World Cross-Country Championships

World Cross-Country Championships - Japanese Results

by Brett Larner

Despite nearly half its team hailing from earthquake and tsunami-hit areas, the Japanese squad was missing only two members of its senior men's team at the 2011 World Cross-Country Championships in Punta Umbria, Spain. The junior women were the stars of the day, taking a team bronze medal thanks in part to 12th and 13th place finishes from ace Katsuki Suga (Kojokan H.S.) and Tomoka Kimura (Chikuyo Joshi Gakuen H.S.). Hailing from the hard-hit city of Sendai, Natsuki Yoshida (Sendai Ikuei H.S.) was last on the team but still turned in a credible performance all things considered, 34th in 21:00. Her team medal will no doubt be a boost to the spirits of those back in Sendai dealing with the post-tsunami devastation.

The senior women's and junior men's teams both placed 7th, the top individual performance on either team being a 26th-place run by women's team leader Hitomi Niiya (Team Toyota Jidoshoki), whose home base of Sakura, Chiba was badly shaken in last week's earthquake. Junior men's ace Yuma Hattori (Sendai Ikuei H.S.), also coming to the race from Sendai, was unable to run up to his potential but still placed as the team's fourth scorer, 42nd in 24:38 in a tight pack race which saw all six junior Japanese men finish within 23 seconds of each other.

Missing its two best runners, Akinobu Murasawa (Tokai Univ.) and Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin), the senior men's team finished only 14th, led by relatively unknown first-year Hirotaka Tamura (Nihon Univ.)'s 46th-place finish in 36:12. Kyushu-based Paul Tanui (Kenya/Team Kyudenko) had a strong race, coming back to finish 2nd overall after falling off the pack with 2 km to go.

