National Corporate Half Marathon and 10 km Championships Entry List Highlights

Entry lists are out for the Feb. 11 National Corporate Half Marathon and 10 km Championships in Yamaguchi. The third big half marathon in 3 weeks following Osaka and Marugame, entries are thin on the women's side with no recent sub-1:10 entrants in the half. Rinka Hida (Daiichi Seimei) has the best recent time at 1:10:10 from Osaka last year, with Ikumi Fukura (Otsuka Seiyaku) and Wakana Itsuki (Kyudenko) both coming in under 1:10:30. Momoka Kawaguchi (Uniqlo) is the best in women's 10 km with a track 10000 m best of 31:57.81.

Last year's 3rd-placer Ryota Kondo (Mitsubishi Juko) is one of four men on the list with recent bests under 1:01, his 1:00:32 having come at last year's National Corporate Half along with those from Keijiro Mogi (Asahi Kasei) and Takashi Nanba (Toenec). 2:06 marathoner Kazuya Nishiyama (Toyota) is also in the mix with a 1:00:41 here two years ago. Shunsuke Shikama (Logisteed) and New Year Ekiden First Stage winner Naoki Ota (Yakult) haven't run a serious half marathon recently, but with both having run 27:50~52 on the track for 10000 m last year they have the ability to be in the lead pack.

52nd National Corporate Half Marathon and 10 km Championships

Entry List Highlights

Yamaguchi, 11 Feb. 2024

times listed are athletes' best in last 3 years except where noted

Women's Half Marathon

Rinka Hida (Daiichi Seimei) - 1:10:10 (2023 Osaka Half)

Ikumi Fukura (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 1:10:21 (2021 National Corporate Half)

Wakana Itsuki (Kyudenko) - 1:10:23 (2021 National Corporate Half)

Saya Nishitani (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 1:10:38 (2021 National Corporate Half)

Yuri Karasawa (Kyudenko) - 1:10:48 (2023 Sanyo Ladies Half)

Shiori Yoshizono (Tenmaya) - 1:10:48 (2023 National Corporate Half)

Hibiki Sakuragawa (Daiichi Seimei) - 1:11:28 (2023 Sanyo Ladies Half)

Saya Nakajima (Edion) - 1:11:47 (2023 National Corporate Half)

Shiho Tachizako (Tenmaya) - 1:11:53 (2023 National Corporate Half)

Wakana Kabasawa (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - debut - 31:45.19 (2023 Nationals)

Women's 10 km

Momoka Kawaguchi (Uniqlo) - 31:57.81 (2022, Kyoto)

Chikako Mori (Sekisui Kagaku) - 32:41 (2021 Sanyo Ladies 10 km)

Kadogo Chebotibin (SID Group) - debut - 15:49.82 (2023, Nittai)

Men's Half Marathon

Ryota Kondo (Mitsubishi Juko) - 1:00:32 (2023 National Corporate Half)

Keijiro Mogi (Asahi Kasei) - 1:00:33 (2023 National Corporate Half)

Kazuya Nishiyama (Toyota) - 1:00:41 (2022 National Corporate Half)

Takashi Nanba (Toenec) - 1:00:46 (2023 National Corporate Half)

Tsuyoshi Bando (Osaka Gas) - 1:01:07 (2022 National Corporate Half)

Joseph Macharia Ndirangu (Aichi Seiko) - 1:01:11 (2022 Tokyo Legacy Half)

Masanori Sumida (Aichi Seiko) - 1:01:19 (2023 National Corporate Half)

Takahiro Nakamura (Kyocera Kagoshima) - 1:01:22 (2022 National Corporate Half)

Kohei Mukai (Mazda) - 1:01:23 (2022 National Corporate Half)

Akira Tomiyasu (Aisan Kogyo) - 1:01:23 (2022 Osaka Half)

Daisuke Doi (Kurosaki Harima) - 1:01:26 (2022 National Corporate Half)

Shunya Kikuchi (Chugoku Denryoku) - 1:01:33 (2023 Osaka Half)

Shunsuke Kanbe (Komori Corp.) - 1:01:37 (2022 National Corporate Half)

Hiroki Hashimoto (SGH) - 1:01:40 (2023 Marugame Half)

Keita Sakamoto (Aichi Seiko) - 1:01:42 (2022 National Corporate Half)

