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Showing posts with the label Kiragu Njuguna

Katakawa and Kikuchi Set Course Records in Yutoku and Inuyama

62nd Kashima Yutoku Road Race
Kashima, Saga, 2/24/13
click here for complete results

Men's Half Marathon
1. Kiragu Njuguna (Kenya/Hiramatsu Hospital) - 1:04:00
2. Koji Kaneko (Team Kurosaki Harima) - 1:04:17
3. Yuki Matsumura (Juntendo Univ.) - 1:04:25
4. Shohei Nakayama (Koku Gakuin Univ.) - 1:04:45
5. Tsubasa Akagi (Team Nishitetsu) - 1:04:50

Women's Half Marathon
1. Mayumi Watanabe (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 1:14:51
2. Natsumi Nakamura (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 1:15:59
3. Shiho Suetsugu (Nagasaki Univ) - 1:18:13

Men's 10 km
1. Junji Katakawa (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 29:23 - CR
2. Yuzo Hiratsuka (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 29:50
3. Shuhei Kitsukawa (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 30:13

Women's 10 km
1. Sakurako Fukuuchi (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 33:28
2. Chikako Mori (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 33:51
3. Eri Tayama (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 34:10
4. Eri Utsunomiya (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 34:18
5. Mari Tayama (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 34:25

35th Yomiuri Inuyama Half Marathon
Inuyama, Aichi, 2/24/13
click here for top results

Weekend Track and Ekiden Roundup - Karoki, Waithira, Kinukawa, Yamamoto Take Wins

by Brett Larner

Along with marathons and other road races, this busy weekend included two significant ekidens and three large track time trial meets.

At the Nov. 19 Biwako University Ekiden, Western Japan's answer to January's Hakone Ekiden, defending champion Kyoto Sangyo University braved heavy rain and wind to take its second-straight Biwako title.  After a slow 8th-place start Kyoto Sangyo worked its way up through the field and covered the eight-stage, 83.6 km course in 4:16:17.  Daiichi Kogyo University was 2nd in 4:18:09 thanks in large part to an impressive 31:57 record for the 11.0 km Third Stage by its Kenyan ace Kiragu Njuguna, a full 43 seconds under the old record.  Njuguna put Daiichi Kogyo in the lead by more than a minute over early leader Ritsumeikan University, and the team maintained the lead all the way until the 7th stage when Daiichi Kogyo was overtaken by Kyoto Sangyo's stage-winning Kazuki Noda.  Ritsumeikan anchor Yusuke Kubo did what he could to c…

National University Men's Ekiden Championships - Preview + Watch Online

by Brett Larner

It's no secret that this year's National University Men's Ekiden Championships, the second of the season's big three university men's ekidens following last month's Izumo Ekiden, is going to be between the top three finishers at last January's Hakone Ekiden: defending national champion and course record holder Waseda University, Izumo winner Toyo University, and titan Komazawa University.  Both Waseda and Toyo had Japan's best-ever university squads last year, each with ten men sporting 10000 m PBs under 29 minutes.  Waseda's team this year is at the same level on paper thanks in part to ace sophomore Suguru Osako's continued development and the recruitment of sub-29 first-year Shuhei Yamamoto, but the chronic Waseda injury cycle seems to have returned this fall as the team was far from 100% at Izumo and was easily beaten there by both Toyo and Komazawa.  Toyo lost more to graduation this year than Waseda, but despite both this l…

Grand Tour Kyushu 2011 Reaches Halfway

by Brett Larner

In its 60th running the historic Kyushu Isshu Ekiden, a ten-day road relay around Japan's southernmost main island of Kyushu featuring men's teams from each of the island's nine prefectures, has changed both name and, to a lesser degree, format.  Now called the Grand Tour Kyushu, the race has been scaled back to eight days and, styled more after a cycling race, has a new and heavier emphasis on the day-to-day stage wins and features corporate sponsorship of the individual day stages.

