Hokuren and Nittai - Early July Track Results

Three big meets have happened in Japan in the last few days. Nittai University held a one-day edition of its time trials series on July 1, most of its usual base of athletes being up north in Hokkaido. Unattached Kenyan Stephen Lemayan took the men's 5000 m A-heat in 13:47.49 over Tomoki Ichimura (Sunbelx), 2nd in 13:47.92. Hayato Oguma (Tokyo Jitsugyo H.S.) won the 1500 m A-heat in 3:46.83, a quality mark for a Japanese high schooler.

Sarah Wanjiru (Daito Bunka Univ.) continued her solid debut season with a 15:53.46 win by almost 15 seconds in the women's 5000 m A-heat. The home team's Haruko Hosaka (Nittai Univ.) won the women's 3000 m A-heat in 9:20.54.

The Hokuren Distance Challenge series in Hokkaido also kicked off July 1 with its first meet happening in Shibetsu. Mostly a tune-up for later meets in the series, the highlight in women's races was an 8:55.80 win by Eva Cherono (Toto) in the 3000 m A-heat by 4 seconds over Esther Muthoni (Nitori). Rion Furukawa (Nitori) was the top Japanese woman at 3rd in 9:14.73 after 5000 m NR holder Ririka Hironaka (Japan Post) faded off an early sub-9 pace to finish 9th in 9:20.63. Marathoner Mao Uesugi (Starts) was 10th in 9:20.94.

Da Eun Jeong (South Korea) couldn't sustain a shot at the Korean women's 5000 m NR but still had the win in her, taking 1st in 16:06.62 by 12 seconds. Set to run the marathon at the Budapest World Championships next month, Sayaka Sato (Sekisui Kagaku) won the 10000 m in 32:38.71.

Jonathan Ndiku (Hitachi) had a narrow win over Yuichiro Nishikawa (Sumitomo Denko) in the men's 3000 m, 7:59.55 to 7:59.97. South Koreans went 1-2 in the 1500 m A-heat, Jong Hak Park getting the win in 3:47.43. All five heats of 5000 m had winning times under 14 minutes, with the fastest time coming from the almost all-Kenyan C-heat winner Samuel Kibathi (Kurashiki H.S.) in 13:23.76. The only Japanese man in the C-heat, Tomoki Ota (Toyota) ran a good 13:24.59 PB for 2nd, just over a second ahead of 3rd-placer James Muoki (Konica Minolta).

The second meet in the series took place July 5 in Fukagawa. Muoki was back to win a three-way sprint finish over Ndiku and Andrew Lorot (YKK) in the 10000 m A-heat, Muoki running 27:43.67, Ndiku 27:44.50 and Lorot 27:44.65. Hideaki Sumiyoshi (Kyudenko) ended up in the top Japanese spot at 5th in 28:26.18, running down early frontrunners Sonata Nagashima (Asahi Kasei), Hiroto Inoue (Mitsubishi Juko) and Ichitaka Yamashita (Mitsubishi Juko). Dennis Kipkirui (Makes) had the top 5000 m time of the day at 13:31.27, with Katsutoshi Monoe (Kao) leading the 1500 m results in 3:47.40.

Ai Watanabe (Sonoda Gakuen Joshi Univ.) made into the all-time collegiate top 10 in the 800 m, winning in 2:03.75 over 2:02 runners Ayaka Kawata (Niconiconori) and Ayano Shiomi (Iwatani Sangyo). Jeong was back in the 3000 m, winning in 9:08.98. Momoka Kawaguchi (Uniqlo) beat Kenyan Martha Mokaya (Canon) and Shibetsu 10000 m winner Sato in the 5000 m, taking the top spot in 15:42.93. Agnes Mwikali (Kyocera) scored the 10000 m win in 32:15.47, top Japanese woman Hikaru Kitagawa, a performing arts major at Osaka Geijutsu University, 2nd in 32:39.02 just a fraction of a second off Sato's Shibetsu time.

The Hokuren Distance Challenge Series continues Saturday in Abashiri. Streaming and live results will be here.

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...

japan running news

Search This Blog