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.

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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