Starting in Nagasaki on Oct. 30 and heading counterclockwise to Fukuoka, the Grand Tour Kyushu remains Japan's longest elite-level event.  Always dominant thanks to the presence of a large concentration of corporate teams, Fukuoka, Miyazaki and Nagasaki prefectures have been the main players through the Tour's first four days.  Defending champion Miyazaki got off on the right foot with a win from rookie Kazuya Deguchi on the first leg of the race, but the team fell to t…

Izumo Ekiden: Komazawa vs. Waseda vs.....U.S.A.?

by Brett Larner

The first of this season's Big Three university men's ekidens, the Izumo Ekiden, takes place on the Oct. 10 National Sports Day public holiday.  With six stages covering 44.6 km, the longest stage only 10.2 km, Izumo is the shortest and fastest of the Big Three, lending itself to a different kind of race from November's National University Ekiden Championships and January's Hakone Ekiden.

Last year Waseda University set an Izumo course record to kick off an unprecedented season of victory.  Waseda returns a tough squad this year, with seven men holding sub-14 and/or sub-29 PBs led by sophomore Suguru Osako, the Asian junior area half marathon record holder, World University Games 10000 m champion and 1500 m national university champion.  Waseda is missing two of its key players from last year, senior Yuki Yagi and sophomore Fuminori Shikata, but while there are few cracks in the armor Waseda doesn't come in as the favorite.

Komazawa University has bu…

Kyoto Sangyo Takes First-Ever Biwako University Ekiden Win

by Brett Larner

Thanks in part to a big run from 2010 national university 5000 m champion Hiroki Mitsuoka on the 15.1 km Seventh Stage, Kyoto Sangyo University took its first-ever win Nov. 20 in the Biwako University Ekiden, western Japan's counterpart to January's Hakone Ekiden. Kyoto Sangyo defeated perpetual winner Ritsumeikan University by over 2 1/2 minutes, joining Bukkyo University's women's team in ending the Ritsumeikan stranglehold on western Japan men's and women's distance running.

2010 Biwako University Ekiden - Top Results
click here for complete results
Stage Best Performances
First Stage (11.1 km) - Tetsuya Kimura (Osaka Keizai Univ.) - 33:12
Second Stage (7.3 km) -Kenji Nakamura (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 21:48
Third Stage (11.0 km) - Jackson Kwarai (Tanzania/Nara Sangyo Univ.) - 33:11
Fourth Stage (9.6 km) - Kiragu Njuguna (Kenya/Daiichi Kogyo Univ.) - 27:50
Fifth Stage (9.0 km) - Daiki Maruno (Daiichi Kogyo Univ.) - 27:50
Sixth Stage (12.8 km) - Hiroyuki T…

Watch the Izumo Ekiden Online - Komazawa vs. Waseda

by Brett Larner

Monday's 22nd Izumo Ekiden kicks off Japan's fall season, with some of the top university teams from the Kanto region squaring off against the best from the rest of the country over shorter distances than in any of the other major road events. An all-star team of American Ivy League alum also makes an appearance each year to add a bit of international color. The race will be broadcast live online on Fuji TV on Oct. 11 from 1:00 to 3:25 p.m. Japan time, and thanks to the miracle of modern computer technology overseas viewers can watch live online through Keyhole TV. That's midnight Sunday night for Ivy Leaguers, 9 pm on the West Coast, or, unfortunately, 5 a.m. Monday morning in London. Click here for more details on watching online. JRN will be doing live English commentary via Twitter on JRNLive.

