Fukube Breaks 100 mH NR - National Corporate Track and Field Championships Highlights

The 70th National Corporate Track and Field Championships took place Friday through Sunday at Gifu Memorial Center Nagaragawa Field in Gifu. The performance of the meet happened Sunday, when Mako Fukube (NKK) broke her own women's 100 mH NR. Opening with a 13.00 (-1.5) meet record to win her qualifying heat, Fukube was back 3 hours later to run 12.73 (+1.1) in the final. That took 0.09 off the NR she set in the semifinals at July's Oregon World Championships, and put her under the qualifying standard for next summer's Budapest World Championships. Runner-up Masumi Aoki (77 Ginko) ran 13.03 in the final, 0.07 under the old MR, with Chisato Kiyoyama (Ichigo) just off the old MR at 13.12.

A near-miss on another NR came in the women's 100 m. Mei Kodama (Mizuno) won her qualifying heat in 11.24 (+1.3), 0.18 under the 2001-era MR and just 0.03 from Chisato Fukushima's 2010 NR of 11.21. Hopes were high that Kodama would get the NR in the final, but while her 11.39 (-0.0) there was only enough to get under the old MR again Kodama still walked away from the meet at #2 on the all-time Japanese lists and with the NR looking like hers for the taking. Kodama also picked up the MR in the 200 m, running 23.41 (-1.0) to go 0.18 under the 2000-era NR in the qualifying round and going under it again with a 23.49 (-0.7) in the final.

Other meet records that fell over the weekend:

Shunya Takayama (Zenrin) won the men's 110 mH final in 13.39 (+0.8), 0.09 under the MR set by Taio Kanai last year.
NR holder Nozomi Tanaka (Toyota Jidoshokki) ran 4:10.41 to win the women's 1500 m, 0.60 under the previous MR from 1994.
Olympic and World Championships silver medalist Koki Ikeda (Asahi Kasei) set a men's 10000 mRW MR of 38:15.86.
Sumire Hata (Shibata Kogyo) jumped a PB 6.67 m (+1.6) on her 6th attempt in the women's long jump, bettering Kumiko Ikeda's 2005 MR and inching Hata closer to Ikeda's NR of 6.86 m.
Mariko Morimoto (Uchida Kensetsu) got the women's triple jump MR with a 13.71 (+1.4) jump on her 3rd attempt.
Women's discus throw NR holder Nanaka Kori (Niigata Albirex RC) picked up the antique MR with a 2nd attempt of 56.15 m, 0.22 m up on Yuka Murofushi's MR from 1999. Kori also won the women's shot put with a throw of 15.55 m.

In distance events:

Steepler Ryoma Aoki (Honda) won the men's 1500 m in 3:40.90.
Judy Jepngetich (Shiseido) took the junior women's 3000 m in 8:50.68.
Last year's women's 10000 m winner Tabitha Njeri Kamau (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) did it again, winning in 31:17.40 by less than 3 seconds over Pauline Kamulu Kaveke (Route Inn Hotels).
Stanley Waithaka (Yakult) won the men's 10000 m in a photo finish with MR holder Richard Kimunyan (Hitachi Butsuryu), Waithaka timed at 27:19.86 and Kimunyan at 27:19.92. Benard Koech (Kyudenko) was right behind in 27:20.02 for 3rd, making this the most exciting race of the meet.
Teresiah Muthoni (Daiso) scored the women's 5000 m title in 14:57.81, not far off the MR of 14:55.32.
Jonathan Ndiku (Hitachi Butsuryu) won the men's 5000 m in 13:22.69 after doubling in the 3000 mSC, where he was 2nd in 8:32.01.
Yukari Ishizawa (Hitachi) won the women's 3000 mSC in 10:14.03.
Philemon Kiplagat (Aisan Kogyo) won a close men's 3000 mSC in 8:30.18, beating Ndiku by just over a second with Olympian Kosei Yamaguchi (Aisan Kogyo) 3rd in 8:37.63.

One other record fell on the track over the weekend. At Friday's Nighter Time Trial in Nagasaki, girls' 3000 m H.S. NR holder Caroline Kariba, a 2nd-year at Kamimura Gakuen H.S., broke her own record, winning in 8:42.31. Kariba was nearly 30 seconds up on teammate Airi Tashima, with Kamimura Gakuen runners taking the top 5 spots.

Hassan Runs NR/CR for Osaka Win, Dibaba Hits Women's CR, Yoshida and Shuley Earn Legends

This was maybe the most entertaining marathon in years. After rocking the 2nd leg at last year's Hakone Ekiden Hibiki Yoshida (Sunbelx) ran an incredible 1:01:01 CR for the 21.9 km New Year Ekiden 2nd leg last month, equivalent to a 58:47 half marathon. That predicted a 2:03:27 marathon if he ever ran one, and when Yoshida announced he was debuting at this year's Osaka Marathon he wasted no time in saying it'd be a shot at the 2:04:55 NR. Things went out fast enough with a 14:50 split through 5 km, 2:05:11 pace, but Yoshida just couldn't hold back and took off at 8 km. He clearly DGAF about what was probably going to happen as his projected finish kept getting faster, 2:04:41, 2:04:15, 2:03:51, 2:03:40, edging closer and closer to what his New Year time predicted, but not helped along by the fact that he missed 4 out of his first 5 drink bottles. People laughed, and then cheered him on. 30 km was the first time he slowed, his finish projection dropping to 2:03:53, an...

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...

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...

japan running news

Search This Blog