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 Wins Nagoya Women's Marathon

Heavy-duty favorite Sheila Chepkirui took the win at Sunday's Nagoya Women's Marathon , pulling away after 30 km to cruise in for 1st in 2:20:40. Erratic pacing early saw the first and second groups only seconds apart for much of the first half of the race, the top group slower than planned and the 2nd group a bit ahead of schedule. At halfway in 1:10:37 the front group included Chepkirui, #2-ranked Ruti Aga and last year's runner-up Eunice Chumba , and Japanese contingent Sayaka Sato , Rika Kaseda , Natsuki Omori and Mao Uesugi . Omori was the first to drop, then Uesugi, then Aga, who ultimately dropped out before 30 km. When the pacers stopped at 30 km Chepkirui made a move that dropped Kaseda and strung out Chumba and Sato behind her, but all four came back together once before another surge put Kaseda away for good. As Chepkirui inched away Sato and Chumba passed each other repeatedly, and Chumba could only watch as the top Japanese runner got away from her again thi...

Who's Running Tokyo Worlds?

The Japanese marathon teams will be the most prestigious ones to be on for September's Tokyo World Championships, and with Sunday's Nagoya Women's Marathon the window for Japanese athletes to get onto the JAAF's shortlist closed. Who's on it? The final decision won't be made until Mar. 26, but let's look through the selection criteria and see who's guaranteed, who's pretty likely, and who has a chance. 1. Marathon medalists at the Paris Olympics - There weren't any, so nobody makes the team this way. Akira Akasaki (Kyudenko) and Yuka Suzuki (Daiichi Seimei) were the top placers, both of them running PBs in the Olympics to finish 6th. You'd think that would count for something a year later, but you'd think wrong. 2. JMC Series IV Champions - The top point scorers in the Japan Marathon Championship Series IV, which ran from April, 2023 to March, 2025, earn places on the marathon teams along with cash prizes. For women that's Yuka ...

Tokyo Marathon Top Japanese Man Tsubasa Ichiyama Works 4 Days a Week, Walked On in College

38,000 people ran the 2025 Tokyo Marathon . Every runner had their own story, but one of the most special was Tsubasa Ichiyama (Sunbelx). Despite being on almost nobody's radar, he outran some of the best in the country to finish as the top Japanese man. Ichiyama ran most of the race in the 3rd pace group, going through halfway in 1:02:44 and 30 km in 1:29:13. When the pacers stopped, he showed what he could really do. "I'm not good at downhills, so in the first part it was hard to run smoothly," he said at the post-race press conference. "But after the downhill part ended I got into my rhythm, and I think that helped me over the 2nd half." After dropping Asian Games gold medalist Hiroto Inoue (Mitsubishi Juko) and others, he quickly bore down on the Japanese athletes who had gone out faster in the 2nd pace group. Overtaking Paris Olympics 6th placer Akira Akasaki (Kyudenko) and Yuhei Urano (Fujitsu), at 39.8 km he caught all-time Japanese #2 man Yohei I...

japan running news

Search This Blog