Outdoor track season gets moving this weekend with at least three competitive meets across the country. The Hokuriku Region Corporate Championships in Niigata and Chugoku Corporate Time Trials in Hiroshima are solidly in the second tier, but the main event happens Saturday in Kumamoto at the Kanaguri Memorial Meet. Streaming of Kanaguri starts at 15:30 local time above, with the main races happening later in the evening. Meet schedule and start lists here.
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Both the men's and women's 1500 m feature three of Japan's all-time top five. The men's race is slightly stronger, with NR holder Kazuki Kawamura (Toenec), all-time #3 Nanami Arai (Honda) and #4 Ryuji Miura (Juntendo Univ.). The women's race has NR holder Nozomi Tanaka (New Balance), #3 Ran Urabe (Sekisui Kagaku) and #5 Yume Goto (Uniqlo).
Two others in the Japanese men's 1500 m all-time top ten, #6 Keita Sato (Komazawa Univ.) and #10 Yuta Bando (Fujitsu), are opting for the 5000 m. Just back from altitude training in Boulder, U20 NR holder Sato will face H.S. NR holder Hiroto Yoshioka (Juntendo Univ.) in Yoshioka's college debut and first race since collapsing on the finish line at February's World XC Championships, and 11 of the best Japan-based Kenyans. Five of the other best collegiate men are opting for the B-heat, which will feature Mebuki Suzuki (Komazawa Univ.), Shotaro Ishihara (Tokai Univ.), Yamato Yoshii (Chuo Univ.), Tomonori Yamaguchi (Waseda Univ.) and Taishi Ito (Waseda Univ.).
The women's 5000 m is also heavy on Japan-based Kenyan talent, including sub-15 runners Eva Cherono (Toto), Tabitha Njeri Kamau (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo), Naomi Muthoni (Universal) and Agnes Mwikali (Kyocera). Last year's 8th-fastest Japanese woman Momoka Kawaguchi (Uniqlo) is the top domestic entry, but Minami Yamanouchi (Shimamura) is also in the field as she rebuilds her career in her second season at the Shimamura team.
Top-level Kenyans like Rodgers Kwemoi (Aisan Kogyo) and Vincent Yegon (Honda) lead the men's 10000 m which is heavy on marathoners who've qualified for October's Paris Olympic marathon trials. Kento Kikutani (Toyota Boshoku), Minato Oishi (Toyota), Naoki Okamoto (Chugoku Denryoku), Yuki Sato (SGH) and Tatsuya Maruyama (Toyota) fill that category, with interesting additions from fastest-ever Japanese collegiate half marathoner Kotaro Shinohara (Komazawa Univ.) and former H.S. 5000 m NR holder Kosuke Ishida (Toyo Univ.).
Mao Uesugi (Starts) is the only Olympic trials marathoner in the women's 10000 m, where her main competition is 1:07:56 half marathoner Dolphine Omare (U.S.E.) and last year's 7th-fastest Japanese woman Wakana Itsuki (Kyudenko). JRN will be on-site at the Kanaguri Memorial Meet to cover it live on Twitter and Instagram.
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