Katanishi and Ise Follow Shitara's Footsteps to United Airlines NYC Half

For the last seven years the New York Road Runners have invited a pair of Japan's best collegiate runners from November's Ageo City Half Marathon to run against world-class competition at the United Airlines NYC Half. The very first year of the program in 2012, one of the two sophomores from Toyo University to earn the invitation was future half marathon and marathon Japanese national record holder Yuta Shitara.

Since Shitara's trailblazing 1:01:48 in that race, others have gone to New York and come back to rise to the top of Japan's distance running world. Following in their footsteps are Komazawa University teammates Kei Katanishi and Shogo Ise. Katanishi, the gold medalist in the half marathon at the 2017 World University Games, was the top Japanese university man in Ageo last November and went on to break 62 minutes for the first time with a 1:01:58 at the Marugame Half in February. Ise, a second-stringer at Komazawa with two wins at second-tier Japanese half marathons to his name, pulled off a crafty race in Ageo to outrun some of the top Hakone Ekiden stars for the second Japanese spot and join Katanishi in New York.

A top-level star and an ambitious underdog. Accompanied by their coach Atsushi Fujita, the former Japanese national record holder in the marathon with a best of 2:06:51, the pair ride a wave of excitement and self-confidence across Japan driven by Shitara's 2:06:11 record in Tokyo earlier this week. JRN will be on-site with Katanishi, Ise and Fujita to provide on-the-ground support and to cover their race from the inside.

2018 United Airlines NYC Half Elite Athlete Field Highlights

New York, 3/18/18
times listed are best in last three years except where noted

Men
Dathan Ritzenhein (U.S.A.) - 1:00:12a (Great North Run 2016)
Teshome Mekonen (Ethiopia) - 1:00:27 (Prague 2015)
Stephen Sambu (Kenya) - 1:00:41 (Houston 2018)
Haron Lagat (U.S.A.) - 1:01:01 (Houston 2018)
Chris Derrick (U.S.A.) - 1:01:12 (NYC 2017)
Tim Ritchie (U.S.A.) - 1:01:23 (Philadelphia 2015)
Wilson Chebet (Kenya) - 1:01:35 (NYC 2016)
Noah Droddy (U.S.A.) - 1:01:48 (NYC 2017)
Shadrack Biwott (U.S.A.) - 1:01:55 (San Jose 2016)
Kei Katanishi (Japan/Komazawa Univ.) - 1:01:58 (Marugame 2018)
Andrew Bumbalough (U.S.A.) - 1:02:04 (NYC 2015)
Chris Thompson (Great Britain) - 1:02:44 (Glasgow 2016)
Abdi Abdirahman (U.S.A.) - 1:02:46a (Great North Run 2016)
Scott Fauble (U.S.A.) - 1:03:06 (Columbus 2016)
Shogo Ise (Japan/Komazawa Univ.) - 1:03:10 (Ageo City 2017)
Parker Stinson (U.S.A.) - 1:03:17 (Houston 2017)
Eric Gillis (Canada) - 1:03:41 (Berlin 2016)
Tim Young (U.S.A.) - 1:03:44 (Columbus 2016)
Soufiane Bouchikhi (Belgium) - 1:03:45 (Den Haag 2015)
Matt Llano (U.S.A.) - 1:03:52 (San Diego 2015)
Futsum Zeinasellassie (U.S.A.) - 1:04:02 (Monterey 2017)
Matt Leach (Great Britain) - 1:04:22 (San Jose 2017)
John Raneri (U.S.A.) - 1:04:29 (Philadelphia 2015)
Trevor Hofbauer (Canada) - 1:04:30 (Philadelphia 2015)
Harbert Okuti (Uganda) - 1:04:42 (Brooklyn 2016)
Jonas Hampton (U.S.A.) - 1:04:46 (Jacksonville 2016)
Tim Chichester (U.S.A.) - 1:04:56 (Jacksonville 2016)
Ben True (U.S.A.) - debut - 27:41.17 10000m (Stanford 2012)

text and photo © 2018 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Federation Tells World Championships Marathoner Horibata To Go On Diet

http://hochi.yomiuri.co.jp/sports/etc/news/20110307-OHT1T00258.htm translated by Brett Larner Having made the 2011 World Championships marathon team by running a PB of 2:09:25 to come in 3rd overall and as the top Japanese finisher at the Mar. 6 Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, Hiroyuki Horibata (24, Team Asahi Kasei), talked to the media at Osaka Airport on Mar. 7. Following Sunday's race Rikuren director Keisuke Sawaki , 67, told Horibata, "Let's cut things down a bit until the World Championships," directing him to go on a diet. The 189 cm Horibata weighs 72 kg [~6'3", 160 lbs]. When he joined Team Asahi Kasei in 2005 at age 18 he weighed 65 kg, and this weight is still generally listed on his profile at races and in the media. "For some reason it never changes," he said with a grin. His coach Takeshi Soh , 58, commented, "If he was hungrier for glory his world would change completely," slapping the 'heavyweight division runner...

World Marathon Majors Japanese Entries

We're back from a short summer break. A week and a half out from the first race of the season's four World Marathon Majors races, here's a look at Japanese athletes scheduled to run. Everything right now is about qualifying for the MGC Race, the official trials race for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics to be held in the fall of 2027 in Nagoya. The JAAF makes no mistake about wanting to keep its top people racing domestically where it can get a share of revenue from the TV broadcast and race operations, so anyone who decides to race overseas has to do it in a WA platinum label race and hit either 2:06:30 or 2:23:30, regardless of place, course or weather if they want to make the trials. At the same time concessions are make for domestic races, like for example the late-August Hokkaido Marathon where up to 3 men and 3 women can qualify if they go 2:12:00 or 2:32:00. As a result, you get things like last year where amateur runner Yudai Fukuda made the trials by finishing 3rd Jap...

Nakajima Breaks 100 mH NR Twice, Kitaguchi Returns - August Track Roundup

Catching up on what's been happening in track and field this month during our summer break: Men's 3000 m NR holder Nagiya Mori was just off his 5000 m PB at the IFAM Oordegem meet in Belgium on Aug. 1, taking 16th in 13:15.01. Shota Nakano was 26th of 28 in 13:35.02. This year's national champion Ryoma Aoki ran the 3000 mSC but didn't finish. Naoto Hasegawa was the only Japanese athlete at Mutaz Essa Barshim 's What Gravity Tour stop at the Monaco Athletics Festival meet on Aug. 5. Having cleared 2.30 m for the first time earlier this year Hasegawa only managed 2.18 m in Monaco, taking 7th of 10. There were a lot of good performances at the Fuji Hokuriku World Trial meet in Fujiyoshida on Aug. 9, but the one that got the headlines was a 12.62 (-0.2) NR in the women's 100 mH by Hitomi Nakajima . Nakajima actually did it twice, running 12.62 (+2.0) in the heats before repeating in the final. Masumi Aoki also ran big in the heats, with a 12.68 (+2.0) for al...

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