National Corporate Track and Field Championships Preview and Streaming

The National Corporate Track and Field Championships happen in Gifu over the next three days, a late-season meetup for non-distance runners in Japan’s corporate leagues and a chance for distance runners to see where they’re at after summer base training just before ekiden season kicks off. The entry lists always promise a lot that the start lists can’t deliver, and especially with the Asian Games starting next week it’s inevitable that a lot of the big names won’t really be there. Complete meet schedule here.

As of this writing only the distance event start lists have been released. The junior women’s 3000 m at 17:00 Friday is pretty much a head-to-head between Janet Nyiva (Panasonic), 8:49.32, and Esther Wangui (Starts), 8:53.21, the main question being whether they can hit Tokyo Marathon winner Rosemary Wanjiru’s 8:48.44 meet record from 2014.

The women’s 10000 m starts at 18:45 Friday and features Pauline Kamulu (Route Inn Hotels) as its top seed at 30:20.97. All sub-31:30, Rina Goshima (Shiseido), Hellen Ekarare (Toyota Jidoshokki) and Eva Cherono (Toto) are her main competition, with sub-32 women Dolphine Omare (U.S.E.), Hina Yanagitani (Wacoal), Wakana Itsuki (Kyudenko), Momoka Kawaguchi (Uniqlo) and Yuka Takashima (Shiseido) also on the list.

In the women’s 3000 mSC, 16:15 Saturday, Olympian Yuno Yamanaka (Ehime Ginko) makes a return to her specialty event after focusing on other distances this season. Her 9:38.19 puts her in direct competition with Manami Nishiyama (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo), 9:39.28, to go for NR holder Minori Hayakari’s meet record of 9:48.55 from way back in 2010.

The men’s 3000 mSC 20 minutes later has Philemon Kiplagat (Aisan Kogyo) as its top seed at 8:22.79, his top competition coming from Taisei Ogino (Asahi Kasei), 8:31.02, and Yutaro Niinae (Aisan Kogyo), 8:34.92. Kiplagat would need a PB to hit the 8:21.36 MR set by Nahom Mesfin in 2010.

The men’s 10000 m happens at 19:00 Saturday. Emmanuel Kiplagat (Mitsubishi Juko) leads the field at 27:07.59, followed closely by Benson Kiplangat (Subaru), 27:09.83, Evans Keitany (Toyota Boshoku), 27:11.88, Jonathan Ndiku (Logisteed), 27:12.84, Sitonik Kiprono (Kurosaki Harima), 27:14.76, Stanley Waithaka (Yakult), 27:19.86, and another five men under 27:30. Ayumu Kobayashi (NTT Nishi Nihon) is the top Japanese seed at 27:57.99.

Sunday the women’s 5000 m fast heat goes off at 16:20. Judy Jepngetich (Shiseido) and Rebecca Mwangi (Denso) are the only ones under 15 minutes at 14:50.20 and 14:57.79, but Nyiva, Ekarare, Esther Muthoni (Nitori) and Joan Kipkemoi (Kyudenko) all have recent times under 15:10. Wakana Kabasawa (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) is the top Japanese entrant at 15:19.98.

The men’s 5000 m fast heat happens at 17:40 Sunday. Kiplangat is the favorite at 13:02.74 if he can handle the double from the 10000 m the day before, the only runner in the field under 13:10. Justus Soget (Honda), Joseph Karanja (Aichi Seiko) and Cosmas Mwangi (Chugoku Denryoku) all have recent times under 13:20, with the fastest Japanese man being Nagiya Mori (Honda) at 13:28.35.

Australian YouTuber Handed Lifetime Ban by Ageo City Half Marathon After Running 1:06 with Another Runner's Bib (updated)

After discussion with their race's chief JAAF referee, on Nov. 27 the organizers of the Ageo City Half Marathon handed down a lifetime ban from their event against 36-year-old Australian Matt Inglis Fox for running the Nov. 15 race wearing the bib number of another JAAF-registered runner. The incident came to light after Fox posted on his personal Instagram account that he had run a PB of 1:06:33 and finished 203rd in Ageo with a 10 km split of 31:03, along with photos and video of himself in the race wearing a bib number beginning with 11. Fox did not appear in the results by name or in that time or place, the closest match being a 1:06:54 gross, 1:06:50 net finish time with a 31:21 10 km split for 18th place in the JAAF-registered division and 209th overall by bib number 1129, registered to a non-Japanese Tokyo-resident club runner. The club runner, Harrisson Uk , readily confirmed that he had given his bib to Fox, saying, "I gave my number to Matt. It wasn't me."...

Batt-Doyle and Strintzos Break Records at Launceston Half

Australians Isobel Batt-Doyle and Haftu Strintzos turned in record-breaking performances to win the McGrath Launceston Running Festival Peppers Silo Half Marathon in Tasmania. Running with a private male pacer, NR holder Batt-Doyle dusted the field with the fastest half marathon ever by an Australian woman on Australian soil, a 1:08:46 CR that put her 2 and a half minutes ahead of runner-up Genevieve Gregson . Last year's runner-up Yumi Yoshikawa was almost a minute back from Gregson in 3rd in 1:12:03, but was almost run down by club runner Ayaka Shimoyamada . Starting slow in her international debut, Shimoyamada moved up from 7th over the 2nd half of the race to finish 4th in 1:12:06, kicking hard in the home straight to try to catch Yoshikawa and momentarily blacking out after finishing. Kaho Onishi was 7th in 1:12:45 in her own international debut. The men's half had pacing set at 2:53/km to try to deliver the first-ever sub-61 half marathon on Australian soil. CR holde...

CHN and JPN National Records Go Down - Weekend Track Update

There weren't any Japanese athletes in action at the Rabat Diamond League meet Sunday, but 2 lower-tier domestic meets produced new national records. At the Nittai University Time Trials meet in Yokohama, Samuel Kibathi (Toyota) led the top 5 in the men's 10000 m under 28 minutes in 27:39.97. In 3rd, China's Wenjie Wang took just over a second off his own NR from the same meet last year, setting a new record of 27:47.53. His teammate Haoran Tang was 6th in a 28:27.44 PB, with the top Japanese time in the race being a 28:33.39 for 8th from Jin Yuasa (Toyota). Amazingly, Wang and Tang were back the next day on day 2 of the Nittai meet, Wang running a PB of 13:35.58 for 4th in the A-heat and Tang winning the B-heat in a PB of 13:38.80. Isaac Ndiema took the A-heat in 13:26.49, with the fastest Japanese time going to Yuhei Urano (Fujitsu) with a 13:35.94 for 5th behind Wang. Other Nittai highlights: Deborah Chemutai (Univ. Ent.) won a photo finish against Yua Nagamori ...

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