Skip to main content

New 2010 Jitsugyodan Men: Two World XC Champs Land in Japan

by Brett Larner

April 1 marks the start of the Japanese fiscal and academic year. This year's round of university graduates and transfers from other teams are now settling in to their new homes around the country. Below is a list of many of the best new men joining corporate teams this season. Click for a larger version.

2010 New Year Ekiden national champion Team Nissin Shokuhin picks up a major score in 2010 World XC Junior Men's winner Caleb Ndiku (Kenya), a replacement for Olympian Julius Gitahi (Kenya). It will be interesting to see how Ndiku fares compared to the team's current #1 Kenyan, Gideon Ngatuny. Nissin rescues Komazawa Univ. grad Hideyuki Anzai from the disbanded Team JAL Ground Service.

Team Honda likewise picks up a World XC Junior Men's champion, 2008 winner Ibrahim Jelian (Ethiopia), and a JAL survivor, Ryosuke Fukuyama, and should maintain its spot near the top of the hierarchy. Perennially strong Team Asahi Kasei lands two top recruits, Komazawa's Takuya Fukatsu and Takahiro Mori of Nittai Univ., as does Team Chugoku Denryoku who recruit Meiji Univ. ace Takuya Ishikawa and Kanagawa Univ.'s Takuji Morimoto.

If there is a shift in power it may be in the direction of 2009 New Year Ekiden champion Team Fujitsu, who adds four quality men to its ekiden roster. Nihon University star Daniel Gitau (Kenya) is the best of the bunch, while Komazawa's Sota Hoshi should also become a team leader if he recovers from the injury problems that weakened him throughout the second half of 2009. Fujitsu also adds 800 m national record holder Masato Yokota to its middle-distance squad.

The biggest winner in this year's recruitment drive is Tokyo-based Team S&B. S&B has not had any emphasis on ekidens of late but has been quietly building a top-notch squad over the last two years with the addition of Kensuke Takezawa and Yuichiro Ueno. This year the team pulls in three ringers: #1-ranked high school runner Bitan Karoki (Kenya/Sera H.S.), Josai Univ. star Yuta Takahashi, and Meiji's tough Kodai Matsumoto. If S&B enters the ring for the New Year Ekiden in 2010-11 with all of its stars in place, Nissin Shokuhin, Honda, Fujitsu and the rest will be hard-pressed to handle them.

Look for a preview of the new jitsugyodan women's recruits later this week on JRN.

(c) 2010 Brett Larner
all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Nagoya Asian Games Test Event Canceled After Insulation Falls From Venue Ceiling

A section of insulation material fell from the ceiling of Nagoya Kinjo Futo Arena, the official venue for squash competition at September's Nagoya Asian Games. There were no injuries, but the city suspended use of the arena until its safety could be guaranteed, resulting in the cancelation of the Asian Games squash test event which was scheduled to have begun on May 14. It is not yet clear whether the arena will be usable for the Asian Games as planned. According to city officials, arena staff found that the insulation material had fallen onto a work walkway 13 m above the ground on the night of May 11. The fallen material was 3.6 m long, 50 cm wide and 2.5 km thick, and was found to be waterlogged. The cause of the accident is unknown, but it is possible that it was caused by rainwater leaking in from the roof. The same insulation material is installed across the entire ceiling, and the city plans to check for the extent of the possible flooding. Asked whether the arena will be re...
1 comment
Read more

Australian Male Arrested on Drug Smuggling Charges After Entering Japan for Osaka Marathon

On Apr. 9 the Kinki Region Bureau of Health, Labor and Welfare's Drug Control Division arrested Matthew Inglis Fox , 38, an Australian business owner of no known fixed address, on charges of violating the importation regulations of the Narcotics Control Act by smuggling tablets containing marijuana elements from the United States. The suspect had entered Japan in February to run in the Osaka Marathon . The suspect was arrested on suspicion of smuggling approximately 12 pills containing marijuana by sending them from a U.S. airport to Osaka's Kansai Airport using an international courier service on Feb. 19. The Osaka branch of the Customs Service discovered the tablets in arriving cargo and suspected them to be narcotics. Customs contacted the Narcotics Control Division, which then began its investigation of the case. According to the Narcotics Control Division, the suspect denies the charges.  Translator's note: Fox, who received a lifetime ban from the Ageo City Half Mara...
41 comments
Read more

My Training for 1:00:44

Hi, I'm Ayumu Kobayashi . Today I'm going to write about this year's National Corporate Half Marathon and the training I did for it. I hope other runners will find it even a little bit helpful. At the Corporate Half on Feb. 13 I was 10th in 1:00:44. My goal had been to run 61 minutes, so I hit that target. My Training Menu In January I ran a total of 681 km. Key workouts: Jan. 11: 1000 m x 5 at 2:50/km Jan. 12: 22.5 km Jan. 15: 9 km variable pace Jan. 17: 25 km Jan. 24: 1000 m x 8 at 2:52/km Jan. 27: 1 km + 4 km + 2 km Jan. 30: 16 km at 3:18/km avg. In January I was tired from the New Year Ekiden and had some knee pain after it, so I just jogged for 10 days until I started doing workouts again on the 11th. That's why I only ran 681 km for the month. But even on the jog days I was aware that I had the Corporate Half coming up, so I was doing around 30 km. It's pretty meat and potatoes, but I think it was really important. February (training for the 10 days before...
2 comments
Read more