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.

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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