It looks like a foregone conclusion that the race is going to be a battle between two of the big powerhouse universities: Komazawa and Waseda. The Hakone Ekiden'…

Iizuka, Fujimoto, Yoshimoto and More - National University Championships Preview

by Brett Larner

It's one of the peculiarities of the Japanese scene that the national university and corporate championship track and field meets come in September, sandwiched between the end of the summer gasshuku training camps and the start of the fall ekiden season three months after the regional meets and open Nationals. For once, the focus of the National University Track and Field Championships, to be held this weekend at Tokyo's National Stadium, will be on the sprints rather than the distance races. That's because scheduled to run both the 200 m and the 4 x 100 m is Chuo University frosh Shota Iizuka. Iizuka's surreal anchor leg for Chuo's relay squad at May's Kanto Regionals got attention around the world as he singlehandedly gave Chuo a one-second margin of victory and the national collegiate record of 38.54. With expectations high he followed up in the 200 m with Japan's first-ever world-level track gold medal at July's IAAF Junior World Cham…

Honda Takes First Asahi Ekiden Win

http://mainichi.jp/enta/sports/general/news/20100112k0000m050027000c.html

translated by Brett Larner

17 teams competed in the 61st Asahi Ekiden on Jan. 11, a seven-stage, 99.9 km elite competition stretching from Fukuoka to Kita-Kyushu. Team Honda ran 4:47:33 to take its first-ever Asahi Ekiden win. Honda's Sixth Stage runner Yacob Jarso of Ethiopia started the stage in 3rd place 1:40 behind the leader but broke the existing stage record on his way to taking the lead. Honda anchor Suehiro Ishikawa managed to hold on to the lead to bring the team home on top. Trying for a fourth-straight win, Team Asahi Kasei anchor Tomoya Onishi ran the stage's best time but could not catch Ishikawa and had to settle for 2nd. Team Kyudenko finished 3rd, while last year's Kyushu Jitsugyodan Ekiden winner Team Yasukawa Denki was 4th. Alongside Jarso's mark, Kenyan student runner Kiragu Njuguna (Daiichi Kogyo Univ.) also set a new record on the first stage.

2010 Asahi Ekiden - 7 Stages, 99.9…

Ritsumeikan Men Take Biwako University Ekiden

by Brett Larner

Picking up the pieces from its women's team's loss to crosstown rivals Bukkyo University at last month's Morinomiyako Ekiden, Ritsumeikan University's men followed through on their strong showing at the Izumo and National University Ekidens with a win at the 71st Biwako University Ekiden on Nov. 21. Western Japan's answer to the mighty Hakone Ekiden, Biwako is the season-ending championship event for university men outside the Kanto region.

19 times raced the eight-stage, 84.3 km event, one of Japan's oldest ekidens. Ritsumeikan, Kyoto Sangyo University and Daiichi Kogyo University were the heavy favorites going in to this year's Biwako, and the three followed expectations. Kyoto Sangyo's Kazuki Hayashi (3rd yr.) took the race out hard, clocking 32:55 for the 11.1 km First Stage. Ritsumeikan and Daiichi Kogyo sat in 4th and 5th behind Nara Sangyo University's Tadaharu Amano (2nd yr.) and Masashi Nakatsu (3rd yr.). Ritsumeikan's sec…

Kenyan-Powered Nihon Takes National University Ekiden Title

by Brett Larner

Less than a month after winning the 2009 Izumo Ekiden, Nihon University returned for a surprise win at a wild and unpredictable 2009 National University Ekiden Championships in Nagoya on Nov. 1. Running both of its Kenyan aces, first-year Benjamin Gando and fourth-year anchor Daniel Gitau, Nihon succeeded where it failed last year in stepping up to the longer stage lengths at Nationals and succeeded in taking down 2009 Hakone Ekiden champion Toyo University, surprise leader Meiji University and perpetual contender Waseda University. Three-time defending champion Komazawa looked to have the race safely under control thanks to an outstanding run by 2nd Stage ace Tsuyoshi Ugachi but fell from grace after a complete breakdown by another of its strongest runners, 4th Stage runner Sota Hoshi.

Nihon was as low as 12th place in the field of 26 due to weak performances by its first two runners. 3rd Stage runner Naohiro Domoto put Nihon into 9th place before Gando went to work to …

Gitau Delivers Another Izumo Ekiden Win - Updated

by Brett Larner

Daniel Gitau in another stage-record win. Click photo for full-sized version.






