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National and Asian Cross-Country Championships Results

by Brett Larner

Following the rebranding of the Chiba International Cross-Country Meet earlier this month as the trendier-sounding X-Run Chiba, Japan's mini XC season saw most of its action over the weekend.  The other big domestic meet alongside Chiba, the Fukuoka International Cross-Country Meet was likewise rebranded this year as the National Cross-Country Championships.  Yukari Abe (Team Shimamura) was crowned the first senior women's national champion, winning the 8 km race in 27:13 by a second over Tomoka Kimura (Team Univ. Ent.).  With Ethiopian Kassa Mekashaw (Team Yachiyo Kogyo) running up front to keep the pace hot, first-year pro Takashi Ichida (Team Asahi Kasei) had a surprise win over Hakone Ekiden Fifth Stage star Daichi Kamino (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) and, fresh from breaking 1:01 at the Marugame Half, the ascendant Keijiro Mogi (Asahi Kasei) to pick up the inaugural senior men's 12 km title in 35:59.  Fukiko Ando (Ritsumeikan Uji H.S.) and Sota Watanabe (Yoshihara Kogyo H.S.) won the junior titles, with Chinatsu Tarumoto (Suma Gakuen H.S.) and Kenyan Rogers Chumo Kwemoi (Team Aisan Kogyo) winning the non-championship junior 4 km races.

Two days later in Bahrain, Bahraini athletes, most (all?) African-born athletes running under Bahrain colors, nearly carried off a perfect sweep of every race at the Asian Cross Country Championships, taking the top three in the senior women's and men's races and in the junior men's race as well as all four team titles.  As usual, Japan's junior women were the only ones able to make a dent, with Japan's top two Yukai Mukai and Rika Kaseda taking 3rd and 4th to beat Bahrain's third scorer Edao Bontu.  Other top-placing Japanese athletes were Daiju Nakashima, 4th in the junior men's race, Tsubasa Hayakawa, 7th for senior men, and Rina Yamazaki, just 9th in the senior women's race.  In addition to the junior women's team silver, the junior and senior men both picked up team silvers behind Bahrain, with the senior women proving the weak link at 4th behind Bahrain, China and India.

Cross country season wraps up for Japanese athletes next week at the World University Cross Country Championships in Italy.

National Cross-Country Championships
Fukuoka, 2/27/16
click here for complete results

Senior Women's 8 km
1. Yukari Abe (Shimamura) - 27:13
2. Tomoka Kimura (Universal Entertainment) - 27:14
3. Moeno Shimizu (Tokyo Nogyo Univ.) - 27:20
4. Honoka Yuzawa (Meijo Univ.) - 27:29
5. Sakie Arai (Osaka Gakuin Univ.) - 27:37
6. Kureha Seki (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 27:39
7. Reno Okura (Hokuren) - 27:42
8. Maki Izumida (Rikkyo Univ.) - 27:46
9. Shiori Morita (Panasoinc) - 27:59
10. Rina Koeda (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 28:01

Senior Men's 12 km
1. Kassa Mekashaw (Ethiopia/Yachiyo Kogyo) - 35:53
2. Takashi Ichida (Asahi Kasei) - 35:59
3. Daichi Kamino (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 36:02
4. Keijiro Mogi (Asahi Kasei) - 36:15
5. Kazuki Tamura (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 36:21
6. Hazuma Hattori (Toyo Univ.) - 36:32
7. Shota Baba (Komazawa Univ.) - 36:35
8. Hiroshi Ichida (Asahi Kasei) - 36:36
9. Shota Maeda (Daito Bunka Univ) - 36:47
10. Kazuma Taira (Waseda Univ.) - 36:49

Junior Women's 6 km
1. Fukiko Ando (Ritsumeikan Uji H.S.) - 19:43
2. Yuka Sarumida (Toyokawa H.S.) - 19:56
3. Mikuni Yada (Ruteru Gakuin H.S.) - 20:03
4. Wakana Kabasawa (Tokiwa H.S.) - 20:09
5. Sae Hanada (Chikushi Joshi Gakuen H.S.) - 20:10

Junior Men's 8 km
1. Sota Watanabe (Yoshihara Kogyo H.S.) - 24:19
2. Yoji Sakai (Suma Gakuen H.S.) - 24:22
3. Ryota Takemoto (Omuta H.S.) - 24:23
4. Junnosuke Matsuo (Akita Kogyo H.S.) - 24:23
5. Hayato Seki (Saku Chosei H.S.) - 24:30

