Fukuda and Yamaura Break Meet Records on Kanto Regionals Day Three

The 101st Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships rolled on Saturday at Tokyo's National Stadium. Shota Fukuda (Nihon Univ.) turned in the performance of the day, breaking his own D1 men's hammer throw MR on his 3rd attempt with a throw of 69.49 m. After fouling his 4th attempt, Fukuda came back in the 5th round to do it again with a 69.88 m throw for the win.

Along with the new meet records in the women's 1500 m and D1 men's shot put yesterday, another MR from the mid-90s fell in the D2 men's long jump. Keito Yamaura (Kokusai Budo Univ.) tied the old record of 7.66 m from 1995 on his first attempt, then broke it on his final attempt with a new record of 7.71 m (+0.4). Koki Matsuoka (Daito Bunka Univ.) came close to the old mark too, closing with a PB 7.62 m (+0.0) on his last jump for 2nd.

The only man in the D1 men's 10000 mRW field to have broken 40 minutes, Ryo Hamanishi (Meiji Univ.) soloed the win in 40:05.25. The next three athletes behind him all turned in PBs, Rihito Ishida (Toyo Univ.) came through with a 40:39.21 PB for 2nd, beating #2-ranked Kento Yoshikawa (Tokyo Gakugei Univ.) by 10 seconds. Hamanishi's teammate Kaichi Shimizu also had a PB at 41:06.06 to beat one of the other pre-race favorites, Mitsuki Murate (Tokyo Gakugei Univ.) for 4th. Tomoki Kondo (Jobu Univ.) took the D2 men's title in a PB 42:44.63.

In other finals:

Ryoma Fujii (Tsukuba Univ.) won the D1 men's high jump, clearing 2.11 m.
Tomoya Karasawa (Nittai Univ.) won the D1 men's pole vault at 5.40 m, clearing 5.10 m, 5.30 m and 5.40 m on his first attempt each and then skipping straight to 5.62 m to try for a new collegiate NR.
Ayaka Kora (Tsukuba Univ.) won the women's triple jump, clearing 12.93 m (+0.5) on her last jump. The 2nd through 4th-placers all produced PBs on their last jumps as well.
The top 3 all threw PBs in the D2 men's shot put, with Ryo Takano (Meikai Univ.) getting the win at 14.63 m on his last throw.
1st-year Aoi Murakami (Nittai Univ.) won the women's javelin throw with a PB 56.30 m on her last throw, with the 2nd and 3rd-placers also turning in PBs to make the podium. Yusaku Seki (Kokusai Budo Univ.) won the D2 men's javelin throw with a 64.18 m on his fifth throw.
Nanaka Kajiki (Chuo Univ.) led Rara Mizuochi (Kokushikan Univ.) 3072 to 3071 at the end of the first day in the women's heptathlon, with Miku Hamaguchi (Kokushikan Univ.) the only other woman over 3000 points at 3009.

#1-ranked Hibiki Obara (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) was a DNS in the D2 men's 3000 mSC heats, leaving Yuki Satake (Daito Bunka Univ.) to take the top spot in the lineup for Sunday's final in 8:47.90. Shota Sugimoto (Tokai Univ.) was fastest in the D1 men's heats in 8:52.98, with favorite Atsushi Shobu (Waseda Univ.) winning the other heat in 8:59.30. Expected to contend for the win in the final, Soma Hattori (Juntendo Univ.) was only 7th in the heat won by Sugimoto and failed to move on. Taiga Kushima (Nittai Univ.) advanced on time after losing his balance going over a barrier mid-race while leading and landing face-down. 0.30 seconds separated him from Shobu, with 2nd through 6th all within 0.05.

Complete results are available here. Kanto Regionals wrap up Sunday.

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

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Nagoya Women's Marathon Elite Field

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