National Corporate Half Marathon and Road 10 km Championships Entry Lists Released

by Brett Larner

The national corporate federation has released the entry lists for this year's National Corporate Half Marathon Championships, to be held Mar. 20 in Yamaguchi, this year with the addition of a women's road 10 km.

Notable names include men's half marathon national record holder Atsushi Sato (Team Chugoku Denryoku) who has been out of competition since finishing 3rd at the 2010 Tokyo Marathon, 2011 World Championships team member Yukihiro Kitaoka (Team NTN), 2010 Nagoya Half Marathon winner Jacob Wanjuki (Kenya/Team Aichi Seiko), 2010 Marugame Half Marathon winner Daniel Gitau (Kenya/Team Fujitsu), 2011 Tamana Half Marathon winner Dishon Karukuwa (Kenya/Team Aisan Kogyo), former university star Masato Kihara (Team Kanebo), sub-28 track ace Ryuji Ono (Team Asahi Kasei), and, continuing his comeback from the injuries that knocked him out of the 2008 Beijing Olympics marathon, Satoshi Osaki (Team NTT Nishi Nihon).

The women's half marathon features the top two women from January's Osaka International Women's Marathon, Yukiko Akaba (Team Hokuren) and Mai Ito (Team Otsuka Seiyaku), the top two Japanese half marathoners of 2010 and identical twins Yoko and Hiroko Miyauchi (Team Kyocera), 2010 Sanyo Women's Half Marathon winner Shoko Mori (Team Otsuka Seiyaku), 2009 Miyazaki Women's Half Marathon winner Maki Suzawa (Team Yamada Denki), and the debut of top-level Kenyan Sally Kaptich Chepyego (Team Kyudenko).

Five women in the 10 km hold recent 10000 m PBs under 33 minutes, the fastest of them Seika Nishikawa (Team Sysmex) with a mark of 32:38.94. Defending 1500 m national champion Mika Yoshikawa (Team Panasonic) is also on the list.

2011 National Jitsugyodan Half Marathon Championships Entry List Highlights

click here for complete entry lists

Men's Half Marathon

Atsushi Sato (Team Chugoku Denryoku) - 1:00:25 (Udine '07) - NR

Jacob Wanjuki (Kenya/Team Aichi Seiko) - 1:00:32 (Nagoya '10)

James Mwangi (Kenya/Team NTN) - 1:00:34

Daniel Gitau (Kenya/Team Fujitsu) - 1:01:08 (Marugame '10)

Joseph Gitau (Kenya/Team JFE Steel) - 1:01:19 (Sapporo Int'l '08)

Masato Kihara (Team Kanebo) - 1:01:50 (Ageo '06)

Yuko Matsumiya (Team Konica Minolta) - 1:01:53 (Jitsugyodan '00)

Soji Ikeda (Team Yakult) - 1:02:10 (Kyoto '08)

Atsushi Fujita (Team Fujitsu) - 1:02:12 (Sapporo Int'l '04)

Tomoaki Bungo (Team Asahi Kasei) - 1:02:15 (Marugame '10)

Yukihiro Kitaoka (Team NTN) - 1:02:17 (Jitsugyodan '09)

Dishon Karukuwa (Kenya/Team Aisan Kogyo) - 1:02:20 (Tamana '11)

Satoshi Osaki (Team NTT Nishi Nihon) - 1:02:24 (Jitsugyodan '07)

Tomoya Shimizu (Team Sagawa Express) - 1:02:28 (Marugame '06)

Takeshi Kumamoto (Team Toyota) - 1:02:29 (Jitsugyodan '07)

Sota Hoshi (Team Fujitsu) - 1:02:30 (Marugame '09)

Ryuji Ono (Team Asahi Kasei) - debut - 27:53.19 (10000 m, Niigata '08)

Women's Half Marathon

Yukiko Akaba (Team Hokuren) - 1:08:11 (Jitsugyodan '08)

Yoko Miyauchi (Team Kyocera) - 1:09:51 (Marugame '10)

Hiroko Miyauchi (Team Kyocera) - 1:09:54 (Miyazaki '08)

Mika Okunaga (Team Kyudenko) - 1:09:57 (Miyazaki '06)

Megumi Seike (Team Sysmex) - 1:10:08 (Jitsugyodan '09)