Junior Women's 4 km
1. Chinatsu Tarumoto (Suma Gakuen H.S.) - 13:41
2. Yuna Wada (Nagano Higashi H.S.) - 13:41
3. Tsuzumi Terao (Yamada H.S.) - 13:54
4. Yuki Edao (Kumamoto Eishin Joshi Gakuin H.S.) - 14:02
5. Yuka Matsumura (Kitakyushu Municipal H.S.) - 14:04

Junior Men's 4 km
1. Rogers Chumo Kwemoi (Kenya/Aisan Kogyo) - 12:15
2. Hibiki Yasuda (Mashita Seifu H.S.) - 12:33
3. Takuro Donji (Mashita Seifu H.S.) - 12:34
4. Taiki Nakajima (Koku Gakuin Prep Kugayama H.S.) - 12:35
5. Iori Sugawara (Koku Gakuin Prep Kugayama H.S.) - 12:38

Asian Cross-Country Championships
Bahrain, 2/29/16
click here for complete results

Senior Women
1. Eunice Chumba (Bahrain) - 29:35.38
2. Ruth Jebet (Bahrain) - 29:41.24
3. Mimi Belete (Bahrain) - 29:45.90
4. Alia Mohammed Saeed (UAE) - 29:59.74
5. Damaris Muthee (Bahrain) - 30:10.48
6. Gashaw Tigest (Bahrain) - 30:17.34
7. Sanjivani Baburao Jadhav (India) - 30:48.88
8. Xinyan Zhang (China) - 30:57.24
9. Rina Yamazaki (Japan) - 31:22.03
10. Swati Haridas Gadhave (India) - 31:31.15
-----
12. Yuka Miyazaki (Japan) - 32:18.41
16. Kyoko Koyama (Japan) - 33:49.17

Team Scoring
1. Bahrain - 6
2. China - 32
3. India - 34
4. Japan - 37

Senior Men
1. Albert Rop (Bahrain) - 32:35.22
2. Isaac Korir (Bahrain) - 32:58.73
3. Ayalew Aweke (Bahrain) - 33:06.27
4. Gopi Thonakal (India) - 33:43.63
5. Evans Rutto (Bahrain) - 33:48.05
6. Dazza Al Mahjoub (Bahrain) - 34:22.28
7. Tsubasa Hayakawa (Japan) - 34:38.40
8. Shuho Dairokuno (Japan) - 35:19.65
9. Man Singh (India) - 35:41.21
10. Mohammadjavad Savadi (Iran) - 35:41.21
-----
15. Mitsutaka Tomita (Japan) - 37:15.96
17. Naohiro Domoto (Japan) - 37:53.23

Team Scoring
1. Bahrain - 6
2. Japan - 31
3. Iran - 35

Junior Women
1. Dalila Abdulkadir (Bahrain) - 21:54.37
2. Desi Mokonin (Bahrain) - 22:00.43
3. Yuka Mukai (Japan) - 22:06.29
4. Rika Kaseda (Japan) - 22:26.65
5. Edao Bontu (Bahrain) - 22:40.18
6. Nana Kuraoka (Japan) - 22:48.42
7. Nozomi Tanaka (Japan) - 22:48.43
8. Mekonen Tigest (Bahrain) - 22:55.57
9. Shinobu Koyoshigawa (Japan) - 22:56.07
10. Aman Shuba (Bahrain) - 23.42.59

Team Scoring
1. Bahrain - 8
2. Japan - 13
3. India - 39

Junior Men
1. Ali Abdi (Bahrain) - 26:17.55
2. Desalegn Derara (Bahrain) - 26:19.02
3. Ibrahim Abdi (Bahrain) - 27:10.09
4. Daiju Nakashima (Japan) - 27:34.58
5. Hyuga Endo (Japan) - 27:45.80
6. Kiseki Shiozawa (Japan) - 27:48.57
7. Tomoki Ota (Japan) - 28:11.83
8. Kisan Narshi Tadvi (India) - 28:54.87
9. Shota Onizuka (Japan) - 29:04.52
10. Ansar Imam Dargiwale (India) - 29:29.48

Team Scoring
1. Bahrain - 6
2. Japan - 15
3. Iran - 49

© 2016 Brett Larner
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