japan running news

http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/1554422.html
http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/1554651.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner
photo by STITCHrunner

1430 people ran in the 40th anniversary Takashimadaira Road Race 20 km on Oct. 18 on a 5 km loop course in northwestern Tokyo.  Women's winner Kit Ching Yiu (Hong Kong), coached by Japan's Shinetsu Murao, set a national record 1:10:49 to win, at least her third national record on Japanese soil in the last year.  In the men's race invited athlete Yuki Kawauchi (28, Saitama Pref. Gov't) broke away on the last lap for a solo win in 1:00:57 just a week after setting a course record at the Kitakami Marathon.  His next race is the Nov. 1 TCS New York City Marathon, followed by the Dec. 6 Fukuoka International Marathon where he hopes to secure a place on the Rio Olympic team.

Kawauchi ran well in warm temperatures of 23 degrees, keeping his cool in a lead pack of five until 15.5 km just into the…

by Brett Larner
videos by naoki620 and JRN



A day after becoming the first man in 78 years to win four-straight Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships 1500 m titles, Enock Omwamba (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) added another title to his collection, winning a third-straight 5000 m in 13:35.35.  Omwamba and 1500 m runner-up Patrick Wambui (Nihon Univ.) went out front from the start, initially with some company from Japanese athletes but soon on their own.  Wambui made it a good race, at one point going to the front and knocking Omwamba back to 5th, but in the last km he was no match as Omwamba kicked away to win by just over 2 seconds.  Hiroki Matsueda (Juntendo Univ.) was an unexpected 3rd in 13:52.08, just holding off 30 km national collegiate record holder Yuma Hattori (Toyo Univ.).



After winning the D2 10000 m Thursday night with a solid 59-second final lap, Hironori Tsuetaki (Chuo Gakuin Univ.) did it again in the D2 5000 m with a 2:32 last 1000 m that put away 2015 Nationa…