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Weekend Preview



It's the only weekend from late January through mid-March without a major Japanese marathon, but there's still a lot going on. Overseas, Shunsuke Yoshii (Chuo Univ.) and Yuma Yamamoto (Sekisui Kagaku) lead a National Team of 14 at the Asian Indoor Championships in Tehran, Iran. Another team of 8 is in Muscat, Oman for Sunday's World University Cross Country Championships, with H.S. 5000 m NR holder Hiroto Yoshioka (Juntendo Univ.) and Asahi Kuroda, a key player in Aoyama Gakuin University's 2024 Hakone Ekiden win, at the front end of the men's team and 2023 National University Individual Championships 5000 m runner-up Tomo Muramatsu (Ritsumeikan Univ.) leading the women's team.

Back home, the 4th edition of the National University Mixed-Gender Ekiden happens at noon Sunday in Osaka, with 20 collegiate teams of 3 women and 3 men each racing short stages of from 2 km to 5 km. Top-tier teams like Ritsumeikan University, Josai University and Toyo University are part of the field, and the format and short stage lengths make it a different kind of race from the others in championship ekiden season. Streaming starts at 12:00 on TVer at the link above.

On the roads, the world's two premier 30 km road races are both happening, the Kumanichi 30 km in Kumamoto and the Ome 30 km and 10 km in western Tokyo. Kumanichi is held in parallel with the mass participation Kumamoto Castle Marathon but always has a quality field. Top names in the men's race include 61-minute half marathoners Kotaro Kondo (SGH) and Kyuma Yokota (Toyota Kyushu), and A-list collegiate runners Sena Minawatari (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) and Kyosuke Hanao (Komazawa Univ.). 2:23:47 marathoner Mao Kiyota (Suzuki) leads the women.

Paris Olympic team members Akira Akasaki (Kyudenko) and Mao Ichiyama (Shiseido) will get a chance to practice racing a hilly course in Ome, where Akasaki's main competition comes from Ibuki Kaneko (Komazawa Univ.) and Rei Matsunaga (Hosei Univ.). Newly-crowned marathon NR holder Honami Maeda set the 30 km NR of 1:38:35 in Ome four years ago, and anything near that would be a great day for Ichiyama. Saki Fukui (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) leads the women's 10 km field with a 32:38.29 best on the track.

© 2024 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

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