Kanto Regionals Day Two Streaming and Preview

The 102nd Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships continue Friday at Kanagawa's Sagamihara Gion Stadium. Streaming starts at 9:00 a.m. local time on the main feed above, with different camera angles on the secondary feed below.

The first middle and long distance event on the day's schedule is the D2 men's 1500 m final at 13:00. #2-ranked Nao Kurihara (3rd yr., Josai Univ.) made it through with a 3:52.14 for 2nd in Heat 1. In the final his main competition will be Heat 2 winner Shunya Udagawa (2nd yr., Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) with a 3:44.03 best, and Udagawa's 3rd-year YGU teammate Soya Katayama and 4th-year teammate Kento Yamauchi. Ranked #4 in the final, Haruto Matsuo (1st yr., Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) could make the podium in his debut.

All five women with 1500 m bests under 4:20 made the final at 13:15. Saki Katagihara (4th yr., Tsukuba Univ.) won Heat 1 in 4:26.10, Haruko Hosaka (4th yr., Nittai Univ.) took Heat 2 in 4:26.28, Yuzuha Sawai (4th yr., Tsukuba Univ.) was 2nd in Heat 3 in 4:26.65, collegiate record holder Mizuki Michishita (4th yr., Rikkyo Univ.) was 3rd in Heat 2 in 4:27.41, and Mao Kogure (3rd yr., Juntendo Univ.) squeezed through on time at 4th in Heat 3 in 4:27.22. With better weather on the forecast for Friday Katagihara's 4:16.41 meet record from last year could be in range.

The D1 men's 1500 m final kicks off at 13:30. #1-ranked Mikuto Kaneko (4th yr., Chuo Univ.) was a DNS in the heats, but #2 and #3-ranked Yuichiro Baba (4th yr., Meiji Univ.) and Hiroto Takamura (3rd yr., Nittai Univ.) both went through. Takamura ran the fastest time in the heats at 3:50.56, but there's a narrow enough range of talent in the field that people like Tomoki Nakano (3rd yr., Chuo Univ.), Toshiki Yamada (4th yr., Chuo Univ.) and at least three others are all in range of the win.

For men D1 has a limited number of teams, but in D2 there are enough that this year there's a qualifying round in the 5000 m. The first heat starts at 17:25, with Nelson Mandela (2nd yr., Obirin Univ.) the fastest on the list at 13:29.59. Mandela was 2nd in last night's 10000 m, making it a tough turnaround for him less than 24 hours later. He'll probably do the least necessary to qualify, and with only one other runner on the list, Johnson Mogeni (1st yr., Asia Univ.), under 13:40 he's got a bit of a margin of error to work with, especially with Mogeni having run the 10000 m too.

Heat 2 is the same story, with 10000 m winner Victor Kimutai (2nd yr., Josai Univ.) leading the field at 13:26.77 and Boniface Mutech (1st yr., Ryutsu Keizai Univ.) under 13:40 but also doubling from the 10000 m. But in this case there's some solid Japanese competition with fresh legs from 2023 Hakone Ekiden winner Komazawa University 4th-year Taiyo Yasuhara with at 13:37.01 PB.

19-Yr-Old Munakata Breaks Miura's U20 NR to Win Ageo City Half Marathon

The Ageo City Half Marathon is always big, the main race that the coaches of Hakone Ekiden-bound university men's teams use for firming up their entry rosters for the big show. That makes what's basically an idyllic small town race into one of the world's great road races, with depth unmatched anywhere. One of the top-tier people on the start list at 1:02:07, Kodai Miyaoka (Hosei Univ.) took the race out fast, but the entire pack was keying off the fastest man in the race, Reishi Yoshida (Chuo Gakuin Univ.), 1:00:31. Yoshida reeled Miyaoka in before 5 km and kept things steady in the low-1:01 range, wearing down the lead group to around 10 including his CGU teammate Taisei Ichikawa , a quartet from Izumo and National University Ekiden runner-up Komazawa University , 2 runners from local Daito Bunka University , 2:07:54 marathoner Atsumi Ashiwa (Honda), and Australian Ed Goddard . Right after 15 km Komazawa went into action, Yudai Kiyama , Hibiki Murakami and Haru Tanin

Ageo City Half Marathon Preview and Streaming

This weekend's big race is the Ageo City Half Marathon , the next stop on the collegiate men's circuit. Most of the universities bound for the Jan. 2-3 Hakone Ekiden use Ageo to thin down the list of contenders for their final Hakone rosters, and with JRN's development program that sends the first two Japanese collegiate finishers in Ageo to the United Airlines NYC Half every year a lot of coaches put in some of their A-listers too. That gives Ageo legendary depth and fast front-end speed, with a 1:00:47 course record last year from Kenyan corporate leaguer Paul Kuira (JR Higashi Nihon) and the top 26 all clearing 63 minutes. Since a lot of programs just enter everybody on their rosters you never really know who on the entry list is actually going to show up, but if even a quarter of the people at the top end of this year's list run it'll be a great race, even if conditions are looking likely to be a bit warmer than ideal. Chuo Gakuin University 's Reishi Yoshi

10000 m NR Attempt In the Works Saturday at Hachioji Long Distance - Streaming and Preview

There are a bunch of other time trial meets this weekend and next, but Saturday's Hachioji Long Distance is the last big meet for Japanese men, 8 heats of Wavelight-paced 10000 m finely graded from target times of 28:50 down to 26:59 for the fastest heat. Heat 6 at 17:55 local time is effectively the B-race, with 35 Japan-based Kenyans targeting 27:10 at the front end, and in a lot of cases a spot on their teams at the New Year Ekiden national championship on Jan. 1. Corporate teams are only allowed to field one non-Japanese athlete in the New Year Ekiden, and only on its shortest stage, and getting to that has a big impact on African athletes' contracts and renewal prospects. Toyota Boshoku , Yasukawa Denki , Chugoku Denryoku , Aisan Kogyo , JR Higashi Nihon , Subaru and 2024 national champion Toyota are all fielding two Kenyans, and Aichi Seiko three. For people like Toyota's Felix Korir and Samuel Kibathi , getting as close to the 27:10 target time as they can and

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