Mashiko 8:11.12 JHS 3000 m NR - Long Weekend Track Highlights

Ekiden season got up to full speed this weekend, but there was still a healthy chunk of track action across the country. The main event was the National Sports Festival Thursday through Monday in Tochigi. In the junior men's 3000 m Rui Suzuki (Yachiyo Shoin H.S.) ran 8:01.26 for the win, the 3rd-fastest time ever by a Japanese high schooler. Yamato Hamaguchi (Saku Chosei H.S.) was 2nd in 8:07.66, but the biggest news was 3rd-placer Yota Mashiko, a 9th-grader at Fukushima's Kagamiishii J.H.S. Already the junior high school 3000 m NR holder after running 8:15.04 in August, Mashiko chopped 4 seconds off that mark with a new 8:11.12 NR.

The junior men's 5000 m was also fast, with the top 8 all breaking 14 minutes and the top 14 under 14:10, all high schoolers. Hiroto Yoshioka (Saku Chosei H.S.) took the top spot in 13:53.85, Sonota Nagashima (Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S.) 2nd in 13:54.80 and Yoshihiro Kusuoka (Keisei H.S.) 3rd in 13:55.84.

In the junior women's 3000 m Caroline Kariba (Kamimura Gakuen H.S.) won in 8:56.79, the only athlete under 9 minutes. 2022 World U20 Championships 1500 m 6th-placer Yuya Sawada (Hamamatsu Shiritsu H.S.) was 2nd in 9:14.70 just off her PB, with Kana Mizumoto (Osaka Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S.) 3rd in 9:15.54.

National University Women's Ekiden champion Meijo University's Yuma Yamamoto broke the senior women's 5000 m meet record with a PB 15:16.71, beating NR holder Ririka Hironaka (Japan Post) by over 6 seconds. Her teammate Narumi Kobayashi continued to struggle in her comeback from a coronavirus infection that kept her off the 2022 World Championships 10000 m squad, running only 15:58.21 for 8th.

At the Chubu Region Corporate Track and Field Championships in Gifu the main result was in the men's 10000 m, where Emmanuel Maru (Toyota Boshoku) ran a PB 27:33.67 for the win, 7 seconds up on Evans Keitany (Toyota Boshoku) and 9 on Bedan Karoki (Toyota). Minato Oishi (Toyota) was the only Japanese man under 28 minutes, running 27:57.32 for 6th. 8 men total went under 28 minutes.

Tokai University didn't make it to Monday's Izumo Ekiden, instead holding a home track time trials meet. Shota Shimazaki (Kanagawa Univ.) won a 3-way sprint finish over corporate leaguers Jinnosuke Matsumura (Comodi Iida) and Ryoma Takeuchi (ND Software) in the men's 10000 m, taking 1st in 28:58.70 with Matsumura 2nd in 28:59.76 and Takeuchi 3rd in 29:00.95. Newcomer Timothy Kibet (Makes) won the men's 3000 in 8:03.73.

In Izumo, alternates from the ekiden ran a track 5000 m time trial as part of a local meet. Leakey Kamina (Soka Univ.) took the top spot in 14:00.43, with ekiden winner Komazawa University alts Kensuke Tsuburan and Takuma Yamakawa 2nd and 3rd in 14:04.61 and 14:10.20.

Chepkirui Over Sato Again to Win 2nd-Straight Nagoya Women's Marathon, Chen Breaks Malaysian NR (updated)

This year's Nagoya Women's Marathon felt like a changing of the guard, with some the bigger domestic names over the last few years fading early and a lot of newer faces stepping up with quality debuts or second marathons. The front group was set to be paced for 2:20 flat with the 2nd group at 2:23:30 to hit the auto-qualifying time for the 2027 MGC Race, Japan's L.A. Olympics marathon trials race in Nagoya. Up front things went out OK, but after a 33:10 split at 10 km Ayuko Suzuki , 2:21:22 here 2 years ago, lost touch, ultimately finishing 23rd in 2:33:28. Windy conditions started to play with pacers' ability to keep things steady and the pace slowed majorly over the next 10 km, but even with a 34:05 second 10 km there were big-name casualties. 2024 Nagoya winner Yuka Ando was next to drop, ending up 17th in 2:30:32. NR holder Honami Maeda was next, followed quickly by Bahraini Kenyan Eunice Chumba and debuting Wakana Kabasawa . Maeda faded to 21st in 2:31:21, whil...

Nagoya Women's Marathon Preview and Streaming (updated)

Japan's winter marathon season of 6 major races in 7-straight weekends wraps up Sunday with the world's largest women-only marathon, the Nagoya Women's Marathon . The weather is looking pretty good, 6˚ at the start rising to 10˚ by the finish and sunny skies, but a moderate 7 m/s NW wind means a headwind finish that might impact the potential for some fast times. Official streaming kicks off at 9:00 a.m. local time. Live results will be here . Sheila Chepkirui won last year in 2:20:40, breaking away from Sayaka Sato and Eunice Chebichii Chumba at 30 km and hanging on for the win. Sato negative split a 2:20:59 PB for 2nd, Chumba fading to 3rd in 2:21:36. All 3 are back this time, but they have pretty serious competition from Aynalem Desta , 2:17:37 in Amsterdam last fall, and Selly Chepyego Kaptich , 2:20:03 in Barcelona 2023. And of course, Japanese NR holder Honami Maeda . Maeda ran 2:18:59 at the Osaka International Women's Marathon in 2024 to make the Paris Oly...

How it Happened

Ancient History I went to Wesleyan University, where the legend of four-time Boston Marathon champ and Wes alum Bill Rodgers hung heavy over the cross-country team. Inspired by Koichi Morishita and Young-Cho Hwang’s duel at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics I ran my first marathon in 1993, qualifying for Boston ’94 where Bill was kind enough to sign a star-struck 20-year-old me’s bib number at the expo. Three years later I moved to Japan for grad school, and through a long string of coincidences I came across a teenaged kid named Yuki Kawauchi down at my neighborhood track. I never imagined he’d become what he is, but right from the start there was just something different about him. After his 2:08:37 breakthrough at the 2011 Tokyo Marathon he called me up and asked me to help him get into races abroad. He’d finished 3rd on the brutal downhill Sixth Stage at the Hakone Ekiden, and given how he’d run the hills in the last 6 km at Tokyo ’11 I thought he’d do well at Boston or New York. “I...

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