Shikama and Kabasawa Take National Corporate Half Marathon Titles

Shunsuke Shikama (Logisteed), Wakana Kabasawa (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) and Chikako Mori (Sekisui Kagaku) won close races to take the National Corporate Half Marathon and 10 km Championships titles Sunday in Yamaguchi. In the men's race, Shikama was head-to-head with 2024 New Year Ekiden First Stage winner Naoki Ota (Yakult), the entire way, together at 5km, 10km, 20 km, and breaking away together from the rest of the front pack coming into the stadium. In a sprint finish both runners clocked 1:00:41, with Shikama taking the win.

Ota joined his older brother Tomoki Ota (Toyota) in breaking 61 minutes for the half, with Koki Kamata (Yakult) 3rd in 1:00:47 and the top 10 breaking 61 minutes. The third major Japanese half marathon in 3 weeks, depth was solid with 37 under 62 minutes, 85 under 63 minutes and 111 under 64. One prominent DNF was 2017 runner-up Joseph Macharia Ndirangu (Aichi Seiko), 14:47 at 5 km and 29:45 at 10 km but not making it to the 15 km mat.

The lack of top-level Japanese women in the race meant slow winning times, but it was still an exciting race between debuting duo Kabasawa and Mizuki Nishimura (Tenmaya). In the lead pack of eleven at 15 km, Kabasawa and Nishimura broke away together over the last quarter of the race, 11 seconds up on the competition together at 20 km. Over the final kilometer the more accomplished Kabasawa opened 9 seconds on Nishimura to win in 1:10:13. Yuri Karasawa (Kyudenko) was 3rd in 1:10:26, with eight women breaking 1:11:00.

The women's 10 km went out painfully slowly, the top 18 in the field of 37 starters jogging through 5 km in 16:54. The top 16 of them ran negative splits, with Mori having the fastest finish to win in 32:51 by 1 second over Mitsu Ozaki (Sysmex) and 2 seconds over teammate Rina Sasaki (Sekisui Kagaku).

52nd National Corporate Half Marathon and 10 km Championships

Yamaguchi, 11 Feb. 2024

complete results

Men

1. Shunsuke Shikama (Logisteed) - 1:00:41

2. Naoki Ota (Yakult) - 1:00:41

3. Koki Kamata (Yakult) - 1:00:47

4. Soshi Suzuki (Yasukawa Denki) - 1:00:49

5. Daiki Hattori (Toyota Boshoku) - 1:00:49

6. Daisuke Doi (Kurosaki Harima) - 1:00:51

7. Yuma Nishizawa (Toyota Boshoku) - 1:00:54

8. Peter Kibui Wangari (NTN) - 1:00:55

9. Shunya Kikuchi (Chugoku Denryoku) - 1:00:57

10. Sota Fukutani (Kurosaki Harima) - 1:00:58

-----

25. Kazuya Nishiyama (Toyota) - 1:01:42

50. Shuhei Yamamoto (Team Nitro) - 1:02:09

75. Takuya Kumashiro (Sanyo Tokushu Seiko) - 1:02:42

100. Hiroki Tsujiyoko (Osaka Gas) - 1:03:32

125. Hayate Takeuchi (Fujisan no Meisui) - 1:05:35

150. Ryota Shimizu (Komori Corp.) - 1:07:20

-----

DNF - Joseph Macharia Ndirangu (Aichi Seiko)

Women

1. Wakana Kabasawa (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 1:10:13

2. Mizuki Nishimura (Tenmaya) - 1:10:22

3. Yuri Karasawa (Kyudenko) - 1:10:26

4. Rinka Hida (Daiichi Seimei) - 1:10:33

5. Yukari Nagatomo (Memolead) - 1:10:34

6. Moe Shimizu (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) - 1:10:37

7. Yuna Takahashi (Shimamura) - 1:10:46

8. Toshika Tamura (Hitachi) - 1:10:59

9. Momoko Hanano (Hitachi) - 1:11:06

10. Kaho Horio (Route Inn Hotels) - 1:11:06

Women's 10 km

1. Chikako Mori (Sekisui Kagaku) - 32:51

2. Mitsu Ozaki (Sysmex) - 32:52

3. Rina Sasaki (Sekisui Kagaku) - 32:53

4. Chihiro Tsushima (Starts) - 32:56

5. Momoka Kawaguchi (Uniqlo) - 32:57

6. Miu Yagi (Iwatani Sangyo) - 32:59

7. Yui Fujimaru (18 Ginko) - 33:00

8. Marumi Abe (Uniqlo) - 33:16

9. Nana Ebisui (Otsuka Seiyaku) - 33:20

10. Yuna Arai (Sekisui Kagaku) - 33:27

-----

DNF - Kadogo Chebotibin (SID Group)

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

japan running news

Search This Blog