Skip to main content

Nittai Time Trials, National Corporate Track and Field Championships and Other Long Weekend Highlights

The first Nittai University Time Trials meet of the season and the National Corporate Track and Field Championships delivered most of the weekend's pre-Doha World Championships action on the track.

At Nittai, Australian Melissa Duncan (Shiseido) and Minami Yamanouchi (Kyocera) tuned up for Doha with a head-to-head race over 3000 m, Duncan taking it by 0.40 in a sprint finish with a 9:05.45. The men's 10000 m was reasonably quick, with newcomer Razini Lemeteki (Takushoku Univ.) running a PB of almost two minutes to lead the top three under 28 minutes in 27:51.91.

But the most interesting result came in the women's 5000 m A-heat, where amateur club runners Haruka Yamaguchi (AC Kita) and Shiho Kaneshige (GRlab Kanto) went 1-2 in another sprint finish, outkicking 2016 Gold Coast Marathon winner Misato Horie (Noritz), 2:23 marathoner Mao Kiyota (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) and every other corporate leaguer in the field to do it. Yamaguchi, who ran a PB of 2:33:09 last weekend for 4th at the Sydney Marathon, held off a hard finish from Kaneshige after leading much of the race to take 22 seconds off her PB with a 15:49.82 for the win. Kaneshige was also under 16 minutes for the first time, bettering her PB by 19 seconds in 15:50.02. Yamaguchi's focus for the season is November's Kobe Marathon, with Kaneshige heading overseas for the first time to run the Chicago Marathon in October.

With many of the best corporate league athletes already en route to Doha for the World Championships, this year's Corporate Nationals were a little thin at the front end, but that didn't stop a few meet records from going down. The women's 1500 m wasn't one of them, but in it 5000 m national champion Tomoka Kimura (Shiseido) got back on track after a disastrous run in Andujar, Spain two weeks ago, outkicking national champion Ran Urabe (Nike Tokyo TC) for the win in 4:13..38. Urabe was under her PB in 2nd at 4:14.52.

Of the three meet records that did fall, Takuto Kominami (Tsukuba Ginko) delivered the biggest with a 81.73 m to win the men's javelin. The previous meet record of 80.98 m dated back to 1986 and was set by Kazuhiro Mizuguchi who later went on to set the still-standing national record of 87.60 m. The 1999-era men's 400 m hurdles meet record also went down, with Ryo Kajiki (Sumitomo Denko) bettering the old mark by 0.07 in 48.92. Tomohiro Shinno (Kyudenko) tied the men's high jump meet record of 2.28 m which also was set in 1999. He didn't break any records, but Jonathan Ndiku (Hitachi Butsuryu) earned special mention with a 5000 m / 3000 mSC double, winning in 13:23.82 and 8:27.27 respectively.

272nd Nittai University Time Trials

Yokohama, Kanagawa, Sept. 21-22, 2019
complete results

Men's 10000 m Heat 10
1. Razini Lemeteki (Takushoku Univ.) - 27:51.91
2. Vincent Kipkemoi (YKK) - 27:52.00
3. Simon Kariuki (Togami Denki) - 27:56.41
4. Vincent Laimoi (Kokushikan Univ.) - 28:03.74
5. Titus Wanbua (Musashino Gakuin Univ.) - 28:08.01

Women's 5000 m Heat 2
1. Haruka Yamaguchi (AC Kita) - 15:49.82
2. Shiho Kaneshige (GRlab Kanto) - 15:50.02
3. Hiromi Katakai (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 15:53.40
4. Misato Horie (Noritz) - 15:53.80
5. Michi Numata (Toyota Jidoshokki) - 15:55.55

Men's 5000 m Heat 23
1. Simon Saidim (Chuo Hatsujo) - 13:37.58
2. Robert Muei (Asahi Kasei) - 13:41.06
3. Bernard Muia (Toyota Boshoku) - 13:41.56
4. Ren Tazawa (Komazawa Univ.) - 13:41.82
5. Gideon Kipngetich (Mazda) - 13:43.59

Women's 3000 m Heat 8
1. Melissa Duncan (Shiseido) - 9:05.45
2. Minami Yamanouchi (Kyocera) - 9:05.85
3. Miku Sakai (Kitakyushu Municipal H.S.) - 9:07.34
4. Yuka Mazubuchi (Kinjo Gakuen H.S.) - 9:13.26
5. Ruruko Hosaka (Kinjo Gakuen H.S.) - 9:13.34

67th National Corporate Track and Field Championships

Nagai Stadium, Osaka, Sept. 20-22, 2019
complete results

Men

 Men's 100 m Final -0.7 m/s
1. Kotaro Iwasaki (Yutic) - 10.41
2. Yu Onabuta (Tsukuba Ginko) - 10.54
3. Takuya Kawakami (Osaka Gas) - 10.56

