Weekend Preview - Nagoya and the National University Half

Looking at what's coming up Sunday it kind of almost sort of feels like things are starting to get back toward normalish. Down to the south you've got the Nagoya Women's Marathon stepping up as the first WA Platinum Label Race worldwide to go ahead with a combined elite and mass-participation race since the pandemic started. It's a much smaller field than usual with just 5,000 in the mass-participation race plus elites, but they're actually going to do it. Can you believe it? We're still having a hard time.

The elite race should be good, even with the withdrawal of Tokyo Olympics marathon team member Ayuko Suzuki (Japan Post) with another injury. You've still got Olympic team alternate Rei Ohara (Tenmaya), last year's Osaka International winner Mizuki Matsuda (Daihatsu) and 25 km national record co-holder Sayaka Sato (Sekisui Kagaku), with Matsuda kicking around the possibility of a new NR. That sounds pretty good. There's even a chance of a new world record, with 62-year-old Mariko Yugeta trying to better the 2:52:13 60+ WR she set in Osaka in January.

Detailed entry lists can be had here. Fuji TV will be broadcasting Nagoya live starting at 9:00 a.m. Sunday local time, and we'll be covering the race @JRNLive. Streaming? Something will pop up. We'll tweet links when it does.

Making things seem even more almost normal, that's not even the only big road race happening Sunday. Both the men's and women's National University Half Marathon Championships will be on in Tokyo's western Tachikawa suburb on the same course around an air force base runway used for last fall's Hakone Ekiden qualifier. There won't be any kind of broadcast or streaming, which is a real shame because the men's race looks incredible.

Limited to collegiate runners who've gone sub-1:04 for the half or sub-29:10 for 10000 m on the track, it still has 204 entrants plus a couple dozen more high-potential people who haven't hit the qualifying standards. A lot won't show, but big names on the entry list include last year's #1 collegiate half marathoner Shoya Kawase (Kogakkan Univ.), 1:01:18, in his final race before joining the Honda corporate team, sub-28 runners Charles Kamau Wanjiku (Mushashino Univ.), James Bunuka (Surugadai Univ.), Ren Tazawa (Komazawa Univ.), Yuhi Nakaya (Waseda Univ.) and Naoki Ota (Waseda Univ.), and a whole lot of others you probably saw at Hakone.

Usually held in Matsue on the west coast, the women's race is a lot smaller with just 89 entrants total but still has good quality. 2019 World University Games half marathon gold medalist Yuka Suzuki (Daito Bunka Univ.) and bronze medalist Yuki Tagawa (Matsuyama Univ.) lead the way, with competition from National University Women's Ekiden champion Meijo University teammates Narumi Kobayashi and Yuka Masubuchi. Both the women's and men's races count toward national team selection for the 2021 Chengdu World University Games team, assuming the Games go ahead. Whether or not they do, at least these races are.

Ichiyama 8th at Copenhagen Marathon

Currently the #10-ranked Japanese man in the marathon with the fastest-ever domestic time at the elite Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon, Tsubasa Ichiyama (Sunbelx) made his international debut at Sunday's Copenhagen Marathon , literally an international debut as it was his first time outside the country. Ichiyama hoped to be in contention to break the 2:08:23 CR and go for the win, and with cool and breezy conditions ran easy in the lead group through 30 km. But something ate away at almost everyone as time went by, several people in the lead men's and women's groups saying humidity, and past 30 km Ichiyama fell off. Falling as low as 9th, he rallied after 40 km to finish 8th in 2:13:07. "It was different than in Japanese races," he said. "I'm used to bigger packs and more even pacing, but this was a kind of racing I hadn't done before. There's a lot to think about. I didn't feel like I was sweating a lot, but I got really thirsty and started sk

Goshima and Kasai Win 10000 m National Titles, Maeda Breaks U20 Asian Record

Rino Goshima and Jun Kasai stepped up with PBs to win the 2024 National Championships 10000 m titles Friday at Shizuoka's Ecopa Stadium. In the women's race, Goshima, 4th in last December's 2023 National Championships 10000 m, went out front from the start with Kenyan teammate Judy Jepngetich pacing and 2023 3rd-placer Haruka Kokai in tow. Things were never on track to hit the 30:40.00 Paris Olympics standard, but except for a brief dip to 3:08 at 7000 m Goshima held steady at 3:05 to 3:06/km even as Kokai and Jepngetich fell off. With blood dripping from her left knee after getting spiked by Jepngetich, Goshima closed in 3:03 to take 5 seconds off her best from December's Nationals and win in 30:53.31, moving up to all-time Japanese #6. Jepngetich also PBd at 31:09.42 without counting in the standings, with Kokai 2nd in 31:10.53 and Kazuna Kanetomo 3rd in a PB 31:59.29. The runner-up last time, Yuka Takashima was last in 33:33.27. The men's race went out in a

Wanjiru Breaks Own MR, Fuwa and Ishida Return - Kanto Regionals Day 1 Highlights

Japan's best college meet kicked off Thursday at Tokyo's National Stadium at the 103rd Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships . Looking like she was doing a controlled tempo run, 2nd-yr Sarah Wanjiru (Daito Bunka Univ.) lapped the entire field to win the women's 10000 m in a meet record 32:02.87, almost 15 seconds under the record she last year in her debut. 3rd-yr Aoi Takahashi (Josai Univ.) was 2nd in 33:29.22 and 2nd-yr Nana Nagashima (Josai Kokusai Univ.) 3rd in a PB 33:30.28, but the other main news alongside Wanjiru's new record was the return of collegiate 10000 m record holder Seira Fuwa (Takushoku Univ.) in her first 10000 m in 19 months. Fuwa hung at the back of the chase pack for the first half, made a move to lead it in the second half, and ultimately faded to 9th in 33:40.20. Every comeback has to start somewhere. The D1 men's 10000 m had a tight group up front with the top 6 all finishing within 6 seconds and under 28:10. 3rd-yr Jam

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