Kawauchi Returns to Action - Nittaidai Time Trials Entry Lists

by Brett Larner

The 2011 Nittai University Time Trials series gets underway next weekend in Yokohama. A tuneup event for other track meets on Japan's spring calendar, the 214th edition of Nittai sees the return to action of Japan's current #1 marathoner, Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama T&F Assoc.). The amateur who made worldwide news with a moving 2:08:37 3rd-place finish at February's Tokyo Marathon, Kawauchi comes to Nittai fresh from having been named to Japan's 2011 World Championships marathon team as its #1 man. Entered in both Saturday's 10000 m A-heat and Sunday's 5000 m A-heat it's unlikely he will run both, but whichever distance he chooses it is safe to say that everyone will be watching Kawauchi.

This early in the season most distance men are focusing on 5000 m, and as a result the 5000 m A-heat features a larger number of noteworthy names. Among them are Japan's top man at last month's World XC Championships, Hirotaka Tamura (Nihon Univ.), 2010 Tokyo Marathon winner Masakazu Fujiwara (Team Honda), Kenyans Daniel Gitau (Team Fujitsu), Cosmas Ondiba (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.), Ibrahim Mukunga (Team Fujitsu) and Joseph Onsarigo (Sozo Gakuen Univ.), the latter two in their Japanese debuts, and three members of 2011 Hakone Ekiden winners Waseda University, Shota Hiraga, Fuminori Shikata and Yuki Yagi.

Leading the 10000 m A-heat is 2010 Kanto Regional University 10000 m champion Benjamin Gandu (Nihon Univ.). The women's fields are relatively weaker than the men's and are split between 3000 m, 5000 m and 10000 m. Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo has most of its lineup entered in the 5000 m A-heat, led by 10000 m national record holder Yoko Shibui.

214th Nittai University Time Trials Entry List Highlights

click here for complete entry lists

Men's 5000 m Heat 24

Masakazu Fujiwara (Team Honda)

Daniel Gitau (Kenya/Team Fujitsu)

Shota Hiraga (Waseda Univ.)

Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama T&F Assoc.)

Ibrahim Mukunga (Kenya/Team Fujitsu)

Kota Murayama (Josai Univ.)

Cosmas Ondiba (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.)

Joseph Onsarigo (Kenya/Sozo Gakuen Univ.)

Fuminori Shikata (Waseda Univ.)

Yuta Takahashi (Team S&B)

Hirotaka Tamura (Nihon Univ.)

Yuki Yagi (Waseda Univ.)

Men's 5000 m Heat 23

Asefa Fekele (Ethiopia/Team Kanebo)

Takeshi Horiguchi (Team Honda)

Satoshi Irifune (Team Kanebo)

Takeshi Makabe (Team Kanebo)

Yusei Nakao (Team Toyota Boshoku)

Keita Shitara (Toyo Univ.)

Kensuke Takahashi (Team Toyota)

Kazuki Tomaru (Team Toyota)

Women's 5000 m Heat 16

Risa Nakamura (Team Hitachi)

Chisato Osaki (Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo)

Yoko Shibui (Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo)

Ikuyo Yamashita (Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo)

Women's 3000 m Heat 3

Ai Igarashi (Team Sysmex)

Misaki Onishi (Team Sekisui Kagaku)

Yukina Saijo (Team Sekisui Kagaku)

Murugi Wainaina (Kenya/Toyokawa H.S.)

Men's 10000 m Heat 5

Benjamin Gandu (Kenya/Nihon Univ.)

Soji Ikeda (Team Yakult)

Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama T&F Assoc.)

On the Loss of the ARRS Database

At some point in the last few months I discovered that both versions of the ARRS database, the static one and the searchable version , are gone. Last week David Monti posted a link to the ARRS history of an event he covered in Race Results Weekly, I guess copying and pasting a link from last year without looking at it, and that reminded me to write something about the loss of the database. The Association of Road Racing Statisticians was basically a one-man show operated from the remote Northern California shores by Ken Young . When the site existed its intro read: The Association of Road Racing Statisticians (ARRS) is an independent, non-profit organization that collects, analyses and publishes results and statistics regarding elite distance running at distances 3000m and longer...The data of ARRS is stored in the ARRS database, which has more than 1.3 million performances from more than 240,000 races by more than 95,000 elite and sub-elite distance runners worldwide...This website ...

Multiple National Records This Weekend

Olympic and World champion Haruka Kitaguchi got the biggest headlines among Japanese athletes this weekend, overcoming a rough last year and a half that included injury and a coaching change to break her own javelin throw NR by over a meter and a half to win the inaugural WA Ultimate Championship in Budapest. U20 WR and Asian AR holder Ziyi Yan opened with a big 68.05, 0.67 m further than Kitaguchi's best-ever from back in 2023. That could have been the end, but Kitaguchi came back from a 61.15 m first attempt to throw a massive 68.92 m NR on her next one, ultimately enough for the win. She still has a long way to go to match the 18-year-old Yan's 71.74 m from May, but it was a clear statement that Kitaguchi is back. Back home at the National Corporate Track and Field Championships in Kyoto, women's pole vault NR holder Misaki Morota continued a solid comeback season of her own, bettering her NR from May by 1 cm with a 4.51 m on her first attempt. Morota took another 3...

Japan's Team Lineup in Copenhagen

Re-upping an earlier post on Japan's team lineup for this weekend's Copenhagen World Road Running Championships . The JAAF chose not to name any women to the team in the mile. Women 5 km Kana Mizumoto (Edion) - 15:06.98 Rina Kusu (Sekisui Kagaku) - 15:10.91 Half Marathon Yumi Yoshikawa (Canon) - 1:09:14 Wakana Kabasawa (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 1:09:20 Rina Shimizu (Noritz) - 1:09:22 Yuna Takahashi (Shimamura) - 1:09:23 Men Mile Ojiro Honda (Waseda Univ.) - 3:37.53 (1500 m) Tomoki Nakano (Toenec) - 3:37.92 (1500 m) 5 km Yota Mashiko (Waseda Univ.) - 13:20.35 Rui Suzuki (Waseda Univ.) - 13:20.64 Half Marathon Tomoya Ogikubo (Hiramatsu Byoin) - 1:00:22 Yuma Nishizawa (Toyota Boshoku) - 1:00:26 Neo Namiki (Subaru) - 1:00:29 Daisuke Sato (Chuo Univ.) - 1:00:40 © 2026 Brett Larner , all rights reserved

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