Regional Corporate Track Championships Highlights

Regional corporate league track and field championship meets are split between two weekends, with this weekend seeing meets in the Kansai, Chubu and Chugoku regions.

At the 67th Kansai Region Corporate Track and Field Championships in Naruto, Tokushima, Yuki Ishii (NTT Nishi Nihon) and Sodai Shimizu (Otsuka Seiyaku) both went under the men's 5000 m meet record from 2007, Ishii getting the win in a new MR of 13:36.94 and Shimizu 2nd in 13:38.96. Takuya Kitasaki (NTT Nishi Nihon) took the men's 10000 m in 28:42.99 and Tomohiro Chimori (Otsuka Seiyaku) the men's 1500 m in 3:46.43. Yuta Koga (Otsuka Seiyaku) broke his own MR in the men's 5000 m RW, going over 19 seconds under his record from last year to win in 18:55.71.

Marathoner Yuka Ando (Wacoal) and steepler Yuno Yamanaka (Ehime Ginko) went 1-2 in both the women's 10000 m and 5000 m, Ando running 32:53.12 to win the 10000 m on Friday and 15:44.99 to take the 5000 m on Sunday, and Yamanaka 32:56.28 and 15:48.65 for 2nd in both. Yamanaka also ran the 1500 m on Saturday, running 4:23.22 for 4th behind winner Jerusha Yuri Mayaka (Otsuka Seiyaku), 4:20.63 for the win. Complete video of all three days of the meet is on the KJR Youtube channel.

At the 67th Chubu Region Track and Field Championships in Gifu, men's 1500 m NR holder Kazuki Kawamura (Toenec) won the 1500 m final in an easy 3:47.36, on Saturday, then was back Sunday to win the open men's 5000 m in 13:45.18. Emmanuel Maru (Toyota Boshoku) won the competitive men's 5000 m in a new MR of 13:29.24, with Tomoki Ota (Toyota) running the fastest Japanese time at 13:38.77. The top four went under 28 minutes in the men's 10000 m, Joseph Karanja (Aichi Seiko) getting the win in 27:47.35.

Akane Yabushita (Toyota Jidoshokki) duplicated Yamanaka's triple on an even more limited time scale, winning the women's 1500 m in 4:18.93 at 17:00 Saturday, then the 10000 m 20 minutes later in 34:19.19. Sunday she was back for the 5000 m where she was the top Japanese finisher at 3rd in 15:52.58. Hellen Ekarare (Toyota Jidoshokki) won in 15:32.87, Desta Burka (Denso) taking 2nd in 15:38.92.

In other events, Taiji Hongo (Onotech) and Yoshikazu Sakakura (TGK) both broke the men's 100 m MR, Hongo clocking 10.37 (-0.1) in the semifinals and Sakakura 10.37 (+1.3) to win the final. Masateru Yugami (Toyota) broke his own MR in the men's discus throw by almost two meters, throwing 58.76 m on his third attempt. Akane Minamisawa (Matsumoto Doken) set a MR of 58.97 to win the women's 400 mH. Complete video of both days of the meet is on the CJR Youtube channel.

The 62nd Chugoku Region Corporate Track and Field Championships are split between this weekend and next, with the men's 10000 m and women's 5000 m having happened Saturday and everything else scheduled for next weekend. Both graduates of local ekiden superpower Sera High School, Cosmas Mwangi (Chugoku Denryoku) won the men's 10000 m in 28:18.26, with Rebecca Mwangi (Daiso) taking the women's 5000 m in 15:24.28.

Chien Breaks TPE NR, Iwata Betters ID-Class WR - Weekend Track Roundup

The last weekend of the academic and fiscal year saw at least 5 meets with good results domestically and abroad. Kicking things off Friday was the Maurie Plant Meet in Melbourne, where Tomohiro Shinno and Naoto Hasegawa took 1st and 3rd in the men's high jump, both of them only clearing 2.18 m along with 2nd-placer Roman Anastasios . 12 other Japanese athletes were in action on the second day of the meet on Saturday, where 3000 mSC NR holder Ryuji Miura ran 3:42.84 for 6th in the men's 1500 m. Nagiya Mori had a better one in the men's 3000 m with a 7:45.40 for 4th. Both Yota Mashiko and Rui Suzuki cleared 8:00 too, Mashiko's 7:53.84 the 2nd-fastest ever by a Japanese-born high schooler. Abigail Fuka Ido and Nagisa Takahashi both placed 3rd in their events, Ido going 23.85 (-0.9) in the women's 200 m and Takahashi clearing 1.82 m in the women's high jump. 8 Japanese men were at The TEN in California to run 10000 m. In the B-heat won by Edward Marks in ...

Updates on Transfers

April 1 is the start of Japan's new academic and fiscal year, and there's always a wave of transfer announcements to go with it. Some notable ones yesterday: 800 m NR holder Rin Kubo skipped university to go straight to 2023 Queens Ekiden national champion Sekisui Kagaku after her graduation from Higashi Osaka Keiai H.S. Multiple NR holder Nozomi Tanaka rejoined the Toyota Jidoshokki women's team after having left it to pursue a solo pro career as a New Balance athlete. Already on the team for this fall's Nagoya Asian Games in the 10000 m, Ririka Hironaka announced a switch from her longtime home at Japan Post to the Uniqlo women's team. Collegiate marathon record holder Asahi Kuroda joined the 2026 national champion GMO corporate team after graduating from 2026 Hakone Ekiden champ Aoyama Gakuin University last week. Hakone Ekdien First Stage CR holder Rui Aoki joins the Sumitomo Denko corporate team after running his final race for 2025 Izumo Ekiden w...

JAAF Announces Marathon Teams for Nagoya Asian Games

On Mar. 25 the JAAF announced Japan's marathon team lineups for this fall's Nagoya Asian Games. Yuya Yoshida (GMO) and Ichitaka Yamashita (Mitsubishi Juko) make up the men's team, with Sayaka Sato (Sekisui Kagaku) and Mikuni Yada (Edion) representing Japan in the women's marathon. Each country can field up to 2 men and 2 women per marathon team at the Asian Games. The top-ranked male and female athletes in the 2025-26 MGC Series rankings were given first priority, with the second slots going to people with high-level performances in the 2025-26 MGC Series. Yoshida ran 2:05:16 to win the 2024 Fukuoka International Marathon, and at February's Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon ran an excellent 2:06:59 to take the top Japanese spot in the race and in the MGC rankings. After having run the Tokyo World Championships marathon last fall this will be his second-straight marathon national team in a major international championships. Yamashita ran 2:06:18 at February's Osak...

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