Kubo Leads Higashi Osaka Keiai to 4x800 m NR

Newly crowned women's 800 m national champion Rin Kubo, 16, anchored one of two 4x800 m teams from Higashi Osaka Keiai H.S. at a time trial meet in Higashi Osaka Friday, setting a new Japanese NR of 8:33.77. The team, which included Rin Kitamura, Runa Asano, Misa Tamura and Kubo, took 8 seconds off the old record, clocking individual splits of 2:07.4 for Kitamura, 2:11.2 for Asano, 2:13.1 for Tamura and a solid 2:01.9 for the 16-year-old Kubo whose official PB for a standard 800 m is 2:03.13. Higashi Osaka Keiai's B-team also broke the old high school NR in 8:55.06.

Overseas, three members of Japan's team for the Paris Olympics tuned up at the Monaco Diamond League meet. Women's javelin world champion Haruka Kitaguchi (JAL) ntook the win in style with a 65.21 m season best on her final throw, surpassing the leader since the first round, Australian Mackenzie Little, by 47 cm. After a good comeback run at the Paris Diamond League meet, Shunsuke Izumiya (Sumitomo Denko) fell on the 8th hurdle in the men's 110 mH and failed to finish. In the women's 5000 m, NR holder Nozomi Tanaka (NB) was 3rd in a 14:40.86 SB.

Back in Japan at the third Hokuren Distance Challenge meet in Shibetsu, longtime Japan resident Hellen Ekarare (Toyota Jidoshokki) continued a surprising jump in her performances this season, smashing an 8:37.16 PB, almost 6 seconds off her best, to win the women's 3000 m A-heat by 26 seconds over . After lucking into roll down spots on the Paris team in the 5000 m and 1500 m, Wakana Kabasawa (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) and Yume Goto (Uniqlo) ran 8:53.99 and 8:58.30 for 3rd and 4th, a PB for Kabasawa and SB for Goto.

Shota Nakano (Honda) turned in maybe the performance of the meet in the men's 3000 m, winning in a PB 7:46.37 that tied him with 10000 m NR holder Kazuya Shiojiri at all-time Japanese #6. Ahead of a shot at the 1500 m NR later in the HDC series, Kazuto Iizawa (Sumitomo Denko) was 5th in a PB 8:07.06.

Other events in Shibetsu were relatively low-key. South Korean Jaeung Lee ran a 3-second PB of 3:41.48 to win the men's 1500 m, Nana Kuraoka (Kagoshima Ginko) winning the women's race in 4:23.34. The 5000 m A-heats went to Japan-based Kenyans James Muoki (Konica Minolta) in 13:31.10 and Tabitha Njeri Kamau (Mitsui Sumitomo Denko) in a 15:14.29 SB. Men's 10000 m winner Jin Yuasa (Chuo Univ. Club) was the only one in the top 12 not to run a PB or SB, winning in 28:17.37.

Over in Abashiri, Koku Gakuin University was at the front end of the Summer Distance Challenge meet with a 13:47.17 PB from 1st-year Yuta Asano to win the men's 5000 m and PBs from 3rd-year Goki Takayama and 2nd-year Hikaru Tsujihara to go 1-2 in the men's 10000 m in 28:25.72 and 28:27.93. 2nd-year Airi Tajima (Juntendo Univ.) won the women's 5000 m in a PB of 16:07.37.

Ngetich and Mutiso Take Down Tokyo Legacy Half CR

In its 5th edition the Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon scored 2 new course records via Kenyans from the Ikaika agency, with 10 km WR holder Agnes Ngetich blasting 3 minutes off the old record to win by over 4 in 1:04:23, and Alexander Mutiso skimming just 1 second under the CR for the win by 5 seconds in 59:51. The 2 races played out completely differently, even if the paydays were the same for the winners. Surrounded by an envelope of male runners all the way to the final 100 m, Ngetich was out hard on the downhill in the first 5 km, hitting it on sub-64 pace in 15:08 before leveling out on the flat middle 10 km. Her next 2 splits projected to 1:04:09 and 1:04:17, and even with the uphill back to the stadium in the last 5 km she didn't fall far off from that, winning in 1:04:23. Runner-up Tabitha Njeri Kamau was nearly a mile back in 1:08:28, with Kamau's Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo teammate Kazuna Kanetomo dropping a 1:10:17 PB for 3rd. Now an independent, track Olympian Kaede Ha...

Waseda Leads Top 7 Teams Under Izumo Ekiden CR, Ivy League Best-Ever 3rd (updated)

3rd last year, Waseda University scored its first Izumo Ekiden win since 2010, taking almost 2 minutes off the CR and leading the top 7 teams under the old record of 2:07:51 for the complete 6-stage, 45.1 km course. Waseda was 16 seconds back in 7th after the First Stage, but its 2nd runner Ojiro Honda made that up easily and put them 6 seconds out front. A massive 22:56 CR for the 8.5 km Third Stage by Shadrack Kipkemei (Nihon Univ.) dropped Waseda back to 2nd even though its runner Ryuki Suzuki broke the old CR too, but back-to-back CR on the next 2 stages by 1st-year Haruki Niizuma and Shunpei Yamaguchi put anchor Shinsaku Kudo out of reach of the rest of the field. Kudo duly won the 10.2 km anchor stage in 29:00, bypassing a 2:06 time entirely for a new 2:05:56 CR, just under 2:48/km average pace for the complete course. Defending champ Koku Gakuin University struggled a bit in the first half of the race but came on strong in the longer second half with 4th and 5th runners...

Route Inn Hotels Win National Corporate Women's Ekiden Qualifier for First Time

After Saturday's Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai qualifying race in Tokyo, 2nd-tier corporate women's teams were in Fukuoka for their own national championships qualifying race, the Princess Ekiden . With Queens Ekiden 19-placer Otsuka Seiyaku a DNS, 30 teams lined up for the 6-stage, 42.195 km race where the top 16 would go on to join the top 8 from last year's Queens Ekiden at next month's national race. Coming right in the middle of the international fall marathon season several teams had people still tired from Berlin and Chicago, with Daihatsu fielding Rika Kaseda and Natsuki Omori from Berlin, Tokyo Metro sending out its own Berlin duo of Mao Uesugi and Ayumi Morita , and Kraftia not playing its top member Yuka Akasaki after her solid run in Chicago last week. After a fast start from eventual 9th-placer Denso 's Rio Matsutani , Daihatsu took over on the Second Stage and held it until the Fifth, where a tired Omori dropped to 3rd. Mayuka Fujita from Route Inn H...

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