Skip to main content

Ndiku Over Murayama, Shoji Outkicks Lacaze at Fukuoka XC

by Brett Larner
photos by rikujoulove

Japan's two-race cross-country season wrapped up Saturday with the 29th Fukuoka International Cross-Country Meet, the last chance for Japanese athletes to make this year's World Cross-Country Championships team.  Two-time world junior 3000 mSC champion Jonathan Ndiku (Kenya/Team Hitachi Butsuryu) easily beat #1-ranked collegiate Kenta Murayama (Komazawa University) in the senior men's 10 km, surging on a corner mid-race to break free and win by a margin of 9 seconds in 29:22.  Murayama, in his last race wearing the Komazawa uniform, dueled with New Year Ekiden Fourth Stage course record setter Yuta Shitara (Team Honda) before kicking away for 2nd in 29:31, Shitara 4 seconds behind.

Corporate runner Yuta Takahashi (DeNA RC) outkicked 2014 Ageo City Half Marathon winner Koki Takada (Waseda Univ) for 4th in 29:36, with 2013 Ageo winner Takashi Ichida (Daito Bunka Univ.) closing fast but coming up short of catching his high school teammate Takada, 2 seconds back in 29:42 for 6th.  Murayama, Shitara and Ichida have all run the United Airlines NYC Half in conjunction with Ageo and support from JRN, with Takada set to join them and Ichida returning to NYC in 3 weeks.  Further back, Yu Mitsuya (Team Toyota Kyushu), one of Japan's all-time greats on the track but unable to translate it to success on the roads, finished 30th in his final race before retiring.

Both the senior women's 6 km and the junior women's 6 km came down to head-to-head races.  In the senior race Australia's Genevieve Lacaze pushed the tempo against Mai Shoji (Chukyo Univ.) and Miho Shimizu (Team Hokuren), shaking free of Shimizu but unable to get rid of Shoji.  Side-by-side until the final straight, Shoji proved to have the stronger kick as she took the win in 19:54 by 2 seconds over Lacaze.  Shimizu hung on for 3rd in 20:02, well clear of a chase pack led by Chiba XC runner-up Maki Izumida (Rikkyo Univ.) who took 4th in 20:11.

The junior race put the seniors to shame as Azusa Sumi (Toyokawa H.S.) hammered Miho Shimada (Yamanashi Gakuin Prep H.S.) on the string of hills midway through the final lap to pull free to the win in 19:50, beating Shimizu's winning time in the senior race by 4 seconds.  Shimada likewise bettered Lacaze's time, running 19:54 for 2nd.  Nana Kuraoka (Kagoshima Joshi H.S.) outran a chase pack including Chiba XC junior top 2 Wakana Kabasawa (Tokiwa H.S.) and Yuri Nozoe (Kamimura Gakuen H.S.) for 3rd in 20:04.

The junior men's 8 km may have been the race of the day, with constant turnover at the front as many of the country's best high schoolers surged repeatedly to try to take control.  Almost all the favorites except 2014 World Juniors team member Shota Onizuka (Omuta H.S.) were soon out of the lead pack, which shook down to five.  Junnosuke Matsuo (Akita Kogyo H.S.) managed to get control of the situation, but with a hard attack from Hiroyuki Sakaguchi (Isahaya H.S.) it went down to the tape, both clocking 24:12 but Sakaguchi getting the win.  Onizuka took 3rd, he and the rest of the front group timed at 24:14.

Haruki Nishiumura (Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S.), another top-level high schooler, opted for the junior men's 4 km where he outran two members of 2014 National High School Ekiden champion Sera H.S. for the win in 12:29.  Ami Yoshiki (Nakamura Joshi H.S.) won the relatively low-key junior women's 4 km in 13:55.

29th Fukuoka International Cross-Country Meet
Fukuoka, 2/21/15
click here for complete results

Senior Men's 10 km
1. Jonathan Ndiku (Kenya/Team Hitachi Butsuryu) - 29:22
2. Kenta Murayama (Komazawa Univ.) - 29:31
3. Yuta Shitara (Team Honda) - 29:35
4. Yuta Takahashi (DeNA RC) - 29:36
5. Koki Takada (Waseda Univ.) - 29:40
6. Takashi Ichida (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 29:42
7. Kazuma Kubota (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 29:45
8. Tatsuya Hayashi (Team Toyota) - 29:50
9. Naohiro Domoto (Team JR Higashi Nihon) - 29:55
10. Kazuhiro Kuga (Team Fujitsu) - 29:59

Senior Women's 6 km
1. Mai Shoji (Chukyo Univ.) - 19:54
2. Genevieve Lacaze (Australia) - 19:56
3. Miho Shimizu (Team Hokuren) - 20:02
4. Maki Izumida (Rikkyo Univ.) - 20:11
5. Erika Ikeda (Team Higo Ginko) - 20:14
6. Tomoka Kimura (Team Univ. Ent.) - 20:14
7. Yui Fukuda (Team Toyota Jidoshokki) - 20:16
8. Rina Koeda (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 20:17
9. Naoko Koizumi (Team Denso) - 20:20
10. Kaori Morita (Team Panasonic) - 20:32

