National University Women's Half Marathon, The TEN, United Airlines NYC Half and More

National University Women's Half Marathon, The TEN, United Airlines NYC Half and More - Weekend Preview

There are a lot of Japanese athletes racing overseas this weekend, but at home the main action is the National University Women's Half Marathon Sunday in Matsue. Last year's runner-up Rio Einaga of Osaka Gakuin University and 3rd and 5th-placers Saki Harada and Nanase Tanimoto from six-time national champion Meijo University lead the entry list, with their top competition including Saki Arai of Daito Bunka University, the anchor stage winner at December's Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden national championship, Yuiri Ogata, Sakurako Yanai and Momoko Shimada from Mt. Fuji runner-up team Nittai University, and Yui Yoshii, Momona Yotsumoto and Mariya Noda from 3rd-place team Daito Bunka University. Complete entry list here.

Overseas, the biggest block of Japanese athletes will be at Sound Running's The TEN in California. With a best of 31:34.39 Mikuni Yada (Edion) is the only Japanese woman in the meet, running the 10000 m Paris section. Hibiki Obara (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) is in the men's 1500 m, and the men's 10000 m Early and Tracktown sections have Itta Tameike (Chuo Univ.), Takato Suzuki (SGH), Shu Hasegawa (Kao) and Shotaro Ishihara (Tokai Univ.). But the men's 10000 m Paris section is the main event from the Japanese point of view, with 7 men on the entry list of 40:

Kazuya Shiojiri (Fujitsu) - 27:09.80 - NR
Tomoki Ota (Toyota) - 27:12.53 - all-time JPN #2
Tatsuhiko Ito (Honda) - 27:25.73 - all-time JPN #5
Keita Sato (Komazawa Univ.) - 27:28.50 - U20 AR, all-time JPN #8
Kazuki Tamura (Sumitomo Denko) - 27:28.92 - all-time JPN #9
Mebuki Suzuki (Komazawa Univ.) - 27:30.69
Kotaro Shinohara (Komazawa Univ.) - 27:38.66

Hopes are high that the race will see Japan's first sub-27. Complete entry lists here. Streaming here.

In New York, three Japanese men are in the United Airlines NYC Half. 2024 national cross-country champ Tomonori Yamaguchi (Waseda Univ.) and Rei Matsunaga (Hosei Univ.) are running as part of JRN's collegiate development collaboration project between November's Ageo City Half Marathon and the United Airline NYC Half. Yamaguchi's Waseda teammate Taishi Ito is also running, all three of them holding sub-62 bests. Top entries in the field include 58:07 man Abel Kipchumba, the legend Kenenisa Bekele, and U.S. Olympic marathon trials runner-up Clayton Young. Complete entry lists here. Streaming here.

Lastly, 2:28:51 marathoner Shiho Kaneshige (GRlab Yamaguchi) is the lone Japanese athlete lining up at the Sands China Macao International 10K in Macau. Kaneshige has a track 10000 m best of 32:41.46 and hopes to take a shot at the event's course record of 35:26.

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

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

Two-Time Olympic Marathon Medalist Erick Wainaina Referred to Prosectors on Suspicion of Assault

According to investigators, two-time Olympic marathon medalist Erick Wainaina has had his case referred to prosecutors after allegedly injuring a railway employee by striking him in the face at a station in Setagaya, Tokyo. Wainaina, 50, was the bronze medalist in the marathon at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and won silver in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Wainaina is suspected of assaulting a woman in her late teens and a male Tokyo Denentoshi Line employee by hitting them in the face during an altercation at Komazawa University Station in March this year, resulting in minor injuries to the man's face. According to investigators, the incident began on the train between Wainaina and the woman, and after getting off at Komazawa University Station he hit her in the face when she asked him to go to the station office with her to report it. When the male railway employee responded to the situation Wainaina reportedly hit him too. In response to questioning Wainaina is said to have answered,

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