Skip to main content

National University Track and Field Championships to Go Ahead Without Spectators



Thank you for your continued support of the development of Japanese university athletics. In order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, the Inter-Union Athletics Union of Japan (IUAU) is announcing that this year's 89th National University Track and Field Championships, scheduled for Sept. 11-13 at Niigata's Denka Big Swan Stadium, will not be open to spectators from the general public.

As the organizers we are deeply concerned by the resurgent nationwide spread of the virus since July, and as a consequence of those circumstances we have arrived at the conclusion that the meet must be held in a closed environment. We regret that this will disappoint and cause inconvenience for all those involved, including team members, alumni and alumnae, and family members who had planned to attend in support of their athletes, but this measure is necessary in order for the meet to take place at all under the current social situation and we ask for your understanding and cooperation.

Please understand as well that if the coronavirus situation continues to worsen and travel within Japan or Niigata prefecture is restricted, or if the local medical system is in an overburdened state, it may become necessary to cancel the meet entirely.

Entry to and exit from the stadium will be strictly controlled. A fixed number of registered credentials will be available for athletes and team staff, and the bearer of the credential will be required to submit a physical health checklist form when having their ID checked against the roster. Registered IUAU members not on the list will not be admitted. We ask that you respect this protocol. The number of credentials available and other details of entry control will be announced by the end of next week.

The entire meet will be streamed live on the Internet. Full details will be posted on the IAUA website the week before the meet. Please check the meet information page on the IAUA site regularly for the latest updates. Thank you again for your support of Japanese collegiate athletics.

source articles:
https://www.iuau.jp/ev2020/20200911_nihon.pdf
translated and edited by Brett Larner

Buy Me A Coffee

Comments

Most-Read This Week

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