Kimunyan Runs Fastest-Ever 10000 m in Japan, Iizawa Up to 1500 m All-Time #2

Kimunyan Runs Fastest-Ever 10000 m in Japan, Iizawa Up to 1500 m All-Time #2 - Weekend Track Update

Three big pre-ekiden season meets happened this weekend and produced some big results. Saturday at the Nittai University Time Trials in Yokohama, Richard Kimunyan (Hitachi Butsuryu) and Benard Koech (Kyudenko) pushed each other under Josphat Ndambiri's longstanding 10000 m Japan all-comers record of 26:57.36, Kimunyan setting the new record at 26:54.76 and Koech next in 26:55.04. Those times made them the only Kenyans under 27 minutes this year worldwide, with the Hachioji Long Distance meet still to come next month. Three others were under 27:30 led by Jonathan Ndiku (Hitachi Butsuryu) in 27:12.84, with Kazuya Shiojiri (Fujitsu) the top Japanese man at 6th in 27:53.00.

Justus Soget (Honda) took the 5000 m A-heat in 13:24.01, the top five all under 13:30 and another Fujitsu runner, Olympian Hiroki Matsueda, filling the top Japanese spot at 8th in 13:34.62. Harumi Okamoto (Yamada Holdings) won the women's 5000 m A-heat in 15:49.72, and Kenyan Hellen Ekarare (Toyota Jidoshokki) led the 3000 m in 8:49.31.

The biggest news at Niigata's Athletics Challenge Cup was in the men's 1500 m, where Kazuto Iizawa (Tokai Univ.) ran a hard solo last lap to moved up to all-time Japanese #2 in 3:36.55. Iizawa's time was also the fastest-ever by a Japanese-born collegiate runner, 0.04 under the time Ryuji Miura (Juntendo Univ.) ran in April. 8 of the 10 fastest Japanese men's 1500 m times ever have now been run since July 17, 2021, with only one having happened before July 9, 2019. Abraham Guem (Ami AC) was the only other runner under 3:40, running 3:39.35. Yume Goto (Toyota Jidoshokki) won the women's 1500 m in 4:10.79.

Olympian Yuta Bando (Fujitsu) ran the fastest Japanese men's 5000 m time of the weekend, taking the A-heat win in Niigata in 13:21.94. Shunsuke Yoshii (Chuo Univ.), younger brother of former U20 5000 m NR holder Yamato Yoshii, ran 13:40.26 for 5th, while the holder Yoshii, also at Chuo, was 13th in only 14:19.19. Agnes Mwikali (Kyocera) had a solid win in the women's A-heat in 14:56.81, with National Corporate Championships 10000 m winner Tabitha Njeri Kamau (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) negative splitting the B-heat in 15:01.62 for the win. Ayano Shiomi (Iwatani Sangyo) took the women's 800 m in 2:04.41.

At the Chugoku Corporate Time Trials meet in Hiroshima, Anthony Maina (Toyota Kyushu) turned in a solid 27:41.70 for the 10000 m A-heat win by less than a second over Evans Kipkemei (JFE Steel). Cleophas Kandie (Mitsubishi Juko) took the 5000 m A-heat in 13:26.62. Marathoner Rei Ohara (Tenmaya) had her best race in a long time, winning the women's 5000 m in 15:55.70.

Komazawa University One Step Away From Perfect Season With Hakone Ekiden Day One Win

Already the course record-breaker at the Izumo Ekiden and National University Ekiden this season, 2021 Hakone Ekiden champion Komazawa University came one step away from its first-ever triple crown of single-season ekiden wins as it won a highly competitive 2023 Hakone Ekiden Day One over defending champ Aoyama Gakuin University and last year's 6th placer Chuo University . Things got off to an unexpected start when Select Team runner Hayate Nitta of non-qualifier Ikuei University decided to take his one and only Hakone shot and run it up to his ability on the 21.3 km 1st leg even though the rest of the field opted to jog. At one point Nitta had a lead of almost a minute and a half, but as beautiful as it would have been for him to pull it off, Meiji University 's Shunpei Tomita and Komazawa's Kensuke Tsubura still managed to run him down in the final kilometer. Tomita took the stage win in 1:02:44, 1:02:08 half marathon pace vs. his 1:02:10 PB despite the slow s...

"Hell Running" - Chinese Site Calls Japanese Women's Distance Running Too Cruel

http://www.yukawanet.com/archives/5166613.html translated by Brett Larner High schooler Yumika Nagahama leading the Jan. 15 National Women's Ekiden for the Kanagawa team. Since the start of the month it's been cold in Japan. A record-breaking kind of cold that has seen snow piling up even on the Pacific side of the country, and for better or worse that word "snow" has been generating buzz around the world. Yes, it has been a cold winter, and now that fact has become a hot topic in China. Particularly in relation to women's distance running. The picture above is from the " National Women's Ekiden " that took place in Kyoto on Jan. 15. Kyoto experienced a blizzard, even "whiteout" conditions. Far too harsh to go ahead with staging a running race in conditions like that. It's natural to wonder why the race wasn't cancelled, but it seems likely that they weren't expecting the snow to escalate to the point that it wo...

Heisei Mountaineering Stops Takigahara SDF Base From Scoring 10-Year Streak at Mount Fuji Ekiden

by Koichi Iwasa of DogsorCaravan On Aug. 2 the 51st Mount Fuji Ekiden took place, starting and finishing in Gotemba, Shizuoka and covering 11 stages up to the peak of Mount Fuji and back down. Teams of 6 runners tackle the tough course, each running handling one uphill and one downhill leg with the 6th runner reaching the peak before turning around to head back to the exchange zone where they started. The Heisei Mountaineering Club team took the overall win in 3:50:39, beating 9-time winner Takigahara SDF Base by 2:07 and stopping them from achieving a 10-year victory streak. The independent team division and SDF team division were separated in 2005, and this was the first time that the winning independent team outran the fastest SDF team to take the overall title. The roster that Heisei Mountaineering put together for this year's race raised eyebrows among everyone familiar with the Japanese trail running scene. Handling the 5th and 7th legs was Ruy Ueda , winner of the Fuji M...

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