Five National Records in Chitose Bring Hokuren Distance Challenge to an End

The 2021 Hokuren Distance Challenge series wrapped up Saturday in Chitose with a big day for Japanese middle distance. Hiroki Minamoto (Kantai Heiyo Univ.) started things off with a 1:45.75 to win the men's 800 m, exactly tying the national and collegiate records. The holder of both records, Sho Kawamoto (Suzuki), was 2nd in 1:45.83, with Mikuto Kaneko (Chuo Univ.) right there in 1:45.85 to come in at 3rd in the race and the all-time JPN lists.

Kazuki Kawamura (Toenec) kept it going in the men's 1500 m, taking over 1.5 sec off Nanami Arai's 7-week-old NR in 3:35.42. U18 NR holder Keita Sato (Rakunan H.S.) was 2nd in 3:37.18, breaking the U20, U18 and H.S. national records and moving up to all-time JPN #3. Tokyo Olympics 5000 m team member Yuta Bando (Fujitsu) was 3rd in 3:37.99, good for all-time JPN #6, with his teammate in both Fujitsu and the Olympic 5000 m Hiroki Matsueda last in 3:52.01. Although they're listed as DNS in the official results, both Bando and Matsueda doubled in the 5000 m B-heat half an hour later, Matsueda running 8:07 and Bando 8:15 before stopping at 3000 m. Two other men, Ryota Matono (Mitsubishi Juko) and Hideonori Sakuma (Meiji Univ.) went under 3:40, adding to the depth of progress in the least-developed area of Japanese running.

Along with Bando and Matsueda, Olympic-bound Nozomi Tanaka (Toyota Jidoshokki) shaved another fraction off her own record with a 4:04.08 to win the women's 1500 m. 17-year-old Caroline Kariba (Kamimura Gakuen H.S.) broke the 3000 m high school girls' national record, winning in 8:47.85 over corporate leaguer Esther Muthoni (Nitori), 2nd in 8:48.90. Kariba's mark was an U18 world lead, and she came just 1.5 seconds short of an U20 WL to match. Struggling to develop fitness this season before the Olympic 10000 m, Hitomi Niiya (Sekisui Kagaku) tripled with two heats of 3000 m and a 1500 m in less than one hour, running 9:11.19, 9:09.27 and 4:28.03.

Ethiopian Desta Burka (Denso) won the women's 5000 m B-heat in 15:19.17, almost fast enough to have taken the A-heat where Kenyan Naomi Muthoni Kariuki (Univ. Ent.) won in 15:17.70. 18-year-old Takushoku University first-year Seira Fuwa continued to impress, running a PB 15:20.66 for 3rd in the A-heat behind Muthoni and Joan Kipkemoi (Kyudenko). Pauline Kamulu (Route Inn Hotels) soloed a 31:58.88 in the women's 10000 m, winning by almost a minute and a half.

Simon Musio Saiamu (Chuo Hatsujo) won the men's 5000 m B-heat in 13:24.17. With no men's 10000 m on the program the men's 5000 m A-heat brought the meet and series to a close. James Muoki (Konica Minolta) took his second win in the series, 1st in 13:19.92 over Kibet Antipas (SGH Group), 2nd in 13:21.98. Indoor 5000 m NR holder Hyuga Endo (Sumitomo Denko) was 3rd in 13:26.14, outkicking 2021 Hakone Ekiden champ Komazawa University star Ren Tazawa who was the last runner under 13:30, just, in 13:29.91.

The end of the meet brought track season to a close for everyone except the few headed to the Olympics next week. From here out begins the build toward the fall and winter ekiden season, even as uncertainty surrounds which races will actually go ahead.

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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