Etir and Hanyu Sub-28, and Fuwa Returns

Etir and Hanyu Sub-28, and Fuwa Returns - Weekend Track Roundup

It was the first really busy weekend of outdoor season in Japan, with the first quality results coming at the season's first Setagaya Time Trials in Tokyo. Collegiate 10000 m record holder Amos Bett (Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) ran 27:48.00 for the win in the men's 10000 m fast heat, with Takuya Hanyu (Toyota Boshoku) going under 28 minutes for the second time in his career with in 27:49.78 for 2nd. The winner of last month's National University Half Marathon, Rui Aoki (Koku Gakuin Univ.) ran a PB 28:02.00 for 3rd, barely beating Richard Etir (Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) by 0.26.

In the men's 5000 m A-heat, photo finish specialist Edwin Kisalsak (Fujisan no Meisui) did it again, both he and Duncan Maina (Senshu Univ.) clocking 13:38.82 in the men's 5000 m fast heat but Kisalsak getting the win by 0.005 in 13:38.815 to Maina's 13:38.820. Five Koku Gakuin University runners went under 14 minutes led by Kosei Atomura in 13:47.46, with Aoi Ito making a partial comeback from the injury that kept him out of January's Hakone Ekiden with a 13:55.76 that was the fastest of the three Komazawa University men to go under 14.

Honda teammates Shota Nakano and Hideo Kosode went 1-2 in the men's 3000 m fast heat in another photo finish, 7:55.43 to 7:55.48, with runners from the Kao corporate team taking the next five spots all between 8:03.86 and 8:08.99. Marathoner Mao Uesugi made her debut with new team Tokyo Metro, winning the women's 3000 m in 9:21.66. Keigo Yuhara (Komori Corp.) won yet another close race in the men's 1500 m fast heat, running 3:46.61 with 2nd-placer Ren Yonemitsu (Konica Minolta) in 3:46.69.

Across town at the Kizuna Time Trials in Machida, Hiroki Wakabayashi (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) ran a solo 28:48.10 10000 m with pacing from Hakone Ekiden Third Stage winner Aoi Ota and, in his debut in the AGU uniform, 13:28 high schooler Sota Orita. AGU runners took pretty much everything, with Kosei Yamaguchi taking the 5000 m fast heat in 13:44.25, Akimu Nomura the B-heat in 14:03.98, Hakone Second Stage winner Asahi Kuroda the 3000 mSC fast heat in 8:42.46, and Hikaru Ogawara both the 1500 m in 3:47.76 and the 800 m in 1:54.44.

At the Kokushikan University Time Trials, women's 10000 m collegiate record holder Seira Fuwa (Takushoku Univ.) ran her first race since October, 2022. In a mixed 5000 m Fuwa clocked 16:32.92, clearing the qualifying standard for May's Kanto Regionals by over 37 seconds. Fuwa sustained an Achilles tendon injury in January, 2022 after doing multiple ekidens in the weeks after her 30:45.21 collegiate record in December, 2021, and after making a brief comeback in the fall of 2022 suffered a stress fracture that kept her out of the 2023 season.

At the Tokyo Big 6 collegiate meet at Yokohama's Keio University, Waseda University's Junpei Maseda took the men's 5000 m in 13:55.61 over Takuma Akiyoshi (Tokyo University), the only other runner under 14 minutes at 13:56.76. Keio's Rikuto Yasuda won the 3000 mSC in 8:47.04, with Waseda's Nayab Naoki Yoshikura taking the 1500 m in 3:48.60.

At the Kanto Region 7 Private University Meet in Saitama, Mashu Nomura (Toyo Univ.) ran a meet record 13:50.46 to win the men's 5000 m, Stephen Lemayan (Surugadai Univ.) taking 2nd in 13:52.75 and Itsuki Hirabayashi (Josai Univ.) 3rd in 13:53.14. Toyo took the top spot in the men's 3000 m too with Ryota Kobayashi running 8:00.89 for a close win over Shoya Saito (Josai Univ.) and Kyohei Oda (Daito Bunka Univ.). Shuto Iguchi (Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) won the 1500 m in 3:49.18.

Rui Aoki and Shunsuke Kuwata Making U.S. Debut at United Airlines NYC Half

When the National University Half Marathon was canceled in 2011 after the massive earthquake and tsunami struck northeastern Japan 2 days before the race, JRN talked to the New York Road Runners about bringing 2 collegiate runners to the United Airlines NYC Half Marathon the next weekend as a show of support. It wasn't possible to pull it together in the immediate aftermath of the disasters, but a year later we brought 2 young 2nd-years from Hakone Ekiden CR breaker Toyo University , Kento Otsu and Yuta Shitara , who had been the top 2 Japanese collegiate finishers at the Ageo City Half Marathon in November before Hakone. Shitara ran 1:01:48, at the time the fastest-ever by a Japanese man on U.S. soil, with Otsu running a solid 1:03:15. Thanks to that great start the Ageo-NYC partnership became a regular thing, and except for the pandemic it's continued every year since, expanding this year to June's New York Mini 10 km when 2 runners from Mt. Fuji Women's Ekiden runne...

Chepkirui Over Sato Again to Win 2nd-Straight Nagoya Women's Marathon, Chen Breaks Malaysian NR (updated)

This year's Nagoya Women's Marathon felt like a changing of the guard, with some the bigger domestic names over the last few years fading early and a lot of newer faces stepping up with quality debuts or second marathons. The front group was set to be paced for 2:20 flat with the 2nd group at 2:23:30 to hit the auto-qualifying time for the 2027 MGC Race, Japan's L.A. Olympics marathon trials race in Nagoya. Up front things went out OK, but after a 33:10 split at 10 km Ayuko Suzuki , 2:21:22 here 2 years ago, lost touch, ultimately finishing 23rd in 2:33:28. Windy conditions started to play with pacers' ability to keep things steady and the pace slowed majorly over the next 10 km, but even with a 34:05 second 10 km there were big-name casualties. 2024 Nagoya winner Yuka Ando was next to drop, ending up 17th in 2:30:32. NR holder Honami Maeda was next, followed quickly by Bahraini Kenyan Eunice Chumba and debuting Wakana Kabasawa . Maeda faded to 21st in 2:31:21, whil...

16 Women and 26 Men on the Current Olympic Trials Qualifier List

Last weekend's Nagoya Women's Marathon and the Tokyo Marathon the weekend before brought the main part of the first year of qualification for the Marathon Grand Championship Race, Japan's L.A. Olympics marathon trials to be held in Nagoya in October, 2027, to an end. There are still a few races like the Nagano Marathon and overseas World Athletics platinum label races this season where people might qualify, but for the most part we're not likely to see many new additions until August's Hokkaido Marathon, where the qualifying period opened last year. As of right now 16 women and 26 men have qualified, although the first woman to make the cut, Ai Hosoda , announced that she was retiring after Tokyo earlier this month. Out of the 16 women to have qualified so far, Mikuni Yada is the fastest with her 2:19:57 debut at Osaka Women's in January. Including Hosoda that makes 2 qualifiers for the Edion corporate team, but Daihatsu has the biggest share of the field so ...

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