Skip to main content

Japan to Send Squad of 26 to 36th World Cross Country Championships

http://www.rikuren.or.jp/cgi-bin/column/view.cgi?act=stdview&id=250

translated by Brett Larner

Rikuren has announced the squad of 26 Japanese runners to be sent to the 36th World Cross Country Championships scheduled for Mar. 30 in Edinburgh, Scotland.

In the Senior Men's 12 km event, the team of 8 is led by Makoto Tobimatsu (Team Yasukawa Denki), the top Japanese finisher in both the Chiba International and Fukuoka International Cross Country meets, along with Satoru Kitamura (Nittai University), the 2nd Japanese in Chiba and 3rd Japanese in Fukuoka. Appearing for the 4th time and 3rd consecutive year is Yoshitaka Iwamizu (Team Toyota Jidosha).

The team of 6 for the Senior Women's 8 km race is jointly led by Chiba International Cross Country top Japanese finisher Kazuka Wakatsuki (Team Toto) and Fukuoka International Cross Country top Japanese finisher Aya Manome (Team Shimamura). Joining the team for the 3rd straight year is Aimi Horikoshi (Team Yamada Denki).

The Junior Men's 8 km team of 6 features Chiba and Fukuoka short course winner Akinobu Murasawa (Saku Chosei High School), while the Junior Women's 6 km team of 6 includes Fukuoka competitor Atsuko Matsumura (Tokiwa High School), appearing for the 2nd straight year.

Complete listings of Japanese entrants are included below.

Senior Men
Makoto Tobimatsu, Team Yasukawa Denki (Fukuoka), 3rd time on team
Satoru Kitamura, Nittai University (Hyogo), 3rd time on team
Yuki Nakamura, Team Kanebo (Tokyo), 2nd time on team
Yoshitaka Iwamizu, Team Toyota Jidosha (Aichi), 4th time on team
Hiroyoshi Umegae, Team NTN (Mie), 1st time on team
Yuki Sato, Tokai University (Nagano), 3rd time on team
Tsuyoshi Ugachi, Komazawa University (Tochigi), 3rd time on team
Hidekazu Sato, Team Toyota Boshoku (Aichi), 4th time on team

Senior Women
Aya Manome, Team Shimamura (Saitama), 1st time on team
Kazuka Wakatsuki, Team Toto (Fukuoka), 1st time on team
Megumi Seike, Team Sysmex (Kyoto), 1st time on team
Aimi Horikoshi, Team Yamada Denki (Gunma), 3rd time on team
Yuko Nohara, Team Toyota Jidoshokki (Chiba), 3rd time on team
Kazue Kojima, Ritsumeikan University (Kyoto), 3rd time on team

Junior Men
Akinobu Murasawa, Saku Chosei High School (Nagano), 1st time on team
Kenta Chiba, Saku Chosei High School (Nagano), 1st time on team
Shun Kurihara, Kyushu Gakuin High School (Kumamoto), 2nd time on team
Hiroyuki Sasaki, Saku Chosei High School (Nagano), 1st time on team
Hirotaka Tamura, Aomori Yamada High School (Aomori), 1st time on team
Ryuji Kashiwabara, Iwaki Sogo High School (Fukushima), 1st time on team

Junior Women
Atsuko Matsumura, Tokiwa High School (Gunma), 2nd time on team
Risa Takenaka, Ritsumeikan Uji High School (Kyoto), 1st time on team
Ayaka Mori, Suma Gakuen High School (Hyogo), 1st time on team
Asami Kato, Toyokawa High School (Aichi), 1st time on team
Yukino Ninomiya, Toyokawa High School (Aichi), 1st time on team
Yukari Abe, Sendai Ikuei High School (Miyagi), 1st time on team

Comments

Most-Read This Week

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...