Yoshii and Ito Run Stellar Junior Marks at Nittai Time Trials

The 281st Nittai University Time Trials in suburban Yokohama were the biggest track action of the weekend. In Saturday's men's 10000 m A-heat, Hitachi Butsuryu teammates Richard Kimunyan Yator and Jonathan Ndiku went head to head in hopes of showing their coach who's in better shape to run the international stage at the Jan. 1 New Year Ekiden. With the thousands of dollars in income that can mean to whoever gets picked on the line, Kimunyan, who set a PB and MR of 27:01.42 in winning September's National Corporate Championships, and Ndiku, who ran a PB 27:07.29 to win September's Tokai University Time Trials, went right to the end. Kimunyan got there first in 27:01.74, Ndiku less than a step behind in a PB 27:01.95. Good luck to their coach in picking who to go with for January's main event.

A lap back, 18-year-old Chuo University first-year Yamato Yoshii added to this season's U20 Japanese national record 13:28.31 for 5000 m and Asian U20 half marathon #2 1:01:47 half marathon with a PB 28:08.61, good for all-time Asian U20 #4 and Japanese U20 #3. Pretty good for a frosh season. The next six runners behind Yoshii, all Japanese, and C-heat winner Yuki Suzuki (Kanebo) were under 28:15, pretty stellar considering most of the top tier are saving it for the Dec. 4 National Championships and most of the second tier will be racing at Saturday's Hachioji Long Distance meet.

Suzuki's teammate Samwel Masai took the top spot in Sunday's 5000 m A-heat in 13:28.87, the race video above. The top Japanese spot went to Shoya Kawase (Kogakkan Univ.), one of the highlights of the National University Ekiden earlier this month and dropper of a year-leading collegiate time of 1:01:18 at February's Marugame Half, who ran a PB of 13:32.73 for 4th. Post-race he tweeted, "Hey, a PB somehow! Feels like a 27 is on the way." Kawase will be running the 10000 m A-heat in Hachioji.

But the fun kept coming behind Kawase. Down in 8th, Taishi Ito (Saku Chosei H.S.) ran 13:36.57, the second-best Japanese high school time ever and good for #5 on the Japanese U20 lists. Four other high schoolers were under 14 minutes at Nittai including Ito's teammate Hiroto Yoshioka, 13:50.27 for 3rd in the B-heat. And across the country at the Saga Nighter Time Trials three more did the same, Akimu Nomura (Kagoshima Jitsugyo H.S.) leading the way in 13:55.59. It's a brave new world.

Women's results at Nittai were relatively low-key. National champ Meijo University star Rika Kaseda took the top spot in the 5000 m A-heat in 15:32.77 wearing non-regulation shoes, beating corporate leaguer Yuri Tasaki (Yamada Holdings) who ran an honest 15:34.52. Club runner Shiho Kaneshige (GR Lab) beat top collegiate and corporate league competition including National University Ekiden runner-up Daito Bunka University's top duo Natsuki Sekiya and Reimi Yoshimura to win the B-heat in 15:45.81, her last tune-up before December's Nationals. Yui Yabuta (Otsuka Seiyaku)) took the 3000 m A-heat in 9:13.16.

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...

japan running news

Search This Blog