Hagitani and Miura Win Senior Titles at National XC Championships

20-year-old Kaede Hagitani (Edion) and the just-turned-19 Ryuji Miura (Juntendo Univ.) took the senior titles at the 2021 National Cross-Country Championships Saturday in Fukuoka. Hagitani ran away with it, outclassing a tight chase trio to win the Senior Women's 8 km by 26 seconds in 25:54. High schooler Miku Sakai (Kitakyushu Municipal H.S.) was an impressive 2nd in 26:20.

Like Sakai opting for the senior race, Miura, the U20 national record holder for 3000 m steeplechase and half marathon, had a tougher race on his hands in the Senior Men's 10 km, just getting two-time 5000 m national champion Hiroki Matsueda (Fujitsu) at the line for the win in 29:10 with the next four finishers, including past national champ Kazuki Tamura (Sumitomo Denko), all within 10 seconds. 36-year-old Hakone Ekiden legend and 2:07:39 marathoner Masato Imai (Toyota Kyushu) showed there's still life in his legs, a surprising 11th in 29:30.

The junior races were both blowouts at the same level as the Senior Women's race. In the U20 Women's 6 km, the race video above, Seira Fuwa (TKFU Takasaki H.S.) came from 4 seconds back with 2 km to go to impressively open a winning margin of 25 seconds as she scored the win in 19:49.

Keita Sato (Rakunan H.S.), the all-time #2 Japanese high schooler over 3000 m, frontran the entire way to end up with the day's biggest winning margin, 28 seconds, running 23:19 in the U20 Boys' 8 km, the race video below. Rakunan turned in the most dominant team performance of the day, putting four runners including Sato in the top ten.

2021 National Cross-Country Championships

Fukuoka, 27 Feb. 2021

complete results

Senior Women's 8 km

1. Kaede Hagitani (Edion) - 25:54

2. Miku Sakai (Kitakyushu Municipal H.S.) - 26:20

3. Yuna Wada (Meijo Univ.) - 26:21

4. Nozomi Tanaka (Toyota Jidoshokki) - 26:22

5. Momoka Kawaguchi (Toyota Jidoshokki) - 26:35

6. Azusa Sumi (Universal Entertainment) - 26:58

7. Minami Yamanouchi (Kyocera) - 27:11

8. Yukari Abe (Shimamura) - 27:16

9. Miki Hirai (Higo Ginko) - 27:22

10. Natsuki Sekiya (Daito Bunka Univ.) - 27:23

Senior Men's 10 km

1. Ryuji Miura (Juntendo Univ.) - 29:10

2. Hiroki Matsueda (Fujitsu) - 29:10

3. Atsuya Imai (Toyota Kyushu) - 29:16

4. Kazuki Tamura (Sumitomo Denko) - 29:17

5. Takato Suzuki (SGH Group) - 29:18

6. Yusuke Tamura (Kurosaki Harima) - 29:20

7. Tamaki Fujimoto (Nittai Univ.) - 29:21

(OP) Paul Onyiego (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) - 29:23

8. Shoya Kawase (Kogakkan Univ.) - 29:24

9. Kenta Muto (JR Higashi Nihon) - 29:24

10. Atsuto Shimanuki (GMO) - 29:27

11. Masato Imai (Toyota Kyuhsu) - 29:30

U20 Women's 6 km

1. Seira Fuwa (TKFU Takasaki H.S.) - 19:49

2. Azusa Mihara (Ritsumeikan Uji H.S.) - 20:14

3. Chika Kosakai (Narita H.S.) - 20:19

4. Haruka Ogawa (Junten H.S.) - 20:27

5. Yoshino Namiki (Tokiwa H.S.) - 20:27

6. Rio Einaga (Chikushi Joshi Gakuen H.S.) - 20:29

7. Mariya Noda (Kitakyushu Municipal H.S.) - 20:36

8. Hazuki Doi (Suma Gakuen H.S.) - 20:40

9. Marin Nishizawa (Osaka Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S.) - 20:41

10. Kana Kizogami (Luther Gakuin H.S.) - 20:42

U20 Men's 8 km

1. Keita Sato (Rakunan H.S.) - 23:19

2. Aoi Ota (Omuta H.S.) - 23:47

3. Yuta Minamisaka (Kurashiki H.S.) - 23:54

4. Yuto Tanaka (Tsuruga Kehi H.S.) - 23:59

5. Kota Yamasaki (Rakunan H.S.) - 24:03

6. Ayumu Yamamoto (Jiyogaoka H.S.) - 24:04

7. Hiroki Wakabayashi (Rakunan H.S.) - 24:07

8. Seia Hotta (Chiharadai H.S.) - 24:07

9. Itsuki Koizumi (KGU Kugayama H.S.) - 24:10

10. Kazuki Naito (Rakunan H.S.) - 24:16

Murayama and Sasaki Making U.S. Debut at New York Mini 10 km

Every year since 2012 that there's been a United Airlines NYC Half , JRN has partnered with the NYRR and November's Ageo City Half Marathon to bring two top-tier collegiate Japanese men to the NYC Half for what's usually been their international debuts. For years we've wanted to extend that program to include top collegiate women, but that has always faced 2 problems. For one, while the half marathon distance is the main focus for Japanese collegiate men due to the stage lengths at the Hakone Ekiden, few collegiate women run it. Those that do run the National University Women's Half Marathon in Matsue, held the same day as the NYC Half. This year, though, we're finally making it happen in a slightly different way. Amisa Murayama and Nazuki Sasaki of 2025 Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden national collegiate championship runner-up Tohoku Fukushi University are joining the field for the NYRR's Mastercard New York Mini 10 km on June 6. After running an 18:14 CR ...

Australian YouTuber Handed Lifetime Ban by Ageo City Half Marathon After Running 1:06 with Another Runner's Bib (updated)

After discussion with their race's chief JAAF referee, on Nov. 27 the organizers of the Ageo City Half Marathon handed down a lifetime ban from their event against 36-year-old Australian Matt Inglis Fox for running the Nov. 15 race wearing the bib number of another JAAF-registered runner. The incident came to light after Fox posted on his personal Instagram account that he had run a PB of 1:06:33 and finished 203rd in Ageo with a 10 km split of 31:03, along with photos and video of himself in the race wearing a bib number beginning with 11. Fox did not appear in the results by name or in that time or place, the closest match being a 1:06:54 gross, 1:06:50 net finish time with a 31:21 10 km split for 18th place in the JAAF-registered division and 209th overall by bib number 1129, registered to a non-Japanese Tokyo-resident club runner. The club runner, Harrisson Uk , readily confirmed that he had given his bib to Fox, saying, "I gave my number to Matt. It wasn't me."...

Some Reflections on the Ekiden

by Brett Larner This ekiden season I've had a few thoughts kicking around, and watching this week's Hakone Ekiden a few of them became clearer. These are still in progress, but at the moment this is what I'm thinking in terms of running as a spectator sport and about the quality of Japanese men's distance running right now. Quality: Japanese men's running is coming up very, very quickly. I was in the lead car at November's Ageo City Half Marathon , where 18 men, 17 of them university runners, broke 63 minutes. As it was going on we all thought it was a slow race because there were so many people running that pace all the way, no separation at all in the mass of the pack. See the JRN header photo above, taken just past halfway. That's pretty unusual in Japan, especially at the university level; generally you'll get a handful of guys who run an aggressive pace and a mass running dead on a safe pace, 3:00/km in a half marathon, for example. Th...

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