Men's 200 m A-Final +1.9 m/s
1. Kazushi Kimura (Shidenko) - 20.86
2. Akiyuki Hashimoto (Fujitsu) - 20.91
3. Kotaro Taniguchi (Toppan) - 20.99

Men's 400 m Final
1. Kazushi Kimura (Shidenko) - 45.96
2. Takamasa Kitagawa (Fujitsu) - 46.65
3. Mizuki Obuchi (Torihei) - 46.91

Men's 800 m Final
1. Jun Mitake (TSP Taiyo) - 1:50.74
2. Kenta Umetani (Sunbelx) - 1:50.98
3. Daisuke Sakura (Seiko) - 1:51.20

Men's 1500 m Final
1. Keisuke Morita (Komori Corp.) - 3:45.72
2. Shogo Hata (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 3:46.28
3. Hazuma Hattori (Toenec) - 3:46.58

Men's 5000 m A-Final
1. Jonathan Ndiku (Hitachi Butsuryu) - 13:23.82
2. Evans Keitany (Toyota Boshoku) - 13:24.90
3. Wesley Ledama (Subaru) - 13:25.23
4. Evans Yego (Sunbelx) - 13:29.83
5. Benuel Mogeni (Asahi Kasei) - 13:32.76

Men's 10000 m A-Final
1. Enock Omwamba (MHPS) - 27:47.36
2. Macharia Ndirangu (Aichi Seiko) - 27:56.46
3. Peter Langat (SGH Group) - 28:00.28
4. Daniel Kipkemoi (Nishitetsu) - 28:24.76
5. Patrick Muendo Mwaka (Aisan Kogyo) - 28:28.37

Men's 110 m Hurdles Final -0.5 m/s
1. Anthony Kuriki (Niigata Albirex RC) - 13.67
2. Wataru Yazawa (Descente TC) - 13.72
3. Ryota Fujii (Mie Sports Assoc.) - 13.86

Men's 400 m Hurdles Final
1. Ryo Kajiki (Sumitomo Denko) - 48.92 - MR
2. Keisuke Nozawa (Mizuno) - 49.08
3. Yuki Matsushita (Mizuno) - 49.23

Men's 3000 m Steeplechase Final
1. Jonathan Ndiku (Hitachi Butsuryu) - 8:27.27
2. Kosei Yamaguchi (Aisan Kogyo) - 8:31.37
3. Yasunari Kusu (Ami AC) - 8:36.03

Men's 10000 m Racewalk Final
1. Satoshi Maruo (Aichi Seiko) - 39:43.72
2. Kazuki Takahashi (AD Works) - 40:30.98
3. Isamu Fujisawa (Alsok) - 40:37.88

Men's 4x100 m Relay Final
1. Fujitsu - 39.41
2. Sumitomo Denko - 39.55
3. Yutic - 39.86

Men's 4x400 m Relay Final
1. Fujitsu - 3:09.71
2. Axle - 3:09.85
3. Roble - 3:14.87

Men's High Jump Final
1. Tomohiro Shinno (Kyudenko) - 2.28 m - MR (tie)
2. Hiromi Takahari (Hitachi ICT) - 2.16 m
3. Naoto Hasegawa (Niigata Albirex) - 2.16 m

Men's Pole Vault Final
1. Hiroki Ogita (Mizuno) - 5.30 m
2. Shingo Sawa (Kiraboshi Ginko) - 5.30 m
3. Koki Kuruma (Striders) - 5.20 m

Men's Long Jump Final
1. Kota Minemura (Fujitsu) - 7.89 m +0.9 m/s
2. Minato Ishikura (NTN) - 7.83 m +1.2 m/s
3. Natsuki Yamakawa (Tobu Top Tours) - 7.80 m +0.6 m/s

 Men's Triple Jump Final
1. Ryoma Yamamoto (JAL) - 16.24 m +1.8 m/s
2. Yuki Yamashita (Ibaraki Sport Assoc.) - 16.24 m +1.3 m/s
3. Kohei Yamashita (ANA) - 16.21 m -0.6 m/s

 Men's Shot Put Final
1. Daichi Morishita (Wizas) - 17.81 m
2. Masahira Sato (Niigata Albirex RC) - 17.60 m
3. Daichi Nakamura (Mizuno) - 17.36 m

Men's Discus Throw Final
1. Yuji Tsutsumi (Alsok) - 60.69 m
2. Masateru Yugami (Toyota) - 57.15 m
3. Shigeyuki Maisawa (Orico) - 56.38 m

Men's Hammer Throw Final
1. Hiroki Ako (Manabiyaen) - 67.75 m
2. Ryota Kashimura (Yamada Denki) - 65.26 m
3. Yoshiro Hosaka (Saitama Ika Univ. Group) - 65.15 m

