Skip to main content

National Corporate Track and Field Championships - Preview (updated)

by Brett Larner

The National Jitsugyodan Track and Field Championships are the last major meet on the schedule for Japan's corporate runners before they head into the fall ekiden season next month. This year's meet takes place Sept. 25-27 in Okayama and kicks off with the men's and women's 10000 m.

The men's 10000 m promises to be one of the highlights of the meet. While it's unlikely everyone on the entry list will start, the names on the list include most of the best in the country, Japanese and foreign alike. Josephat Ndambiri (Team Komori Corp.) tops the list with his PB of 26:58.40 from this spring, accompanied by perpetual rivals Gideon Ngatuny (Team Nissin Shokuhin) and Yacob Jarso (Team Honda). Ngatuny's teammate Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin) leads the Japanese contingent with his PB of 27:38.25. All told the field includes twelve 27 minute men alongside Ndambiri with another half dozen, among them Masato Kihara (Team Kanebo) in his pro debut, within seconds of breaking 28 minutes.

The women's 10000 m also has a strong field led by Kenyans Philes Ongori (Team Hokuren), Julia Mombi (Team Aruze) and Danielle Filomena Cheyech (Team Uniqlo). Kayoko Fukushi (Team Wacoal) leads four Japanese women with recent times under 32 minutes including Yurika Nakamura (Team Tenmaya), fresh from setting three PBs in three starts at last month's World Championships. As in the men's 10000 m, another half dozen women sit close to sub-32 level.

Other events to watch include:


  • National record holder Takayuki Matsumiya (Team Konica Minolta) and former university star Kensuke Takezawa (Team S&B) on their way back from injury in the men's 5000 m. It will be Matsumiya's first race since losing his 30 km world record to Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia at last week's Berlin Marathon.
  • Nakamura and Fukushi, the women's 5000 m national champion and national record holder respectively, face off again in the second heat of the 5000 m on Saturday. Also in the heat are 3000 m steeplechase national record holder Minori Hayakari (Kyoto Koka AC) and, trying again for another comeback, trouble-plagued 10000 m junior national record holder Megumi Kinukawa (Team Mizuno). Berlin World Championships marathon silver medalist Yoshimi Ozaki (Team Daiichi Seimei) will line up in the first heat.
  • Still showing momentum from his bronze medal performance at the World Championships, Yukifumi Murakami (Team Suzuki) will take down the field in the men's javelin.

Click here for complete entry lists for the 2009 National Jitsugyodan Track and Field Championships. Selected entry list highlights with season bests:

Men's 10000 m Heat 3
Josephat Ndambiri (Team Komori Corp.) - 26:58.40
Gideon Ngatuny (Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 27:01.83
John Thuo (Team Toyota) - 27:31.61
Yacob Jarso (Team Honda) - 27:32.54
Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 27:38.25
Yusei Nakao (Team Toyota Boshoku) - 27:48.71
Nicholas Makau (Team JAL Ground Service) - 27:52.32
Ryuji Ono (Team Asahi Kasei) - 27:53.19 - DNS
Micah Njeru (Team Toyota Boshoku) - 27:53.79
Joseph Gitau (Team JFE Steel) - 27:58.09
James Mwangi (Team NTN) - 27:58.43
Yu Mitsuya (Team Toyota Kyushu) - 27:58.63
Silas Jui (Team Hitachi Cable) - 27:58.88
Masato Kihara (Team Kanebo) - 28:06.48
Tomoaki Bungo (Team Asahi Kasei) - 28:07.20
Samuel Ndungu (Team Aichi Seiko) - 28:07.79
Satoru Kitamura (Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 28:09.22
Kensuke Takezawa (Team S&B) - 28:23.28

Women's 10000 m Heat 2
Philes Ongori (Team Hokuren) - 30:29.21
Kayoko Fukushi (Team Wacoal) - 31:01.14
Yurika Nakamura (Team Tenmaya) - 31:14.39
Noriko Matsuoka (Team Suzuki) - 31:31.45
Julia Mombi (Team Aruze) - 31:39.38
Hiroko Miyauchi (Team Kyocera) - 31:42.86
Danielle Filomena Cheyech (Team Uniqlo) - 31:58.50
Yukari Sahaku (Team Aruze) - 32:01.80
Mari Ozaki (Team Noritz) - 32:03.17
Hiromi Ominami (Team Toyota Shatai) - 32:03.67
Megumi Seike (Team Sysmex) - 32:04.79

(c) 2009 Brett Larner
all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

Brett Larner said…
The start lists are up. In the men's 10000 m there are two notable changes. Ryuji Ono (Asahi Kasei) is out, while Kensuke Takezawa (S&B) is in. Takezawa must be feeling back to normal. Japanese guys don't usually go all out at this kind of championship race, but Takezawa vs. Yuki Sato (Nissin Shokuhin) is the race everyone wants to see. These two guys are going to push each other into national record territory over the next 5-10 years.
September 25, 2009 at 4:23 PM
Post a Comment

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."...
82 comments
Read more

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...
Post a Comment
Read more

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 ...
Post a Comment
Read more