Koki Kamata (Yakult) - 1:01:44 (2023 National Corporate Half)

Joseph Waweru Nganga (Chugoku Denryoku) - 1:01:44 (2022 Osaka Half)

Shin Kimura (Honda) - 1:01:46 (2022 Sapporo Half)

Kenta Usui (Mazda) - 1:01:52 (2022 National Corporate Half)

Hiroyuki Ishikawa (Aisan Kogyo) - 1:01:55 (2022 National Corporate Half)

Yoshiki Oshiro (Toyota Kyushu) - 1:01:56 (2023 National Corporate Half)

Teruya Wada (Nishitetsu) - 1:01:57 (2022 National Corporate Half)

Kyosuke Mafune (Subaru) - 1:01:58 (2023 National Corporate Half)

Shunsuke Shikama (Logisteed) - 27:50.05 (2023, Nittai)

Naoki Ota (Yakult) - 27:52.10 (2023 Nationals)

Peter Kibui Wangari (NTN) - debut - 13:24.73 (2023, Kumamoto)

Waseda Leads Top 7 Teams Under Izumo Ekiden CR, Ivy League Best-Ever 3rd (updated)

3rd last year, Waseda University scored its first Izumo Ekiden win since 2010, taking almost 2 minutes off the CR and leading the top 7 teams under the old record of 2:07:51 for the complete 6-stage, 45.1 km course. Waseda was 16 seconds back in 7th after the First Stage, but its 2nd runner Ojiro Honda made that up easily and put them 6 seconds out front. A massive 22:56 CR for the 8.5 km Third Stage by Shadrack Kipkemei (Nihon Univ.) dropped Waseda back to 2nd even though its runner Ryuki Suzuki broke the old CR too, but back-to-back CR on the next 2 stages by 1st-year Haruki Niizuma and Shunpei Yamaguchi put anchor Shinsaku Kudo out of reach of the rest of the field. Kudo duly won the 10.2 km anchor stage in 29:00, bypassing a 2:06 time entirely for a new 2:05:56 CR, just under 2:48/km average pace for the complete course. Defending champ Koku Gakuin University struggled a bit in the first half of the race but came on strong in the longer second half with 4th and 5th runners...

Kipyegon Repeats, Toyo Wins Hakone Ekiden Qualifier in First Appearance in 21 Years

Back for the first time in 21 years after a disastrous 14th-place finish at the 102nd Hakone Ekiden this past January, Toyo University hit one out of western Tokyo's Showa Kinen Park with a solid win at the Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai, the half marathon that serves as the official qualifying race for the 103rd Hakone Ekiden. The top 10 teams in the Hakone auto-qualify for the following year, with the rest having to run the Yosenkai in October with a squad of 10 to 16 runners out of which the top 10 score on aggregate time, with the 10 fastest schools joining the Hakone field and top individuals from non-qualifying teams names to the Kanto Region Student Alliance select team to make up the complete Hakone field of 21. Driven in large part by an aggressive run from 3rd-year Yu Miyazaki , one of only 2 Japanese athletes to go with the big African contingent up front, Toyo won in 10:31:30, 1:03:09 or 2:59.6/km per athlete. As the first team to have broken the 3:00/km average pace barrie...

Ngetich and Mutiso Take Down Tokyo Legacy Half CR

In its 5th edition the Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon scored 2 new course records via Kenyans from the Ikaika agency, with 10 km WR holder Agnes Ngetich blasting 3 minutes off the old record to win by over 4 in 1:04:23, and Alexander Mutiso skimming just 1 second under the CR for the win by 5 seconds in 59:51. The 2 races played out completely differently, even if the paydays were the same for the winners. Surrounded by an envelope of male runners all the way to the final 100 m, Ngetich was out hard on the downhill in the first 5 km, hitting it on sub-64 pace in 15:08 before leveling out on the flat middle 10 km. Her next 2 splits projected to 1:04:09 and 1:04:17, and even with the uphill back to the stadium in the last 5 km she didn't fall far off from that, winning in 1:04:23. Runner-up Tabitha Njeri Kamau was nearly a mile back in 1:08:28, with Kamau's Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo teammate Kazuna Kanetomo dropping a 1:10:17 PB for 3rd. Now an independent, track Olympian Kaede Ha...

japan running news

Search This Blog