Men's Javelin Throw Final
1. Takuto Kominami (Tsukuba Ginko) - 81.73 m - MR
2. Yuta Sakiyama (Ehime Sports Assoc.) - 77.33 m
3. Kenji Ogura (Nihon Taiiku Assoc.) - 77.30 m

Women

 Women's 100 m A-Final +0.9 m/s
1. Anna Doi (JAL) - 11.74
2. Yukina Shimada (Hokkaido Hi-Tec) - 11.87
3. Momoko Takahashi (World Wing) - 1187

Women's 200 m A-Final +1.8 m/s
1. Sayaka Fujisawa (Cerespo) - 23.90
2. Yukina Shimada (Hokkaido Hi-Tec) - 24.14
3. Mariko Nagano (Denso) - 24.41

Women's 400 m Final
1. Nanako Matsumoto (Toho Ginko) - 54.35
2. Mayu Inaoka (Run Journey) - 54.81
3. Mayu Kobayashi (Ibaraki Sports Assoc.) - 55.35

Women's 800 m Final
1. Yume Kitamura (Edion) - 2:06.05
2. Ryoko Hirano (Mito Shinyo) - 2:06.73
3. Hana Yamada (Warabeya Nichiyo) - 2:06.84

Women's 1500 m Final
1. Tomoka Kimura (Shiseido) - 4:13.38
2. Ran Urabe (Nike Tokyo TC) - 4:14.52
3. Kaede Hagitani (Edion) - 4:16.94

Junior Women's 3000 m A-Final
1. Ririka Hironaka (Japan Post) - 9:08.93
2. Kaede Hagitani (Edion) - 9:14.33
3. Yuri Tazaki (Yamada Denki) - 9:15.18

Women's 5000 m A-Final
1. Helen Ekarare (Toyota Jidoshokki) - 15:30.45
2. Tabitha Kamau (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 15:32.15
3. Yui Fukuda (Toyota Jidoshokki)- 15:42.05
4. Nao Yamamoto (Toyota Jidoshokki) - 15:48.19
5. Shiori Yano (Canon AC Kyushu) - 15:52.38

Women's 10000 m A-Final
1. Pauline Kamulu (Route Inn Hotels) - 31:45.04
2. Sayaka Sato (Sekisui Kagaku) - 32:12.89
3. Sakiho Tsutsui (Yamada Denki) - 32:19.71
4. Shiori Yano (Canon AC Kyushu) - 32:27.62
5. Yuka Hori (Panasonic) - 32:30.72

Women's 100 m Hurdles Final +1.2 m/s
1. Mako Fukube (Nikkenko) - 13.28
2. Chisato Kiyoyama (Ichigo) - 13.38
3. Yuri Okubo (Yutic) - 13.40

Women's 400 m Hurdles Final
1. Mayu Saito (Nanajunana Ginko) - 58.24
2. Satsuki Umehara (Sumitomo Kaijo) - 58.36
3. Suzuka Kawabata (Matsumoto Doken) - 58.53

Women's 3000 m Steeplechase Final
1. Ayaka Koike (Owada Jutaku Sendai) - 10:06.06
2. Yuno Yamanaka (Ehime Ginko) - 10:13.13
3. Yui Yabuta (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 10:15.65

Women's 10000 m Racewalk Final
1. Kaori Kawazoe (SDF Academy) - 44:46.63
2. Ai Michiguchi (SDF Academy) - 46:12.70
3. Serena Sonoda (NTN) - 46:34.98

Women's 4x100 m Relay Final
1. Toho Ginko - 45.82
2. Nanajunana Ginko - 46.16
3. NTN - 46.39

Women's High Jump Final
1. Shieriai Tsuda (Tsukiji Gindako) - 1.76 m
2. Haruka Terui (Saitama Ika Univ. Group) - 1.73 m
3. Yuki Watanabe (Miraito Techno) - 1.73 m

Women's Pole Vault Final
1. Mayu Nasu (Run Journey) - 4.10 m
2. Kanae Tatsuta (Nippatsu) - 4.00 m
3. Tomoko Nemoto (Nihon Seitetsu) - 3.90 m

Women's Long Jump Final
1. Sumire Hata (Shibata Kogyo) - 6.38 m -0.8 m/s
2. Sachiko Masumi (Kyudenko) - 6.27 m +1.4 m/s
3. Hitomi Nakano (Washoku Yamaguchi) - 6.06 m -1.5 m/s

 Women's Triple Jump Final
1. Mariko Morimoto (Uchida Kensetsu) - 13.00 m +1.2 m/s
2. Sachiko Masumi (Kyudenko) - 12.98 m +4.6 m/s
3. Hitomi Nakano (Washoku Yamaguchi) +0.5 m/s

