Four Big Races This Weekend

Four big races happen Sunday, and it's looking like only one of them might escape the cold rain that's forecast to hit most of the country that morning. That would be Kyoto's Biwako Cross Country meet, the lesser cousin of Fukuoka's National Cross Country Championships three weeks later but still filling an important hole in the calendar left by the demise of the Chiba Cross Country meet. Biwako attracts a few corporate teams and top high schools like Wacoal and Toyokawa H.S., but its main claim to fame is as the National Junior High School Cross Country Championships. Complete entry lists here.

In the heart of Yokohama's industrial zone Sunday is one of two big half marathons, the Kanagawa Half Marathon and 10 km. Top-tier collegiate runners will be headed for Marugame, on which more later, but a lot of the schools that ran last month's Hakone Ekiden will send big contingents from their rosters of alternates and B-tier runners, and that always makes it one of the super-deep races of the season. Expect to see heavy representation by Hakone top two Aoyama Gakuin University and Komazawa University, Tokai University, Meiji University, Nihon University and more,

The Kagawa Marugame International Half Marathon in Kagawa will be the bigger deal, the home of the Japanese men's national record and always with one of the best half marathon fields of the year in Japan. Sheila Chepkirui, Pauline Kamulu and Dolphine Omare lead the women's race this time, where the most exciting storyline might be the debuts of 5000m/10000m all-time JPN #2 Ririka Hironaka and #1 high schooler Caroline Kariba (Kamimura Gakuen H.S.).

Alexander Mutiso vs. Charles Langat vs. Cleophas Kandie is another good race waiting to happen in the men's race, and despite the expected rain hopes are high that Komazawa's Kotaro Shinohara will come through with Japan's first-ever sub-60 half marathon after running 1:00:11 last year. Sondre Moen and Brett Robinson are both in the race too, and 42-year-old Ser-Od Bat-Ochir will be trying to better his 1:02:10 Mongolian NR after a 1:02:53 tuneup last weekend in Osaka. BS-Fuji will have the live broadcast starting at 10:30 a.m. local time. Entry list info here.

Last up is the Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon in Oita. Beppu-Oita doesn't factor into consideration for the Paris Olympic team, but while that means there isn't a lot of top-tier talent it's still got a good field at the 2:06-2:08 level, with internationals Mohamed Reda El Aaraby, Hicham Laqouahi and Aychew Bantie leading domestic men Fumihiro Maruyama, Yuta Koyama, Yuta Shimoda, Kazuya Azegami, Ryo Osaki and Yuichi Yasui. Canadian Ben Preisner is also in the field, hoping to ride the deep pack to something a tier up from his 2:11:47 at the Oregon World Championships, and Hakone Ekiden Ninth Stage winner Genta Kuramoto of overall champ Aoyama Gakuin will be making his marathon debut. TBS has the live TV broadcast starting at 11:50 a.m. local time Sunday, with streaming above. Entry lists here.

'2024 IAU 100k World Championships Results: Jumpei Yamaguchi and Floriane Hot Win Gold'

Silver two years ago , Japanese NR holder Jumpei Yamaguchi took gold at the IAU 100 km World Championships Saturday in Bengaluru, India. Defending gold medalist Haruki Okayama was bronze this time, with Toru Somiya just over 2 minutes behind Okayama in 4th. Japanese women were shut out of the medals, 24-hour world record holder Miho Nakata placing highest at 4th. Complete report and results here: https://www.irunfar.com/2024-iau-100k-world-championships-results photo © 2024 Tarzan Aqzawa, all rights reserved

Miu Saito Moves up Steeplechase All-Time List at Edion Distance Challenge

The last big track time trial of the season, probably, Saturday's Edion Distance Challenge had its biggest result in its smallest event. With only 3 women on the starting line, the 3000 mSC saw Miu Saito from Nittai University move up from all-time Japanese #9 to #8 with a 9:45.62 PB that put her almost 35 seconds ahead of her closest competitor. Panasonic 's Nanami Watanabe took the women's 5000 m fast heat in 15:29.67, but a lot of the main competition, Kae Gyu from National Corporate Women's Ekiden winner Japan Post , Yuma Yamamoto , Risa Sasaki and Tomoka Kimura from runner-up Sekisui Kagaku , top-tier collegians Nanaka Yamazaki , Nanase Tanimoto and Haruka Ogawa , and others just looked tired. Only 8 women broke 16 minutes, and with 7 others going sub-16 in the B-heat better seeding might have produced better races. Some Japan Post runners did do well in the women's 10000 m fast heat, with Miyaka Sugata winning in 31:42.28 and Caroline Kariba 3rd in 3...

800 m NR Holder Ko Ochiai Heads to Komazawa University

Men's 800 m national record holder Ko Ochiai , 18, a 3rd-year at Shiga Gakuen H.S. , will go to ekiden powerhouse Komazawa University after his graduation in March. Ochiai won this year's National Championships 800 m in June, and at July's National High School Championships he ran a 1:44.80 NR to win for the second year in a row. His time there was almost 1 second under the old record of 1:45.75 set by Sho Kawamoto in 2014 and equalled by Hiroki Minamoto in 2021. In August he became the first Japanese athlete to make a World U20 Championships 800 m final, winning bronze. Hope are high that he will continue to lead Japanese middle distance into new territory. Ochiai's immediate goal is to make the Tokyo World Championships next year. After coming back from the World U20 Championships he told reporters, "I want to become someone who can make the final and go for a medal, not someone who is just targeting making the team." Regarding the 1:44.50 qualifying stan...

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