Shikama and Kabasawa Take National Corporate Half Marathon Titles

Shunsuke Shikama (Logisteed), Wakana Kabasawa (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) and Chikako Mori (Sekisui Kagaku) won close races to take the National Corporate Half Marathon and 10 km Championships titles Sunday in Yamaguchi. In the men's race, Shikama was head-to-head with 2024 New Year Ekiden First Stage winner Naoki Ota (Yakult), the entire way, together at 5km, 10km, 20 km, and breaking away together from the rest of the front pack coming into the stadium. In a sprint finish both runners clocked 1:00:41, with Shikama taking the win.

Ota joined his older brother Tomoki Ota (Toyota) in breaking 61 minutes for the half, with Koki Kamata (Yakult) 3rd in 1:00:47 and the top 10 breaking 61 minutes. The third major Japanese half marathon in 3 weeks, depth was solid with 37 under 62 minutes, 85 under 63 minutes and 111 under 64. One prominent DNF was 2017 runner-up Joseph Macharia Ndirangu (Aichi Seiko), 14:47 at 5 km and 29:45 at 10 km but not making it to the 15 km mat.

The lack of top-level Japanese women in the race meant slow winning times, but it was still an exciting race between debuting duo Kabasawa and Mizuki Nishimura (Tenmaya). In the lead pack of eleven at 15 km, Kabasawa and Nishimura broke away together over the last quarter of the race, 11 seconds up on the competition together at 20 km. Over the final kilometer the more accomplished Kabasawa opened 9 seconds on Nishimura to win in 1:10:13. Yuri Karasawa (Kyudenko) was 3rd in 1:10:26, with eight women breaking 1:11:00.

The women's 10 km went out painfully slowly, the top 18 in the field of 37 starters jogging through 5 km in 16:54. The top 16 of them ran negative splits, with Mori having the fastest finish to win in 32:51 by 1 second over Mitsu Ozaki (Sysmex) and 2 seconds over teammate Rina Sasaki (Sekisui Kagaku).

52nd National Corporate Half Marathon and 10 km Championships

Yamaguchi, 11 Feb. 2024

complete results

Men

1. Shunsuke Shikama (Logisteed) - 1:00:41

2. Naoki Ota (Yakult) - 1:00:41

3. Koki Kamata (Yakult) - 1:00:47

4. Soshi Suzuki (Yasukawa Denki) - 1:00:49

5. Daiki Hattori (Toyota Boshoku) - 1:00:49

6. Daisuke Doi (Kurosaki Harima) - 1:00:51

7. Yuma Nishizawa (Toyota Boshoku) - 1:00:54

8. Peter Kibui Wangari (NTN) - 1:00:55

9. Shunya Kikuchi (Chugoku Denryoku) - 1:00:57

10. Sota Fukutani (Kurosaki Harima) - 1:00:58

-----

25. Kazuya Nishiyama (Toyota) - 1:01:42

50. Shuhei Yamamoto (Team Nitro) - 1:02:09

75. Takuya Kumashiro (Sanyo Tokushu Seiko) - 1:02:42

100. Hiroki Tsujiyoko (Osaka Gas) - 1:03:32

125. Hayate Takeuchi (Fujisan no Meisui) - 1:05:35

150. Ryota Shimizu (Komori Corp.) - 1:07:20

-----

DNF - Joseph Macharia Ndirangu (Aichi Seiko)

Women

1. Wakana Kabasawa (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 1:10:13

2. Mizuki Nishimura (Tenmaya) - 1:10:22

3. Yuri Karasawa (Kyudenko) - 1:10:26

4. Rinka Hida (Daiichi Seimei) - 1:10:33

5. Yukari Nagatomo (Memolead) - 1:10:34

6. Moe Shimizu (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 1:10:37

7. Yuna Takahashi (Shimamura) - 1:10:46

8. Toshika Tamura (Hitachi) - 1:10:59

9. Momoko Hanano (Hitachi) - 1:11:06

10. Kaho Horio (Route Inn Hotels) - 1:11:06

Women's 10 km

1. Chikako Mori (Sekisui Kagaku) - 32:51

2. Mitsu Ozaki (Sysmex) - 32:52

3. Rina Sasaki (Sekisui Kagaku) - 32:53

4. Chihiro Tsushima (Starts) - 32:56

5. Momoka Kawaguchi (Uniqlo) - 32:57

6. Miu Yagi (Iwatani Sangyo) - 32:59

7. Yui Fujimaru (18 Ginko) - 33:00

8. Marumi Abe (Uniqlo) - 33:16

9. Nana Ebisui (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 33:20

10. Yuna Arai (Sekisui Kagaku) - 33:27

-----

DNF - Kadogo Chebotibin (SID Group)

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

japan running news

Search This Blog