Weekend Track Roundup

As regional corporate track meets wound themselves down, the weekend's biggest results came at the Golden Grand Prix meet in Osaka. A quick women's 3000 m saw 10 of the 11 starters go under 9 minutes, six in PB times. Japan-based Ethiopian Shuru Bulo (Toto) led the way in 8:47.24, with the Pre Classic-bound Rina Nabeshima (Japan Post) running 8:51.72 to land 4th both overall and on the Japanese all-time rankings. First-year Tomomi Musembi Takamatsu (Meijo Univ.) ran 8:58.63 for 8th overall, just missing the 1994-era national collegiate record by 0.31 seconds.

The men's 3000 m was also solid, with seven men breaking 8 minutes, six of them Japanese and five in PB times. Kenyan Evans Keitany (Toyota Boshoku) won in 7:54.05 with Hazuma Hattori (Toenec) just behind in a best of 7:54.73. Shota Onizuka (Tokai Univ.) broke into the all-time Japanese collegiate top ten, running 7:57.56 for 6th. Australian Ryan Gregson won the men's 1500 m in 3:37.72 over American Patrick Casey. Indoor mile Japanese national record holder Ryoji Tatezawa (Tokai Univ.) just missed becoming only the fifth Japanese collegian to ever break 3:40, taking 5th in a PB of 3:40.49.

In corporate league regional action, arguably the best mark came in the men's 10000 m at the Kyushu region meet, where Daniel Kipkemoi (Nishitetsu) won in 27:45.11 by more than 17 seconds over Joel Mwaura (Kurosaki Harima). Already the fastest Japanese man so far this year for 10000 m, Shuho Dairokuno was 3rd in 28:12.19. On a roll this season, marathoner Keiko Nogami (Juhachi Ginko) won the 10000 m in a PB of 32:07.70 over the interesting Minami Yamanouchi (Kyocera), who returned the next day to win the 5000 m in 15:44.31.

Japan based-Kenyans won the major events at the East Japan region corporate meet, where Rosemary Wanjiru (Starts) took the women's 10000 min 31:57.66, lapping top Japanese woman Yuka Hori (Panasonic) who was 4th in 33:24.25. Runner-up in the 10000 m, Wanjiru's teammate Grace Kimanzi (Starts) won the 5000 m in 15:21.84. In the men's 10000 m Alexander Mutiso (ND Software) was the fastest at 28:38.11, top Japanese man Tsuyoshi Ugachi (Konica Minolta) running only 29:03.80. Jonathan Ndiku (Hitachi Butsuryu) had a busy day on the second day of the meet, winning the 3000 m SC in 8:41.80 at 11:35 a.m. and then returning six hours later to take 2nd in the 5000 m in 13:28.89 behind teammate Richard Kimunyan, winner in 13:28.21. The fastest Japanese man of the day, Kazuki Onishi (Kanebo) took 13th in 13:49.39.

At the Chugoku region meet, Naoki Okamoto (Chugoku Denryoku) returned from a DNF at the Boston Marathon to win the men's 10000 m in 28:28.73 over 5000 m winner Yudai Okamoto (JFE Steel). Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) continued her comeback from running 2:23:46 in Osaka in January, winning the women's 10000 m in 32:30.39 by more than 30 seconds over teammate Mizuki Tanimoto. Usually holding its championship events together with Chugoku, the tiny Hokuriku region's only noteworthy result in its separate meet this year was a 28:56.00 winning time in the men's 10000 m by Japan-based Kenyan Alex Mwangi (YKK).

© 2018 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Nagoya Women's Marathon Preview and Streaming (updated)

Japan's winter marathon season of 6 major races in 7-straight weekends wraps up Sunday with the world's largest women-only marathon, the Nagoya Women's Marathon . The weather is looking pretty good, 6˚ at the start rising to 10˚ by the finish and sunny skies, but a moderate 7 m/s NW wind means a headwind finish that might impact the potential for some fast times. Official streaming kicks off at 9:00 a.m. local time. Live results will be here . Sheila Chepkirui won last year in 2:20:40, breaking away from Sayaka Sato and Eunice Chebichii Chumba at 30 km and hanging on for the win. Sato negative split a 2:20:59 PB for 2nd, Chumba fading to 3rd in 2:21:36. All 3 are back this time, but they have pretty serious competition from Aynalem Desta , 2:17:37 in Amsterdam last fall, and Selly Chepyego Kaptich , 2:20:03 in Barcelona 2023. And of course, Japanese NR holder Honami Maeda . Maeda ran 2:18:59 at the Osaka International Women's Marathon in 2024 to make the Paris Oly...

Chepkirui Over Sato Again to Win 2nd-Straight Nagoya Women's Marathon, Chen Breaks Malaysian NR (updated)

This year's Nagoya Women's Marathon felt like a changing of the guard, with some the bigger domestic names over the last few years fading early and a lot of newer faces stepping up with quality debuts or second marathons. The front group was set to be paced for 2:20 flat with the 2nd group at 2:23:30 to hit the auto-qualifying time for the 2027 MGC Race, Japan's L.A. Olympics marathon trials race in Nagoya. Up front things went out OK, but after a 33:10 split at 10 km Ayuko Suzuki , 2:21:22 here 2 years ago, lost touch, ultimately finishing 23rd in 2:33:28. Windy conditions started to play with pacers' ability to keep things steady and the pace slowed majorly over the next 10 km, but even with a 34:05 second 10 km there were big-name casualties. 2024 Nagoya winner Yuka Ando was next to drop, ending up 17th in 2:30:32. NR holder Honami Maeda was next, followed quickly by Bahraini Kenyan Eunice Chumba and debuting Wakana Kabasawa . Maeda faded to 21st in 2:31:21, whil...

How it Happened

Ancient History I went to Wesleyan University, where the legend of four-time Boston Marathon champ and Wes alum Bill Rodgers hung heavy over the cross-country team. Inspired by Koichi Morishita and Young-Cho Hwang’s duel at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics I ran my first marathon in 1993, qualifying for Boston ’94 where Bill was kind enough to sign a star-struck 20-year-old me’s bib number at the expo. Three years later I moved to Japan for grad school, and through a long string of coincidences I came across a teenaged kid named Yuki Kawauchi down at my neighborhood track. I never imagined he’d become what he is, but right from the start there was just something different about him. After his 2:08:37 breakthrough at the 2011 Tokyo Marathon he called me up and asked me to help him get into races abroad. He’d finished 3rd on the brutal downhill Sixth Stage at the Hakone Ekiden, and given how he’d run the hills in the last 6 km at Tokyo ’11 I thought he’d do well at Boston or New York. “I...

japan running news

Search This Blog