Maki Suzawa (Team Yamada Denki) - 1:10:23 (Jitsugyodan '09)

Miho Notagashira (Team Wacoal) - 1:10:25 (Marugame '05)

Hiroki Shoi (Team Nihon ChemiCon) - 1:10:48 (Jitsugyodan '10)

Ikuyo Yamashita (Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 1:10:53 (Matsue '07)

Mai Ito (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) - 1:11:11 (Kyoto '06)

Kaori Urata (Team Tenmaya) - 1:11:35 (Marugame '09)

Shoko Mori (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) - 1:11:41 (Sanyo '10)

Sally Kaptich Chepyego (Kenya/Team Kyudenko) - debut - 31:39.84 (10000 m, Kobe '07)

Women's 10 km

Seika Nishikawa (Team Sysmex) - 32:38.94 (Fukuroi '09)

Tomoka Inadomi (Team Wacoal) - 32:41.57

Rei Ohara (Team Tenmaya) - 32:46 (Sanyo '09)

Misato Tanaka (Team Sysmex) - 32:51 (Sanyo '09)

Ai Igarashi (Team Sysmex) - 32:56

Mika Yoshikawa (Team Panasonic) - 33:07

19-Yr-Old Munakata Breaks Miura's U20 NR to Win Ageo City Half Marathon

The Ageo City Half Marathon is always big, the main race that the coaches of Hakone Ekiden-bound university men's teams use for firming up their entry rosters for the big show. That makes what's basically an idyllic small town race into one of the world's great road races, with depth unmatched anywhere. One of the top-tier people on the start list at 1:02:07, Kodai Miyaoka (Hosei Univ.) took the race out fast, but the entire pack was keying off the fastest man in the race, Reishi Yoshida (Chuo Gakuin Univ.), 1:00:31. Yoshida reeled Miyaoka in before 5 km and kept things steady in the low-1:01 range, wearing down the lead group to around 10 including his CGU teammate Taisei Ichikawa , a quartet from Izumo and National University Ekiden runner-up Komazawa University , 2 runners from local Daito Bunka University , 2:07:54 marathoner Atsumi Ashiwa (Honda), and Australian Ed Goddard . Right after 15 km Komazawa went into action, Yudai Kiyama , Hibiki Murakami and Haru Tanin

Ageo City Half Marathon Preview and Streaming

This weekend's big race is the Ageo City Half Marathon , the next stop on the collegiate men's circuit. Most of the universities bound for the Jan. 2-3 Hakone Ekiden use Ageo to thin down the list of contenders for their final Hakone rosters, and with JRN's development program that sends the first two Japanese collegiate finishers in Ageo to the United Airlines NYC Half every year a lot of coaches put in some of their A-listers too. That gives Ageo legendary depth and fast front-end speed, with a 1:00:47 course record last year from Kenyan corporate leaguer Paul Kuira (JR Higashi Nihon) and the top 26 all clearing 63 minutes. Since a lot of programs just enter everybody on their rosters you never really know who on the entry list is actually going to show up, but if even a quarter of the people at the top end of this year's list run it'll be a great race, even if conditions are looking likely to be a bit warmer than ideal. Chuo Gakuin University 's Reishi Yoshi

10000 m NR Attempt In the Works Saturday at Hachioji Long Distance - Streaming and Preview

There are a bunch of other time trial meets this weekend and next, but Saturday's Hachioji Long Distance is the last big meet for Japanese men, 8 heats of Wavelight-paced 10000 m finely graded from target times of 28:50 down to 26:59 for the fastest heat. Heat 6 at 17:55 local time is effectively the B-race, with 35 Japan-based Kenyans targeting 27:10 at the front end, and in a lot of cases a spot on their teams at the New Year Ekiden national championship on Jan. 1. Corporate teams are only allowed to field one non-Japanese athlete in the New Year Ekiden, and only on its shortest stage, and getting to that has a big impact on African athletes' contracts and renewal prospects. Toyota Boshoku , Yasukawa Denki , Chugoku Denryoku , Aisan Kogyo , JR Higashi Nihon , Subaru and 2024 national champion Toyota are all fielding two Kenyans, and Aichi Seiko three. For people like Toyota's Felix Korir and Samuel Kibathi , getting as close to the 27:10 target time as they can and

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