Kinukawa Takes a Major Win at East Japan Corporate Championships, Gives Credit to Wanjiru

by Brett Larner

The corporate regional spring track championships wrapped up this weekend with the East Japan Jitsugyodan T&F Championships in hot, humid and windy Kumagaya, Saitama. The big news at the meet came in the women's 5000 m, where 10000 m junior national record holder Megumi Kinukawa (Team Mizuno) emerged from nearly four years of illness and injury to take her first competitive win in memory, running 15:37.50 to beat Kenyan Felista Wanjugu (Team Univ. Ent.) and World Championships marathon team leader Yoshimi Ozaki (Team Daiichi Seimei). Although still short of a World Championships B-standard, Kinukawa's run was her first time under 15:40 in almost four years and a large step in the right direction ahead of next month's National T&F Championships. After the race Kinukawa, who was a star at Sendai Ikuei H.S. at the same time as the late Samuel Wanjiru (Kenya), told journalist Tatsuo Terada, "I didn't think I was ready to run like this. It's been three or four years of darkness, but I think Samuel was there to give me some of his strength. I'd say the doorway to a comeback opened up about 1 cm. I don't want it to swing back shut, so I'll just keep pushing it open."

Hiroko Shoi (Team Nihon ChemiCon) was strong in the women's 10000 m with a PB of 32:34.00 for the win over the pro debut of university star Kasumi Nishihara (Team Yamada Denki) who was 2nd in 32:50.55. National record holder Yoko Shibui (Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) was 8th in 33:46.70, while marathoner Yoshimi Ozaki (Team Daiichi Seimei) was 11th in 34:00.41.

Apart from Kinukawa and Shoi, Japan-based Africans swept the distance events at the championships. The most interesting race came in the men's 5000 m, where 2008 world jr. XC champion and 2006 world jr. 10000 m champion Ibrahim Jeilan (Ethiopia/Team Honda) had a narrow win over 2010 and 2008 double world jr. 3000 mSC champion Jonathan Ndiku (Kenya/Team Hitachi Cable), 13:25.71 to 13:27.76. Ndiku did chalk up one win, taking the 1500 m in 3:42.28. Long-distance man Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin) took 3rd in the 1500 m in a new PB of 3:44.80, afterwards expressing satisfaction as he looks toward the 5000 m for his first World Championships team.

Click here for part two of the men's 10000 m.

Japanese 10000 m all-comers record holder Josephat Ndambiri (Kenya/Team Komori Corp.) had a win in the men's 10000 m, 27:39.21 over past Kenyan XC champion Gideon Ngatuny (Kenya/Team Nissin Shokuhin). Grace Kimanzi (Kenya/Team Starts) rounded out the weekend's results with a successful double in the women's 1500 m and 3000 m.

East Japan Jitsugyodan T&F Championships

Kumagaya, Saitama, 5/21-22/11

click here for complete results

Women's 10000 m

1. Hiroko Shoi (Team Nihon ChemiCon) - 32:34.00 - PB

2. Kasumi Nishihara (Team Yamada Denki) - 32:50.55

3. Misaki Katsumata (Team Daiichi Seimei) - 32:51.92

Men's 10000 m

1. Josephat Ndambiri (Kenya/Team Komori Corp.) - 27:39.21

2. Gideon Ngatuny (Kenya/Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 27:41.32

3. Paul Kuira (Kenya/Team Konica Minolta) - 27:51.13

Women's 5000 m

1. Megumi Kinukawa (Team Mizuno) - 15:37.50

2. Felista Wanjugu (Kenya/Team Univ. Ent.) - 15:39.95

3. Yoshimi Ozaki (Team Daiichi Seimei) - 15:40.67

Men's 5000 m

1. Ibrahim Jeilan (Ethiopia/Team Honda) - 13:25.71

2. Jonathan Ndiku (Kenya/Team Hitachi Cable) - 13:27.56

3. Gideon Ngatuny (Kenya/Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 13:34.68

Women's 3000 m

1. Grace Kimanzi (Kenya/Team Starts) - 9:11.97

2. Yuko Shimizu (Team Sekisui Kagaku) - 9:21.21

3. Machi Tanaka (Team Sekisui Kagaku) - 9:24.33

Women's 1500 m

1. Grace Kimanzi (Kenya/Team Starts) - 4:24.69

2. Eri Watanabe (Team Panasonic) - 4:26.31

3. Michiko Suguro (Team Shiseido) - 4:26.80

Men's 1500 m

1. Jonathan Ndiku (Kenya/Team Hitachi Cable) - 3:42.28

2. Daniel Gitau (Kenya/Team Fujitsu) - 3:44.66

3. Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 3:44.80 - PB

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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