Kusu Breaks 2000 mSC NR - Weekend Track Roundup

Saturday's Spring Nobeoka Time Trials meet was a tuneup for Kyushu-area men's teams for next month's Golden Games in Nobeoka, notable mostly for 2:06~2:08 marathoners Toshiki Sadakata (Mitsubishi Juko), Kenta Murayama (Asahi Kasei), Hiroto Inoue (Mitsubishi Juko) and Ichitaka Yamashita (Mitsubishi Juko) returning to action after marathons in February and March. Emmanuel Kiplagat (Mitsubishi Juko) took the top spot in the men's 5000 m in 13:30.54, with Daiki Ando (Asahi Kasei) the fastest Japanese man at 6th in 13:41.76.

At the Nittai University Time Trials meet, Saturday's main action was the women's 3000 m, where Esther Muthoni (Nitori) beat Cynthia Mbaire (Hitachi) 8:59.74 to 9:01.66. Haruka Yamaguchi (AC Kita) ran a PB 9:14.99 for 3rd, heading straight from there to Gifu for a sub-70 half marathon PB the next morning. 24 men ran sub-29 for 10000 m, led by Ayumu Kobayashi in 28:18.87. On Sunday, 22 heats of men's 5000 m, a total of 44 men went sub-14 across the 4 fastest heats. Antipas Kibet (SG Holdings) was the fastest at 13:25.80 to win the A-heat, Yushin Nakajima (Hitachi Butsuryu) the fastest Japanese man at 13:37.63.

Only 2 men went sub-14 at the Hyogo Relay Carnival, but both were local high schoolers, Sonota Nagashima (Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S.) winning in 13:55.00 over Kazuma Maeda (Hotoku H.S.), 13:56.65. In 3rd was Reo Niizuma (Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S.) in 14:11.98, whose twin brothers Koki and Haruki Niizuma (Hiraoka J.H.S.) both broke the J.H.S. meet record, Koki winning in 8:34.42 and Haruki 2nd in 8:36.84. Across 3 heats of men's 10000 m 26 went sub-29, Richard Kimunyan (Hitachi Butsuryu) leading four Kenyans under 28 in 27:39.79 and sub-61 half marathoner Masashi Nonaka (Osaka Gas) dropping the fastest Japanese time of the weekend, 28:17.25. Yasunari Kusu (Ami AC) broke the men's 2000 mSC NR in 5:29.11, with Nanami Arai (Honda) taking the men's 1500 m in 3:41.08.

Helen Ekarare (Toyota Jidoshokki) won the women's 10000 m in 31:22.89 in her first serious race at the distance. Nozomi Tanaka (Toyota Jidoshokki) was 2nd in 32:39.29, just holding off amateur club runner Shiho Kaneshige (GRLab) by 2 seconds after doubling in the 1500 m. Margaret Akidor (Comodi Iida) took over 33 seconds off the women's 5000 m meet record, winning in 15:06.00 by almost 44 seconds over Kaede Kawamura (Iwatani Sangyo). Tokyo Olympian Yuno Yamanaka (Ehime Ginko) missed her own 2000 mSC NR by less than a second, winning in 6:20.21 in a sprint finish against Yukari Ishizawa (Hitachi) and Yuzu Nishide (Daihatsu). Fuka Otagaki (Yoka H.S.) was only slightly faster in the high school girls' 2000 m, winning in 6:18.38.

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

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

Golden Games in Nobeoka Top Results

For everyone not running yesterday's 10000 m National Championships , where the Asahi Kasei corporate team dominated the men's race with four out of four men sub-28 including winner Jun Kasai , 27:17.46, the grand dame of Japan's long distance time trial circuit was happening on AK's home ground in Miyazaki at the Golden Games in Nobeoka . Not including kids' races, a total of 74 women and 227 men ran in 14 heats of 5000 m, with a packed-in crowd of fans lining the track beating on metal sponsor boards with batons. It's a pretty awesome meet, and memorable performances included: National champion Kamimura Gakuen H.S. standout Caroline Kariba continued to kill it in the second month of her corporate league career, winning the 5000 m A-heat in 15:00.95 in a race where 3 out of the top 4 including her ran PBs. National champion Meijo University seemed flat at this point in the season, with none of its people under 16 minutes and star Nanase Tanimoto leading

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