Hagitani and Miura Win Senior Titles at National XC Championships

20-year-old Kaede Hagitani (Edion) and the just-turned-19 Ryuji Miura (Juntendo Univ.) took the senior titles at the 2021 National Cross-Country Championships Saturday in Fukuoka. Hagitani ran away with it, outclassing a tight chase trio to win the Senior Women's 8 km by 26 seconds in 25:54. High schooler Miku Sakai (Kitakyushu Municipal H.S.) was an impressive 2nd in 26:20.

Like Sakai opting for the senior race, Miura, the U20 national record holder for 3000 m steeplechase and half marathon, had a tougher race on his hands in the Senior Men's 10 km, just getting two-time 5000 m national champion Hiroki Matsueda (Fujitsu) at the line for the win in 29:10 with the next four finishers, including past national champ Kazuki Tamura (Sumitomo Denko), all within 10 seconds. 36-year-old Hakone Ekiden legend and 2:07:39 marathoner Masato Imai (Toyota Kyushu) showed there's still life in his legs, a surprising 11th in 29:30.

The junior races were both blowouts at the same level as the Senior Women's race. In the U20 Women's 6 km, the race video above, Seira Fuwa (TKFU Takasaki H.S.) came from 4 seconds back with 2 km to go to impressively open a winning margin of 25 seconds as she scored the win in 19:49.

Keita Sato (Rakunan H.S.), the all-time #2 Japanese high schooler over 3000 m, frontran the entire way to end up with the day's biggest winning margin, 28 seconds, running 23:19 in the U20 Boys' 8 km, the race video below. Rakunan turned in the most dominant team performance of the day, putting four runners including Sato in the top ten.

2021 National Cross-Country Championships

Fukuoka, 27 Feb. 2021

complete results

Senior Women's 8 km

1. Kaede Hagitani (Edion) - 25:54

2. Miku Sakai (Kitakyushu Municipal H.S.) - 26:20

3. Yuna Wada (Meijo Univ.) - 26:21

4. Nozomi Tanaka (Toyota Jidoshokki) - 26:22

5. Momoka Kawaguchi (Toyota Jidoshokki) - 26:35

6. Azusa Sumi (Universal Entertainment) - 26:58

7. Minami Yamanouchi (Kyocera) - 27:11

8. Yukari Abe (Shimamura) - 27:16

9. Miki Hirai (Higo Ginko) - 27:22

10. Natsuki Sekiya (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 27:23

Senior Men's 10 km

1. Ryuji Miura (Juntendo Univ.) - 29:10

2. Hiroki Matsueda (Fujitsu) - 29:10

3. Atsuya Imai (Toyota Kyushu) - 29:16

4. Kazuki Tamura (Sumitomo Denko) - 29:17

5. Takato Suzuki (SGH Group) - 29:18

6. Yusuke Tamura (Kurosaki Harima) - 29:20

7. Tamaki Fujimoto (Nittai Univ.) - 29:21

(OP) Paul Onyiego (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) - 29:23

8. Shoya Kawase (Kogakkan Univ.) - 29:24

9. Kenta Muto (JR Higashi Nihon) - 29:24

10. Atsuto Shimanuki (GMO) - 29:27

11. Masato Imai (Toyota Kyuhsu) - 29:30

U20 Women's 6 km

1. Seira Fuwa (TKFU Takasaki H.S.) - 19:49

2. Azusa Mihara (Ritsumeikan Uji H.S.) - 20:14

3. Chika Kosakai (Narita H.S.) - 20:19

4. Haruka Ogawa (Junten H.S.) - 20:27

5. Yoshino Namiki (Tokiwa H.S.) - 20:27

6. Rio Einaga (Chikushi Joshi Gakuen H.S.) - 20:29

7. Mariya Noda (Kitakyushu Municipal H.S.) - 20:36

8. Hazuki Doi (Suma Gakuen H.S.) - 20:40

9. Marin Nishizawa (Osaka Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S.) - 20:41

10. Kana Kizogami (Luther Gakuin H.S.) - 20:42

U20 Men's 8 km

1. Keita Sato (Rakunan H.S.) - 23:19

2. Aoi Ota (Omuta H.S.) - 23:47

3. Yuta Minamisaka (Kurashiki H.S.) - 23:54

4. Yuto Tanaka (Tsuruga Kehi H.S.) - 23:59

5. Kota Yamasaki (Rakunan H.S.) - 24:03

6. Ayumu Yamamoto (Jiyogaoka H.S.) - 24:04

7. Hiroki Wakabayashi (Rakunan H.S.) - 24:07

8. Seia Hotta (Chiharadai H.S.) - 24:07

9. Itsuki Koizumi (KGU Kugayama H.S.) - 24:10

10. Kazuki Naito (Rakunan H.S.) - 24:16

Takeshi Soh Reflects on 54 Years in the Sport on His Retirement as Asahi Kasei Head Coach

After 54 years at the Asahi Kasei corporate team, first as athlete and then as coach, Takeshi Soh will retire at the end of this month. Together with his twin brother Shigeru Soh they formed a duo who were icons of the Japanese marathoning world and went all the way to the Olympics. After retiring from competition Takeshi devoted himself to coaching young athletes and came to play a primary role in the leadership of Japanese long distance. His list of achievements is long, and so is the list of those he influenced and inspired. His twin Shigeru was chosen for three Olympic teams in the marathon, Montreal in 1976, Moscow in 1980 and Los Angeles in 1984. Takeshi was named to the Moscow and Los Angeles teams, placing 4th in L.A. to confirm his position as one of the greatest names in the sport in that era. After becoming a coach the twins helped lead Hiromi Taniguchi to gold at the 1991 Tokyo World Championships, Koichi Morishita to silver a year later at the Barcelona Olympics, and o...

Japan Names Marathon Teams for Tokyo World Championships

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Kanakuri Memorial Meet and 10000 m National Championships Entry Lists

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