Kusu Runs Steeplechase World-Leading Time, Yabuta and Yoshimura Break National Records, Tanaka Just Misses Fukushi's NR

Kusu Runs Steeplechase World-Leading Time, Yabuta and Yoshimura Break National Records, Tanaka Just Misses Fukushi's NR - Kitami and Liege Highlights

Wednesday afternoon and evening saw the fourth meet in this year's five-part Hokuren Distance Challenge series, this time in the town of Kitami. The program included the little-raced 2000 m steeplechase as a tuneup for Monday's series-closing Abashiri meet, and in both the women's and men's races the national records went down. A top collegiate steepler while at Kyoto Sangyo University, Yui Yabuta (Otsuka Seiyaku) ran 6:27.74 to break the women's record. In the men's race 1500 m specialist Yasunari Kusu (Ami AC) surprised many by breaking the Japanese national record with a world-leading 5:31.82 despite little experience in the steeple.

The women's 3000 m in Kitami was more explicitly set up as a national record attempt, with four of the ten fastest Japanese women ever over the distance lined up to gun for the great Kayoko Fukushi's 8:44.40 record dating back to 2002. From the gun it was out at NR pace, with pacers Hellen Ekalale (Toyota Jidoshokki) and Melissa Duncan (Shiseido) leading what quickly boiled down to a Japanese trio of 5000 m national champion Tomoka Kimura (Shiseido), 10000 m national champ Rina Nabeshima (Japan Post) and 2018 World U20 Championships 3000 m gold medalist Nozomi Tanaka (Toyota Jidoshokki TC). Tanaka was dissatisfied with Duncan's pacing and moved ahead of her, Kimura hanging back and Nabeshima starting to fade near 2000 m.

With 800 m to Tanaka went ahead of Ekalale and opened a sizable lead, looking like the national record was hers for sure. But over the last lap she ran out of gas, dragging herself down the home straight as Ekalale closed behind her. Tanaka crossed the finish line 1st in 8:48.38, missing the national record by just under 4 seconds but moving up to all-time Japanese #3, with Ekalale next in 8:49.19 and Kimura getting under 9 minutes in 8:57.04 for 3rd. Post-race Tanaka said, "It's kind of embarrassing, but I lost count of the laps and thought I was on the last lap when I kicked. I didn't have anything left after that." Despite the mistake Tanaka came right up to Fukushi's record, and there's no question she looked like she's capable of getting it whenever she's in the right race.

A few hours later in Belgium a large contingent of 26 Japanese athletes competed at the Meeting International d'Athletisme in Liege. Less than 3 weeks after breaking the U20 national record to win the National Championships women's 3000 m steeplechase, Reimi Yoshimura (Daito Bunka Univ.) did it again with a new U20 NR of 9:49.30 for 8th. Only the fifth Japanese woman to ever break 9:50 in the steeplechase, Yoshimura moved up to all-time #4 on the Japanese list. 800 m and 1500 m double national champion Ran Urabe (Nike Tokyo TC) came back from a cold after her pair of national titles to take 3rd in the 1500 m in 4:19.30, disappointed with her time and the 8-second gap to the leading pair but using the race as a step toward her next race Saturday in Heusden-Zolder.

On the men's side, Ryoma Aoki (Hosei Univ.) joined the ranks of what has been an exciting last month in the Japanese men's steeplechase, running a PB 8:32.51 to move up to all-time #6 among Japanese collegiate men, just seconds from qualifying for this fall's Doha World Championships. One of the stars of 2019 Hakone Ekiden champion Tokai University's roster, Kazuto Iizawa also had a good day, winning the men's 1500 m in 3:48.44.

© 2019 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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