Yamaguchi 10th at United Airlines NYC Half

Yamaguchi 10th at United Airlines NYC Half - Weekend Overseas Results

2024 national cross-country champion Tomonori Yamaguchi was the top Japanese finisher in the men's race at the United Airlines NYC Half, taking 10th in 1:04:36. A 2nd-year at Waseda University, Yamaguchi was one of three collegiate runners running New York in the 11th year of JRN's development program collaboration between the Ageo City Half Marathon and the New York Road Runners, a program that has seen people like future half marathon and marathon NR breaker Yuta Shitara and Paris Olympic team member Akira Akasaki make their international debuts.

Yamaguchi's Waseda teammate Taishi Ito started fast, going with the leaders through 5 km in 14:29 before losing touch. Hosei University senior Rei Matsunaga went through in 14:42 in his last race before joining the JR Higashi Nihon corporate team in April. Yamaguchi, who caught COVID after winning last month's National Cross-Country Championships, started more conservatively with a 15:11 first 5km. But where both Ito and Matsunaga slowed, Yamaguchi held more or less even through 15 km, splitting 15:18 and 15:16 for the next two 5 km sections.

By that point he'd overtaken Matsunaga, and around Times Square near 18 km he passed Ito to move into the top Japanese position. "That course was crazy!" he told JRN immediately after finishing. "I had trouble getting ready for this race, and I couldn't go with the lead pack at all. But even though it wasn't a good performance, I learned a lot from doing it." Yamaguchi next races the World Cross-Country Championships at the end of the month.

Ito was 11th in 1:04:54 after slowing to 16:03 from 15 to 20 km. "I gave it a go with the lead pack in the first half, and I think that took some guts," he said. "But the middle and last part didn't go well. Still, I'm really glad I had the chance to run against some world-class competition for the first time." Matsunaga struggled throughout the second half of the race, ending up 17th in 1:06:17. "A lot of things happened when I was getting ready for this," he said, "but thanks to everyone who cheered me on all the same." Both the men's and women's races were close up front, with Kenya's Abel Kipchumba winning in 1:00:25 over Moroccan Zouhair Talbi and Norwegian Karoline Bjerkeli Grovdal outrunning Gladys Chepkurui for the women's title in 1:09:09.

A few hours earlier, another 2nd-year, Komazawa University's Keita Sato, took a shot at the 27:09.80 national record at Sound Running's The TEN in California. One of six Japanese men in the Paris 10000 m fast section, Sato stayed at 12th in the lead group of men pursuing 27-flat pace past 7000 m before starting to slip back. That pace proved too much for NR holder Kazuya Shiojiri (Fujitsu), who dropped out after 7200 m, but in the end all-time JPN #2 Tomoki Ota (Toyota) ran Sato down to take the top Japanese spot at 17th in 27:26.41. Sato finished 20th in 27:34.66, with Kazuki Tamura (Sumitomo Denko) 25th in 27:49.09.

The only Japanese woman in the meet, Mikuni Yada (Edion) was last in the women's Paris 10000 m in 32:49.62. Shotaro Ishihara (Tokai Univ.) took the top Japanese spot in the 10000 m B-heat in 28:13.34 for 12th, with Itta Tameike (Chuo Univ.) 7th in the C-heat in 29:09.08. Hibiki Obara (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) was last in the men's 1500 m in 3:42.38. American Grant Fisher won the men's Paris 10000 m in 26:52.04, with Ethiopia's Tsigie Gebreselama running an exceptional 29:48.34 ACR to win the women's race.

The only Japanese athlete at the Sands China Macao International 10K, Shiho Kaneshige (GRlab Yamaguchi) took 6th in the women's race in 36:31 behind Kenyan winner Betsy Sigei's 33:53 CR. "Around 4 km I started getting cramping in my thigh and lost touch with the leaders," Kaneshige told JRN. David Bett won the men's race in a 29:02 CR.

United Airlines NYC Half Men's Race

New York, 17 Mar. 2024

1. Abel Kipchumba (Kenya) - 1:00:25

2. Zouhair Talbi (Morocco) - 1:00:41

3. Yemane Haileselassie (Eritrea) - 1:01:37

4. Hillary Bor (U.S.A.) - 1:01:47

5. Reed Fischer (U.S.A.) - 1:03:06

6. Tristan Woodfine (Canada) - 1:03:50

7. Kenenisa Bekele (Ethiopia) - 1:03:59

8. Matthew Baxter (New Zealand) - 1:04:12

9. Zerei Kbrom (Norway) - 1:04:31

10. Tomonori Yamaguchi (Japan/Waseda Univ.) - 1:04:36

11. Taishi Ito (Japan/Waseda Univ.) - 1:04:54

-----

17. Rei Matsunaga (Japan/Hosei Univ.) - 1:06:17

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