Comparing D1 Pre-Nationals and the Hakone Ekiden Qualifier

With both American and Japanese university students well into their fall seasons, two major events took place Saturday. Near Madison, Wisconsin, the D1 Pre-Nationals cross-country meet and in Tachikawa, Tokyo the Hakone Ekiden Qualifier half marathon. At Pre-Nats men ran 8 km on a looping XC course with a maximum elevation difference of around 30 m. The field was split into two main races, Cardinal and White, with a total of 69 teams, and an additional Grey race handling some overflow. Teams ran up to seven members, with the top five scoring on cumulative placing. A total of 474 athletes finished the two main races, with five DNF.

At the Hakone Ekiden Qualifier, known as the Yosenkai, the distance was lengthened from 20 km to the half marathon distance this year, on a paved net-uphill course with a maximum elevation difference of about 20 m, most of that in the hilly final 8 km through Showa Kinen Park. 39 second-tier teams fielded up to twelve runners, with the top ten scoring on cumulative time. The eleven fastest teams would join the ten first-tier schools already seeded for January's season-ending Hakone Ekiden. 456 runners finished the Yosenkai, with one DNF.

The difference in scoring put more emphasis on time at the Yosenkai, where winner Komazawa University became the first team in Yosenkai history to break 3:00/km for the average of its ten scoring men. Komazawa should really be classified among the ten first-tier teams that don't have to run the Yosenkai, but a blowup at Hakone this year meant it was sent down to re-qualify and the difference between it and the rest of the second-tier programs was pretty clear. All ten of Komazawa's scorers went under 1:03:30 for the half marathon, averaging 1:02:59.8, with its two non-scoring members also breaking 1:04:00. 2nd and 3rd-place teams Juntendo University and Kanagawa University averaged under 3:02/km, with the 4th through 8th-place teams all breaking 3:03/km.

Combining the Cardinal and White race results, White race winner Brigham Young University averaged 2:59.7/km. Cardinal race winner Northern Arizona University was also a fraction of a second under, its average time rounding to 3:00/km. Stanford University and the University of Washington both averaged under 3:02/km, with only one other team, the University of Colorado, breaking 3:03/km. Again, Pre-Nats averages were for five scoring runners over 8 km each, while Yosenkai averages were for ten scoring runners over a half marathon each.

At the individual level, Pre-Nats Cardinal race top two Grant Fisher (Stanford) and Tyler Day (Northern Arizona) both averaged 2:58.6/km, with White Race winner Rory Linkletter (BYU) averaging 2:59.3/km. Yosenkai winner Josphat Ledama Kisaisa (Obirin) averaged 2:52.7/km, with runner-up Kazuya Shiojiri (Juntendo) averaging 2:54.5/km. Had Fisher been able to sustain the same pace for the half marathon distance the resulting time, 1:02:48, would have been good for 14th in the Yosenkai.

Runners at the Yosenkai were going for time while those at Pre-Nats were racing for place and road racing is a different thing from cross-country, but the difference in results was still striking. It's not hard to see the possible connection to post-collegiate results in the two countries. Japan has 29 men under 2:12 in the marathon this year versus only one American., while the U.S. has 30 men under 3:40 in the 1500 m to Japan's one and 15 under 13:30 in the 5000 m to one Japanese man.

A growing number of Japanese university men are opting to spend time in the United States to take advantage of the focus on shorter distances, with immediate payoffs including the 3:38.65 by Shoma Funatsu (Chuo Univ.) and indoor mile national record by Ryoji Tatezawa (Tokai Univ.) earlier this year. In the same way, more Americans spending time in Japan to learn from its emphasis on longer distances might be one answer to the lack of depth in current American marathoning.

© 2018 Brett Larner

Arao Becomes 1st Man in 40 Years to Score Back-to-Back Ome Road Race Wins

30 km is an under-appreciated distance, and both of Japan's big races at that distance happened Sunday. At the Ome Road Race in western Tokyo's mountains, Sydney Marathon 6th-placer Masato Arao (ND Software) became the first man since the great Kunimitsu Ito in 1985-1986 to win back-to-back years. Arao, who finished 39th of 40 on his leg at the New Year Ekiden last month, stayed in the pack through 20 km before going on the attack, putting over a minute on New Year Ekiden Sixth Stage CR breaker Yudai Shimazu (GMO). Sub-1:31 winning times are rare on the tough and hilly Ome course, but Arao's 1:30:54 almost equaled his 1:30:50 from last year, making him the first Japanese man ever to do it twice and second only to CR holder Ezekiel Cheboitibin . Next up Arao races the Tokyo Marathon, where he is targeting sub-2:06. Shimazu was 2nd in 1:31:58 and Yuta Nakayama (JR Higashi Nihon) 3rd in 1:32:07. Cheboitibin was only 9th, running almost 8 minutes off his CR in 1:36:42. Shi...

Osaka Marathon Preview

The Osaka Marathon is Sunday, one of Japan's biggest mass-participation races and the next stop on the calendar for its elite marathoners hoping to qualify for the L.A. Olympics marathon trials in the fall of 2027. Last year it snowed mid-race, but this year is looking warmer than ideal given the season, with sunny skies, almost no wind, and temps forecast to be 11˚ at the start and rising to 19˚ by the time the winners are finishing. NHK is broadcasting Osaka with a heavy emphasis on the men's race, and if you've got a VPN you should be able to watch it from overseas. There's also official streaming on Youtube starting at 8:30 a.m. local time, although it doesn't look like it's the same as what NHK will be showing. Given Osaka's history at the elite level as the continuation of the men-only Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon, the women's field is small relative to the men's, just enough to tick World Athletics' label requirements and with almost no do...

Nagoya Women's Marathon Elite Field

Last year's top 3 Sheila Chepkirui , Sayaka Sato and Eunice Chebichii Chumba are back for this year's Nagoya Women's Marathon on Mar. 8, but things are being set up more for it to be a race between Chepkirui, 2:17:49 in Berlin 2023, Aynalem Desta , 2:17:37 in Amsterdam last fall, and Japanese NR holder Honami Maeda , 2:18:59 at the Osaka International Women's Marathon in 2024. Aynalem has the freshest sub-2:20 of the 3, with neither Chepkirui nor Maeda having done it in 2 years. Maeda's only recent result is a 1:10:07 from Houston last month, but when she ran her NR she didn't have any kind of tuneup race to indicate her fitness so it's probably best not to read too much into that. If it goes out as a 2:18 race those are the only 3 who can probably hang with it. If it turns out to be more of a 2:20 race like when Chepkirui won in 2:20:40 last year then there's a group of 7 at the 2:20-2:22 level who will be in the picture, including Chumba, Selly Chep...

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