Running in his final Izumo Ekiden on Oct. 12, Kenyan senior Daniel Gitau delivered Nihon University the win for the second year in a row. Last year Gitau started the 10.2 km anchor stage 1:29 behind the lead and won by a margin of 14 seconds. The only sub-28 minute 10000 m runner in the field, this year he confidently predicted before the race that if he was within two minutes of the leader at the start of the anchor stage he would again take first. He was clearly thinking of his Japanese rivals and not of another Kenyan.

Nihon University first-year Kenyan Benjamin Gando made his ekiden debut on the first stage, putting Nihon into 3rd. The rest of the Nihon team kept the school toward the front of the field, with only fifth stage runner Kentaro Ikeya slipping back to 5th. Things looked set for an easy ride for Gitau except that Yamanashi Gakuin University's Kota Otani delivered a stage-best …

Watch the Izumo Ekiden Live - Preview

by Brett Larner

Japan's ekiden season begins each year with the university men's Izumo Ekiden, a 44 km six-stage course pitting the Kanto-region Hakone Ekiden schools against the best the rest of the country has to offer and a team made up of Ivy League alumni. With individual stages ranging from 5.0 to 10.2 km Izumo is completely different in character from other university ekidens, with less emphasis on strategy and endurance and more on pure speed.

This was clear at last year's Izumo when Kenyan Daniel Gitau (Nihon Univ.) made up a 1:29 deficit on leaders Komazawa university over the 10.2 km anchor stage to steal the win with a stage-record 28:28. Gitau returns to lead Nihon, but despite the graduation of top Japanese member Takuma Sasaya Nihon must be viewed as the favorite once again, particularly if it fields but Gitau and first-year Benjamin Gando. It is unusual for a Japanese race to allow a team to field two foreign runners, but at last year's Izumo 4th-placers …

Njuguna Takes National University Half Marathon Title As 361 Break 70 Minutes

by Brett Larner with athlete quotes from Komazawa Univ. website


Click picture for more race photos by Narachan. Additional photos are available here.

The 12th National University Half Marathon took place on Mar. 8 in western Tokyo's Showa Kinen Park in conjunction with the 28th Tachikawa Akishima Half Marathon. The race served as both the first qualifier for the men's half marathon team for July's World Student Games in Serbia and the final race for graduating seniors.

Daiichi Kogyo University's Kiragu Njuguna led a large pack of top university runners and a few professionals, gradually edging away to take the win in 1:02:24 with a slim 17 second lead over runner-up Soji Ikeda of Komazawa University. Ikeda, who was captain of this year's ekiden team, commented, "I'm really happy that I ran a good race today. Looking back on the last four years, as captain I didn't want to end with something as bad as this year's Hakone Ekiden. I'm glad it could en…

Fukuoka Wins 72-Stage, 1056.2 km Kyushu Isshu Ekiden

http://www.nishinippon.co.jp/movie/20081109/20081109_0001.shtml

translated and edited by Brett Larner

Click here for video highlights of each prefectural team's finish.

The 57th Nishi Nihon Interprefectural Kyushu Isshu Ekiden, a 10 day, 72 stage, 1056.2 km competition around the edge of Japan's southernmost main island, wrapped up on Nov. 9 with the Fukuoka Prefectural team taking its 4th consecutive victory. At the end of the previous day Fukuoka was ahead of rival Miyazaki Prefecture in cumulative time and had won 7 of the 9 individual day titles. Fukuoka led the final day for the first of its 7 stages totalling 98.1 km, but Miyazaki ran all out to take the daily lead away, holding down 1st place for the 2nd through 6th stages. Only on the 7th stage did Fukuoka come back to retake the lead, coming to the finish in front of Fukuoka's Nishi Nihon Newspaper Group Head Office in the top spot to tie up 8 of the 10 day victory titles. Fukuoka won its 4th consecutive overall vict…