Yang Runs 10.11 NR, 5000 m Meet Records Fall at National University Individual Championships

Unusually cool weather throughout the weekend worked to the advantage of the athletes in distance events at Kanagawa's National University Individual Track and Field Championships, where the meet records fell in both the men's and women's 5000 m. The poorer cousin of September's National University Track and Field Championships, the individual meet features a reduced program, no team scoring, and some competition from Taiwan. Coming just a week before the National Track and Field Championships many of Japan's best collegians tend to give it a miss, but the level of competition is often high all the same.

In the women's race first-year Yuka Suzuki (Daito Bunka Univ.) surprised the field, breaking the meet record set six years ago by current top-level pro Rina Nabeshima by 6 seconds to win the B-heat in 15:46.84. Fourth-year Honoka Tanaike (Kyoto Sangyo Univ.) and Rino Goshima (Chuo Univ.) were both under Nabeshima's record in the A-heat in 15:49.37 and 15:52.82 but neither could better the unknown Suzuki's mark.

For men, due to the presence of the Hakone Ekiden within the Tokyo-area Kanto Region it's unusual to see a distance runner of even moderate ability at a school in any other region. Someone forgot to tell that to Kansai Region third-year Yuki Ishii (Kwansei Gakuin Univ.), who led the top eight under the meet record as he bettered it by 14 seconds to win in 13:45.65. The seven runners under the record behind him were all from schools that won a Big Three University Ekiden last season, two from Izumo Ekiden winner Tokai University, one from National University Ekiden winner Kanagawa University, and four from Hakone Ekiden winner Aoyama Gakuin University. You have to go down to 18th place to find another runner from outside Kanto, highlighting Ishii's achievement all the more.

In the men's 100 m, London World Championships 4x100 m silver medalist Shuhei Tada (Kwansei Gakuin Univ.) won his opening-round heat in 10.32 (+1.6 m/s) but sat the semi-finals out. In his absence, 2017 World University Games gold medalist Chun-Han Yang (Taiwan Univ. of P.E. and Sport) took the spot, impressively shaving 0.09 off his own Taiwanese national record to win in 10.11 (+0.2 m/s).

Yang's teammate Chun-Hsien Hsiang (Taiwan Univ. of P.E. and Sport) went 1 cm over last year's meet record in the men's high jump, clearing 2.22 m for the win. The meet record also went in the men's 10000 m racewalk. Fourth-year Kazuki Takahashi (Waseda Univ.) took 4 seconds off the 2014 record to win in 40:27.90. 2nd-placer Ryutaro Yamamoto (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) also went under the old record in 40:30.12

Apart from Suzuki's mark in the 5000 m, the only other women's meet record of the weekend came in the pole vault. Second-year Misaki Morota (Chuo Univ.) cleared 4.02 m to notch the meet record up 1 cm. Complete results from the National University Individual Track and Field Championships are here.

© 2018 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

19-Yr-Old Munakata Breaks Miura's U20 NR to Win Ageo City Half Marathon

The Ageo City Half Marathon is always big, the main race that the coaches of Hakone Ekiden-bound university men's teams use for firming up their entry rosters for the big show. That makes what's basically an idyllic small town race into one of the world's great road races, with depth unmatched anywhere. One of the top-tier people on the start list at 1:02:07, Kodai Miyaoka (Hosei Univ.) took the race out fast, but the entire pack was keying off the fastest man in the race, Reishi Yoshida (Chuo Gakuin Univ.), 1:00:31. Yoshida reeled Miyaoka in before 5 km and kept things steady in the low-1:01 range, wearing down the lead group to around 10 including his CGU teammate Taisei Ichikawa , a quartet from Izumo and National University Ekiden runner-up Komazawa University , 2 runners from local Daito Bunka University , 2:07:54 marathoner Atsumi Ashiwa (Honda), and Australian Ed Goddard . Right after 15 km Komazawa went into action, Yudai Kiyama , Hibiki Murakami and Haru Tanin

Ageo City Half Marathon Preview and Streaming

This weekend's big race is the Ageo City Half Marathon , the next stop on the collegiate men's circuit. Most of the universities bound for the Jan. 2-3 Hakone Ekiden use Ageo to thin down the list of contenders for their final Hakone rosters, and with JRN's development program that sends the first two Japanese collegiate finishers in Ageo to the United Airlines NYC Half every year a lot of coaches put in some of their A-listers too. That gives Ageo legendary depth and fast front-end speed, with a 1:00:47 course record last year from Kenyan corporate leaguer Paul Kuira (JR Higashi Nihon) and the top 26 all clearing 63 minutes. Since a lot of programs just enter everybody on their rosters you never really know who on the entry list is actually going to show up, but if even a quarter of the people at the top end of this year's list run it'll be a great race, even if conditions are looking likely to be a bit warmer than ideal. Chuo Gakuin University 's Reishi Yoshi

10000 m NR Attempt In the Works Saturday at Hachioji Long Distance - Streaming and Preview

There are a bunch of other time trial meets this weekend and next, but Saturday's Hachioji Long Distance is the last big meet for Japanese men, 8 heats of Wavelight-paced 10000 m finely graded from target times of 28:50 down to 26:59 for the fastest heat. Heat 6 at 17:55 local time is effectively the B-race, with 35 Japan-based Kenyans targeting 27:10 at the front end, and in a lot of cases a spot on their teams at the New Year Ekiden national championship on Jan. 1. Corporate teams are only allowed to field one non-Japanese athlete in the New Year Ekiden, and only on its shortest stage, and getting to that has a big impact on African athletes' contracts and renewal prospects. Toyota Boshoku , Yasukawa Denki , Chugoku Denryoku , Aisan Kogyo , JR Higashi Nihon , Subaru and 2024 national champion Toyota are all fielding two Kenyans, and Aichi Seiko three. For people like Toyota's Felix Korir and Samuel Kibathi , getting as close to the 27:10 target time as they can and

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