2011 World Cross-Country Championships

click here for complete results

Senior Women - 8 km

1. Vivian Jepkemoi Cheruiyot (Kenya) - 24:58

2. Linet Chepkwemoi Masai (Kenya) - 25:07

3. Shalane Flanagan (U.S.A.) - 25:10

-----

26. Hitomi Niiya (Team Toyota Jidoshoki) - 26:43

33. Hanae Tanaka (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 27:03

48. Yuko Shimizu (Team Sekisui Kagaku) - 27:27

53. Korei Omata (Team Sekisui Kagaku) - 27:31

76. Nanae Kuwashiro (Team Sysmex) - 28:16

85. Ai Igarashi (Team Sysmex) - 28:37

Team Medals

1. Kenya - 15

2. Ethiopia - 29

3. U.S.A. - 57

-----

7. Japan - 160

Senior Men - 12 km

1. Imane Merga (Ethiopia) - 33:50

2. Paul Kipngetich Tanui (Kenya/Team Kyudenko) - 33:52

3. Vincent Kiprop Chepkok (Kenya) - 33:53

-----

46. Hirotaka Tamura (Nihon Univ.) - 36:12

50. Yusuke Takabayashi (Team Toyota) - 36:26

84. Tsubasa Hayakawa (Tokai Univ.) - 37:37

86. Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Meiji Univ.) - 37:40

Team Results

1. Kenya - 14

2. Ethiopia - 38

3. Uganda - 49

-----

14. Japan - 266

Junior Women - 6 km

1. Faith Chepngetich Kipyegon (Kenya) - 18:53

2. Genet Yalew (Ethiopia) - 18:54

3. Azemra Gebru (Ethiopia) - 18:54

-----

12. Katsuki Suga (Kojokan H.S.) - 19:49

13. Tomoka Kimura (Chikuyo Joshi Gakuen H.S.) - 19:56

23. Yuriko Kosaki (Narita H.S.) - 20:23

27. Risa Yokoe (Suma Gakuen H.S.) - 20:31

30. Risa Shibuya (Hanawa H.S.) - 20:48

34. Natsumi Yoshida (Sendai Ikuei H.S.) - 21:00

Team Medals

1. Ethiopia - 17

2. Kenya - 19

3. Japan - 75

Junior Men - 8 km

1. Geoffrey Kipsang Kamworor (Kenya) - 22:21

2. Thomas Ayeko (Uganda) - 22:27

3. Patrick Mutunga Mwikya (Kenya) - 22:32

-----

33. Kazuma Kubota (Kyushu Gakuin H.S.) - 24:22

36. Takashi Ichida (Kagoshima Jitsugyo H.S.) - 24:25

37. Genki Yagisawa (Nasu Takuyo H.S.) - 24:34

42. Yuma Hattori (Sendai Ikuei H.S.) - 24:38

43. Yuki Arimura (Kagoshima Jitsugyo H.S.) - 24:40

46. Ken Yokote (Sakushin Gakuin H.S.) - 24:45

Team Results

1. Kenya - 20

2. Ethiopia - 24

3. Uganda - 50

-----

7. Japan - 148

Australian Male Arrested on Drug Smuggling Charges After Entering Japan for Osaka Marathon

On Apr. 9 the Kinki Region Bureau of Health, Labor and Welfare's Drug Control Division arrested Matthew Inglis Fox , 38, an Australian business owner of no known fixed address, on charges of violating the importation regulations of the Narcotics Control Act by smuggling tablets containing marijuana elements from the United States. The suspect had entered Japan in February to run in the Osaka Marathon . The suspect was arrested on suspicion of smuggling approximately 12 pills containing marijuana by sending them from a U.S. airport to Osaka's Kansai Airport using an international courier service on Feb. 19. The Osaka branch of the Customs Service discovered the tablets in arriving cargo and suspected them to be narcotics. Customs contacted the Narcotics Control Division, which then began its investigation of the case. According to the Narcotics Control Division, the suspect denies the charges. Translator's note: Fox, who received a lifetime ban from the Ageo City Half Mara...

Australian YouTuber Handed Lifetime Ban by Ageo City Half Marathon After Running 1:06 with Another Runner's Bib (updated)

After discussion with their race's chief JAAF referee, on Nov. 27 the organizers of the Ageo City Half Marathon handed down a lifetime ban from their event against 36-year-old Australian Matt Inglis Fox for running the Nov. 15 race wearing the bib number of another JAAF-registered runner. The incident came to light after Fox posted on his personal Instagram account that he had run a PB of 1:06:33 and finished 203rd in Ageo with a 10 km split of 31:03, along with photos and video of himself in the race wearing a bib number beginning with 11. Fox did not appear in the results by name or in that time or place, the closest match being a 1:06:54 gross, 1:06:50 net finish time with a 31:21 10 km split for 18th place in the JAAF-registered division and 209th overall by bib number 1129, registered to a non-Japanese Tokyo-resident club runner. The club runner, Harrisson Uk , readily confirmed that he had given his bib to Fox, saying, "I gave my number to Matt. It wasn't me."...

10 Meet Records and a National Record at Hyogo Relay Carnival

The grand prix distance events were absent from the program this year at the 73rd Hyogo Relay Carnival , with the top performances in the women's 5000 m and men's 10000 m Asics Challenge races going to steepler Yuzu Nishide (Daihatsu) in 15:49.48 and Japan-based Kenyan Emmanuel Kiplagat (Mitsubishi Juko) in 28:12.42. But there were a lot of new meet records, and one national record. Ryosuke Kusumi (Shiga) set a T37-class NR of 58.35 m in the para men's 400 m. Kairi Ikeno (Suma Gakuen H.S.) came less than 2 seconds short of a new high school record in the women's 2000 m , beating her own MR from last year by over 3 seconds in 5:55.36, almost 17 seconds ahead of 2nd place. The top 5 all broke or tied the men's high jump meet record, with both Yuto Seko (FAAS) and Tomohiro Shinno (Kyudenko) clearing 2.25 m and Takashi Eto (Kobe Digital Labo), Chao-Hsuan Fu (Taiwan) and Naoto Hasegawa (Niigata Albirex RC) clearing 2.20 m. Yuki Hashioka (Fujitsu) won the men...

japan running news

Search This Blog