National XC and Osaka Marathon

National XC and Osaka Marathon - Weekend Preview

Two big events cap the weekend's Japanese schedule. Just a week after the World Cross Country Championships, the National Cross Country Championships happen Sunday in Fukuoka. At the U20 level most of the top talent ran Worlds last week or is entered in the senior races, leaving deep but not especially strong fields in the U20 women's 6 km and U20 men's 8 km races. 2022 National High School Ekiden girls' winner Nagano Higashi H.S. has its two leading runners from its national title-winning team entered, Kanoko Nawa and Mai Kubota.

Boys' runner-up Saku Chosei H.S., one of the first programs to incorporate cross country training as a major part of its regimen, is a notable presence in the U20 men's race with 25 athletes entered including ekiden team members Soma Nagahara, Shumpei Yamaguchi and Kazuma Shino. Boys' national champ Kurashiki H.S. is giving it a miss.

The senior women's race is thin on top-tier talent, the biggest names being Chika Kosakai and Yuna Wada from 2022 National Corporate Women's Ekiden 3rd-placer Japan Post. Marathoner Haruka Yamaguchi has withdrawn to focus on her preparations for April's Boston Marathon.

Saku Chosei's star runner, 5000 m high school NR holder Hiroto Yoshioka, is entered in the senior men's 10 km, but given his finish line collapse at Worlds last week it'd be pretty surprising to see him on the starting line in Fukuoka. In contrast to Worlds, where the senior Japanese men barely beat Papua New Guinea to finish 12th of 13 teams, the senior men's 10 km looks like it could be the race of the day if people turn up. An interesting mix of names like 3000 m SC NR holder Ryuji Miura, former Hakone Ekiden uphill star Daichi Kamino, Rikkyo University head coach Yuichiro Ueno, 5000 m Olympian Yuta Bando, steeple Olympian Kazuya Shiojiri and more would make for a pretty entertaining race.

Streaming of the National Cross Country Championships starts at 10:40 a.m. local time, with the first race, the U20 women's 6 km, starting at 12:50 p.m. The complete meet schedule is here.

Also Sunday is the Osaka Marathon. 2:20:18 Kenyan Vivian Kiplagat leads a women's field perfectly set up for 2:25-level teammates and Olympic trials qualifiers Ikumi Fukura and Rie Kawauchi to try to make the jump to 2:23. 2:04 Ethiopians Hailemaryam Kiros and Abayneh Degu lead the men's field, which features athletes of at least ten nationalities. The heavy dose of people at the 2:05~2:06 level telegraphs where the top Japanese men will be aiming, with both 2:07:05 man Toshiki Sadakata and Tokyo Olympian Yuma Hattori saying they are going for something in the 2:06 range. Hattori hasn't run a good marathon since finishing 2nd at the 2019 MGC Race Olympic marathon trials, so his shot here will be one of the main story lines.

A deeper look at the Osaka field can be found here. NHK will be broadcasting the race live nationwide and commercial-free starting at 9:00 a.m. local time. Official streaming will be on NHK Plus, which should work if you have a VPN. Mov3.co is also a free option. JRN will be covering the race live on @JRNLive.

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...

Nagoya Women's Marathon Elite Field

Last year's top 3 Sheila Chepkirui , Sayaka Sato and Eunice Chebichii Chumba are back for this year's Nagoya Women's Marathon on Mar. 8, but things are being set up more for it to be a race between Chepkirui, 2:17:49 in Berlin 2023, Aynalem Desta , 2:17:37 in Amsterdam last fall, and Japanese NR holder Honami Maeda , 2:18:59 at the Osaka International Women's Marathon in 2024. Aynalem has the freshest sub-2:20 of the 3, with neither Chepkirui nor Maeda having done it in 2 years. Maeda's only recent result is a 1:10:07 from Houston last month, but when she ran her NR she didn't have any kind of tuneup race to indicate her fitness so it's probably best not to read too much into that. If it goes out as a 2:18 race those are the only 3 who can probably hang with it. If it turns out to be more of a 2:20 race like when Chepkirui won in 2:20:40 last year then there's a group of 7 at the 2:20-2:22 level who will be in the picture, including Chumba, Selly Chep...

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...

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