UTMF, Gifu Half, Hyogo Relay Carnival and More

UTMF, Gifu Half, Hyogo Relay Carnival and More - Weekend Preview

It's a busy weekend ahead, with a major trail race, a half marathon, and at least three high-level track meets going on across the country.

The Ultra-Trail Mt. Fuji is already underway, 100 miles around the foothills of Japan's most recognizable landmark in the long course race. It doesn't factor into national team selection for next year's World Mountain and Trail Running Championships, but UTMF is still the most prestigious trail race in the country. Catch streaming here and on the UTMF Youtube channel. Leaderboard and athlete tracking here.

Sunday is the Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon, in normal years Japan's only WA gold label half marathon and still one of its most competitive in this still not normal year. 2022 National Corporate Half Marathon champ Dolphine Nyaboke Omare (U.S.E.) leads the women's field with her 1:07:56 CR at that race, her main competition on paper coming from Aussie veteran Sinead Diver, 1:08:50 at Marugame two years ago but a DNF at last month's Nagoya Women's Marathon.

World all-time #4 Alexander Mutiso (ND Software) leads the men's field with a best of 57:59, with five other sub-60 Japan-based Kenyans and sub-61 JPN men Yuki Sato (SG Holdings), Yuta Shitara (Honda) and Takahiro Nakamura (Kyocera Kagoshima) also in the race. The race is being streamed live on Youtube this year starting at 8:30 a.m. Sunday local time.

On the track, the Spring Nobeoka Time Trials get things moving Saturday in Miyazaki. The Asahi Kasei team will be tuning up for hosting the Golden Games in Nobeoka meet on the same track a week and a half later, with most of its best runners and those from local rival teams Kyudenko, Toyota Kyushu, Kurosaki Harima and Mitsubishi Juko also on the entry list.

In Kanagawa, the Nittai University Time Trials series holds its first edition of the new academic year. As usual, everything from 800 m to 10000 m except the men's 5000 m happens Saturday, with a relatively conservative 22 heats of men's 5000 m on Sunday. Marathoner Haruka Yamaguchi (AC Kita) will be doubling, running 3000 m at Nittai Saturday afternoon before going for a PB in Gifu the next morning.

But most of the biggest names including multiple members of the Tokyo Olympics team will be in Kobe for the 70th edition of the Hyogo Relay Carnival. The women's 5000 m and men's 10000 m B-races will be on Saturday night, with the grand prix women's and men's 800, 1500 m, 2000 mSC and 10000 m capping Sunday's action. Live results will be posted here. Local broadcaster Sun TV has streamed the meet live in the past, so check its Youtube channel for info as the meet goes on.

JRN will be on-site at the Gifu Seiryu Half throughout the weekend.

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

10000 m National Championships Preview

Less than five months since the 2023 10000 m National Championships went down at the 2021 Olympic stadium in Tokyo, the 2024 edition happens Friday at Shizuoka's Ecopa Stadium, with NHK broadcasting it live starting at 19:25 local time. Doubling up on Nationals like this lets Japanese athletes double dip on placing points to try to get into the Paris Olympics on rankings. But between the number of people who've hit the 30:40.00 women's standard and 27:00.00 men's standard and the lopsided eight spots given away to top placers at World XC, there are only four women's spots and three men's available via rankings. Of those, three of the four women's spots and two of the three men's spots are currently occupied by top placers at December's 2023 Nationals, Ririka Hironaka , Haruka Kokai and Rino Goshima for women and Ren Tazawa and Tomoki Ota for men. The 2023 Nationals did get close to the standards, with Hironaka leading the top four women under

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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