 Women's Shot Put Final
1. Chiaki Yoshino (Nihon Joshi Taiiku Univ. Staff) - 14.85 m
2. Aya Ota (Fukuoka Univ. AC) - 14.70 m
3. Chihiro Shigeyama (Ochiai Chukyo) - 14.40 m

Women's Discus Throw
1. Natusmi Fujimori (Fukui Sports Assoc.) - 49.32 m
2. Ai Shikimoto (Niigata Albirex RC) - 46.88 m
3. Saki Terai (Suwa Chukyo) - 45.14 m

Women's Hammer Throw
1. Tamami Saeki (Champion) - 64.44 m
2. Akane Watanabe (Maruwa Unyukikan) - 63.75 m
3. Hitomi Katsuyama (Orico) - 58.68 m

Women's Javelin Throw
1. Yuka Sato (Nikonikonori) - 58.21 m
2. Risa Miyashita (MPE) - 55.60 m
3. Orie Ushiro (Niigata Albirex RC) - 55.28 m

© 2019 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Buy Me A Coffee
Labels:

Comments

Metts said…
While the corporate runners no doubt are interesting to read about, I always like the amateur runners and the club system in Japan. Maybe its the culture of valuing effort and running. From the 60+ marathon recorder holder, the 60+ woman in Shizuoka, the veterinarian women in Saitama, to of course YK, and even the little known corporate runners, such as the woman, who runs multiple marathons with no problem. And of course don't forget Tanaka who just ran a 2:48 at the Hokkaido marathon.
September 23, 2019 at 10:31 AM
Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Chepkirui Over Sato Again to Win 2nd-Straight Nagoya Women's Marathon, Chen Breaks Malaysian NR (updated)

This year's Nagoya Women's Marathon felt like a changing of the guard, with some the bigger domestic names over the last few years fading early and a lot of newer faces stepping up with quality debuts or second marathons. The front group was set to be paced for 2:20 flat with the 2nd group at 2:23:30 to hit the auto-qualifying time for the 2027 MGC Race, Japan's L.A. Olympics marathon trials race in Nagoya. Up front things went out OK, but after a 33:10 split at 10 km Ayuko Suzuki , 2:21:22 here 2 years ago, lost touch, ultimately finishing 23rd in 2:33:28. Windy conditions started to play with pacers' ability to keep things steady and the pace slowed majorly over the next 10 km, but even with a 34:05 second 10 km there were big-name casualties. 2024 Nagoya winner Yuka Ando was next to drop, ending up 17th in 2:30:32. NR holder Honami Maeda was next, followed quickly by Bahraini Kenyan Eunice Chumba and debuting Wakana Kabasawa . Maeda faded to 21st in 2:31:21, whil...
2 comments
Read more

Nagoya Women's Marathon Preview and Streaming (updated)

Japan's winter marathon season of 6 major races in 7-straight weekends wraps up Sunday with the world's largest women-only marathon, the Nagoya Women's Marathon . The weather is looking pretty good, 6˚ at the start rising to 10˚ by the finish and sunny skies, but a moderate 7 m/s NW wind means a headwind finish that might impact the potential for some fast times. Official streaming kicks off at 9:00 a.m. local time. Live results will be here . Sheila Chepkirui won last year in 2:20:40, breaking away from Sayaka Sato and Eunice Chebichii Chumba at 30 km and hanging on for the win. Sato negative split a 2:20:59 PB for 2nd, Chumba fading to 3rd in 2:21:36. All 3 are back this time, but they have pretty serious competition from Aynalem Desta , 2:17:37 in Amsterdam last fall, and Selly Chepyego Kaptich , 2:20:03 in Barcelona 2023. And of course, Japanese NR holder Honami Maeda . Maeda ran 2:18:59 at the Osaka International Women's Marathon in 2024 to make the Paris Oly...
Post a Comment
Read more

How it Happened

Ancient History I went to Wesleyan University, where the legend of four-time Boston Marathon champ and Wes alum Bill Rodgers hung heavy over the cross-country team. Inspired by Koichi Morishita and Young-Cho Hwang’s duel at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics I ran my first marathon in 1993, qualifying for Boston ’94 where Bill was kind enough to sign a star-struck 20-year-old me’s bib number at the expo. Three years later I moved to Japan for grad school, and through a long string of coincidences I came across a teenaged kid named Yuki Kawauchi down at my neighborhood track. I never imagined he’d become what he is, but right from the start there was just something different about him. After his 2:08:37 breakthrough at the 2011 Tokyo Marathon he called me up and asked me to help him get into races abroad. He’d finished 3rd on the brutal downhill Sixth Stage at the Hakone Ekiden, and given how he’d run the hills in the last 6 km at Tokyo ’11 I thought he’d do well at Boston or New York. “I...
53 comments
Read more