Weekend Track Roundup

The two-day Hyogo Relay Carnival was the biggest meet of the weekend on the Japanese calendar. Sarah Wanjiru (Daito Bunka Univ.) kicked off her 2nd academic year with a 31:48.11 win in the GP women's 10000 m, beating Pauline Kamulu (Route Inn Hotels) by 4 seconds. Emmanuel Kiplagat (Mitsubishi Juko) had a tighter win in the GP men's 10000 m, 27:58.01 to 27:58.35 over Jonson Mugeni (Asia Univ.). Kenyans also dominated the men's B and C-heats, Nelson Mandela (Obirin Univ.) taking the B-heat by 0.06 over Stephen Muthini (Soka Univ.) in 28:05.37 and Patrick Wambui (NTT Nishi Nihon) the C-heat in 28:14.83. Top Japanese marks across the four races were 32:24.50 by Sora Shinozakura (Panasonic), 28:11.30 by Yuta Nakayama (JR Higashi Nihon), 28:41.68 by Masashi Nonaka (Toyota), and 28:42.38 by former Rikkyo University head coach Yuichiro Ueno (Hiramatsu Byoin).

The GP women's 3000 mSC might have been the best race of the meet, both Miu Saito (Nittai Univ.) and Manami Nishiyama (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) going under the old meet record in 9:47.76 and 9:49.77, and previous MR holder Reimi Yoshimura (Cramer Japan TC) also getting under 10 minutes in 9:59.14 for 3rd. Four of the top five men in the GP 3000 mSC ran PBs, World XC relay team member Yutaro Niinae (Aisan Kogyo) winning in 8:33.43, Shintaro Nakazono (SID Group) 2nd in 8:34.76, and Asahi Kuroda (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) 3rd in 8:35.10.

NR holder Nozomi Tanaka (New Balance) duly set a MR 4:07.79 to win the GP women's 1500 m by over 3 seconds. The GP men's 800 m was unremarkable, Kaishi Kitamura taking the win in 1:48.29. Mitsu Ozaki (Sysmex) won the non-GP women's 5000 m in 15:59.91 in a photo finish with Rina Shimizu (North), who clocked in at 15:59.92. Only a high school boys' 5000 m was on the menu for men, with local Koki Niizuma (Nishiwaki Kogyo) 1st in 14:25.87.

The Tokai University Time Trials meet also had some quality marks, led by Hibiki Yoshida (Soka Univ.) with a 28:12.82 PB for the win in the men's 10000 m A-heat. A trio of men from Toyo University took the next three spots, Mashu Nishimura 2nd in 28:45.98, Ryota Kobayashi 3rd in 28:49.53, and former H.S. 5000 m NR setter Kosuke Ishida continuing his comeback with a 28:49.61 for 4th. Patrick Kamau (Jobu Univ.) took the B-heat in 29:51.22. Hayato Sano (Musashino Gakuin Univ.) ran a decent 3:48.95 to win the men's 1500 m A-heat.

The Kokushikan University Time Trials meet had a good men's 10000 m, where Koei Yahara (Hosei Univ.) got the win in 29:00.29 over Goki Higashihara (Meiji Univ.), 2nd in 29:00.94.

Overseas, four Japanese athletes were in action at the Xiamen Diamond League meet. Shunsuke Izumiya was 3rd in the men's 110 mH with a 13.17 -0.3 m/s SB Tomohiro Shinno was 4th in the men's high jump, clearing 2.24 m on his 2nd attempt but missing 2.27 m. Ryo Wada was 5th in the men's 100 m in 10.31 -0.6 m/s, former NR holder Yoshihide Kiryu 7th in 10.38.

Australian YouTuber Handed Lifetime Ban by Ageo City Half Marathon After Running 1:06 with Another Runner's Bib (updated)

After discussion with their race's chief JAAF referee, on Nov. 27 the organizers of the Ageo City Half Marathon handed down a lifetime ban from their event against 36-year-old Australian Matt Inglis Fox for running the Nov. 15 race wearing the bib number of another JAAF-registered runner. The incident came to light after Fox posted on his personal Instagram account that he had run a PB of 1:06:33 and finished 203rd in Ageo with a 10 km split of 31:03, along with photos and video of himself in the race wearing a bib number beginning with 11. Fox did not appear in the results by name or in that time or place, the closest match being a 1:06:54 gross, 1:06:50 net finish time with a 31:21 10 km split for 18th place in the JAAF-registered division and 209th overall by bib number 1129, registered to a non-Japanese Tokyo-resident club runner. The club runner, Harrisson Uk , readily confirmed that he had given his bib to Fox, saying, "I gave my number to Matt. It wasn't me."...

CHN and JPN National Records Go Down - Weekend Track Update

There weren't any Japanese athletes in action at the Rabat Diamond League meet Sunday, but 2 lower-tier domestic meets produced new national records. At the Nittai University Time Trials meet in Yokohama, Samuel Kibathi (Toyota) led the top 5 in the men's 10000 m under 28 minutes in 27:39.97. In 3rd, China's Wenjie Wang took just over a second off his own NR from the same meet last year, setting a new record of 27:47.53. His teammate Haoran Tang was 6th in a 28:27.44 PB, with the top Japanese time in the race being a 28:33.39 for 8th from Jin Yuasa (Toyota). Amazingly, Wang and Tang were back the next day on day 2 of the Nittai meet, Wang running a PB of 13:35.58 for 4th in the A-heat and Tang winning the B-heat in a PB of 13:38.80. Isaac Ndiema took the A-heat in 13:26.49, with the fastest Japanese time going to Yuhei Urano (Fujitsu) with a 13:35.94 for 5th behind Wang. Other Nittai highlights: Deborah Chemutai (Univ. Ent.) won a photo finish against Yua Nagamori ...

Batt-Doyle and Strintzos Break Records at Launceston Half

Australians Isobel Batt-Doyle and Haftu Strintzos turned in record-breaking performances to win the McGrath Launceston Running Festival Peppers Silo Half Marathon in Tasmania. Running with a private male pacer, NR holder Batt-Doyle dusted the field with the fastest half marathon ever by an Australian woman on Australian soil, a 1:08:46 CR that put her 2 and a half minutes ahead of runner-up Genevieve Gregson . Last year's runner-up Yumi Yoshikawa was almost a minute back from Gregson in 3rd in 1:12:03, but was almost run down by club runner Ayaka Shimoyamada . Starting slow in her international debut, Shimoyamada moved up from 7th over the 2nd half of the race to finish 4th in 1:12:06, kicking hard in the home straight to try to catch Yoshikawa and momentarily blacking out after finishing. Kaho Onishi was 7th in 1:12:45 in her own international debut. The men's half had pacing set at 2:53/km to try to deliver the first-ever sub-61 half marathon on Australian soil. CR holde...

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