Junior Men's 8 km
1. Hiroyuki Sakaguchi (Isahaya H.S.) - 24:12
2. Junnosuke Matsuo (Akita Kogyo H.S.) - 24:12
3. Shota Onizuka (Omuta H.S.) - 24:14
4. Kohei Nanba (Senshu Prep Matsudo H.S.) - 24:14
5. Haruki Minatoya (Akita Kogyo H.S.) - 24:14
6. Hiroki Miura (Tohoku H.S.) - 24:17
7. Tomoki Ota (Hamamatsu Nittai Prep H.S.) - 24:21
8. Tomoya Morita (Higashi Harima H.S.) - 24:22
9. Reiri Nakashima (Kurashiki H.S.) - 24:25
10. Kenshi Fukuda (Suma Gakuen H.S.) - 24:25

Junior Women's 6 km
1. Azusa Sumi (Toyokawa H.S.) - 19:50
2. Miho Shimada (Yamanashi Gakuin Prep H.S.) - 19:54
3. Nana Kuraoka (Kagoshima Joshi H.S.) - 20:04
4. Yuri Nozoe (Kamimura Gakuen H.S.) - 20:05
5. Yuka Sarumida (Toyokawa H.S.) - 20:08
6. Wakana Kabasawa (Tokiwa H.S.) - 20:08
7. Yuka Mukai (Sera H.S.) - 20:11
8. Yumika Miura (Yamanashi Gakuin Prep H.S.) - 20:17
9. Reina Shinozaki (Tokiwa H.S.) - 20:30
10. Kyoka Nakagawa (Kumamoto Shinai Joshi Gakuin H.S.) - 20:34

Junior Men's 4 km
1. Haruki Nishiumura (Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S.) - 12:29
2. Hiroki Horiuchi (Sera H.S.) - 12:31
3. Naoki Nagareda (Sera H.S.) - 12:36
4. Masahiro Kamidoi (Junshin H.S) - 12:37
5. Chiaki Iwahara (Sendai Ikuei H.S.) - 12:41

 Junior Women's 4 km
1. Ami Yoshiki (Nakamura Joshi H.S.) - 13:55
2. Mei Kawazi (Shonan H.S.) - 13:57
3. Minami Sato (Junten H.S.) - 13:59
4. Amiru Akiyama (Suma Gakuen H.S.) - 14:09
5. Momoko Watanabe (Osaka Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S.) - 14:14

text (c) 2015 Brett Larner, all rights reserved
photos (c) 2015 M. Kawaguchi, all rights reserved
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Most-Read This Week

Japan Post Holds Off Sekisui Kagaku to Win Queens Ekiden National Title

  Japan Post  was back on top at the Queens Ekiden corporate women's national championships Sunday in Sendai, holding off last year's winner Sekisui Kagaku  over the second half of a race that came as close as 1 second to take 1st with a final margin of victory of 27 seconds. Sekisui Kagaku was out fast with a win on the 7.0 km opening leg by Erika Tanoura  and a new CR for the 12:56 second leg by Yuma Yamamoto , 17 seconds better than her own CR from last year. Last year's 4th-placer Shiseido  briefly led on the 10.6 km third leg with an excellent 33:17 stage win from Rino Goshima , but behind her Japan Post's Ririka Hironaka  returned from her latest injury problems to pass Sekisui Kagaku's Sayaka Sato  and hand off 6 seconds ahead. New recruit Caroline Kariba  ran Shiseido down on the 3.6 km fourth leg and put Japan Post 22 seconds ahead of Sekisui Kagaku, but a duel of marathoners between JP's  Ayuko Suzuki  and Sekisui's Hitomi Niiy...
Post a Comment
Read more

2023 Champion Kamimura Gakuen Girls Ready for Sunday's National High School Ekiden

Ahead of the Dec. 22 National High School Ekiden in Kyoto, the 2023 national champion Kamimura Gakuen H.S. girls held an open practice session for the media. 2023 was Kamimura Gakuen's only 2nd national title ever. Can it make it two in a row? The Kamimura Gakuen girls won the Nov. 2 Kagoshima Prefecture High School Ekiden, its 9th-straight win and 31st victory overall in the prefectural qualifying race for Nationals. 3rd on her stage at Nationals last year as part of the winning team, Hina Ogura summed up this year's lineup. "There's no really dominant star runner this year, but each person is aware of their position on the team and working together to share in everyone playing leading roles." Sakine Noguchi ran the Second Stage at Nationals last year. "I think we've improved our stamina," she said, "so I hope that we can get the best possible results and all finish with a smile." Handling the First Stage last year, Rin Setoguchi said,...
Post a Comment
Read more

Saku Chosei H.S. Makes It 2 In a Row - National High School Ekiden Boys' Race

While the girls' race was a blowout by 2022 champ Nagano Higashi H.S. , the boys' race at Sunday's National High School Ekiden was a tense battle of turnover that saw all of the final top four teams take a stab at leading. 2023 3rd-placer Yachiyo Shoin H.S. handled the first 2 of the 7 stages in the 42.195 km race, with lead runner Rui Suzuki delivering a bold run on the 10.0 km First Stage that produced the fastest-ever time by a Japanese runner on the stage, 28:43, and put Yachiyo Shoin 29 seconds out front. Last year's Fifth Stage CR breaker Tetsu Suzuki ran Yachiyo Shoin down to put 2023 champ Saku Chosei H.S. into 1st on the 8.1075 km Third Stage, but Genta Sugano of last year's 8th-placer Sendai Ikuei H.S. had other plans and took the lead on the 8.0875 km Fourth Stage. Smiling and fist pumping to the crowd almost the entire way, Taketo Tsukada of last year's 6th-placer Omuta H.S. moved up from 3rd to 1st by 2 seconds over Saku Chosei on the 3.0 k...
Post a Comment
Read more