series IV Champions - The top point scorers in the Japan Marathon Championship Series IV, which ran from April, 2023 to March, 2025, earn places on the marathon teams along with cash prizes. For women that's Yuka ...

Tokyo Marathon Top Japanese Man Tsubasa Ichiyama Works 4 Days a Week, Walked On in College

38,000 people ran the 2025 Tokyo Marathon . Every runner had their own story, but one of the most special was Tsubasa Ichiyama (Sunbelx). Despite being on almost nobody's radar, he outran some of the best in the country to finish as the top Japanese man. Ichiyama ran most of the race in the 3rd pace group, going through halfway in 1:02:44 and 30 km in 1:29:13. When the pacers stopped, he showed what he could really do. "I'm not good at downhills, so in the first part it was hard to run smoothly," he said at the post-race press conference. "But after the downhill part ended I got into my rhythm, and I think that helped me over the 2nd half." After dropping Asian Games gold medalist Hiroto Inoue (Mitsubishi Juko) and others, he quickly bore down on the Japanese athletes who had gone out faster in the 2nd pace group. Overtaking Paris Olympics 6th placer Akira Akasaki (Kyudenko) and Yuhei Urano (Fujitsu), at 39.8 km he caught all-time Japanese #2 man Yohei I...

japan running news

Search This Blog