Kanakuri Memorial and More - Weekend Preview

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.

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.

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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