Midweek Track Roundup

Catching up on track results from the last few days:

After skipping the National Championships, men's 3000 mSC NR holder Ryuji Miura (Subaru) and 110 mH hurdler Shunsuke Izumiya (Sumitomo Denko) demonstrated fitness at the Paris Diamond League meet. Miura ran a season best 8:10.52 for 7th, with Izumiya 3rd in the final in a 13.16 (-0.6) SB after winning Heat 2 in 13.16 (+0.4). National champion Rachid Muratake (JAL) was a DNS in the final after winning Heat 1 in 13.15 (+0.1).

At the last Nittai University Time Trials meet of the season, collegiate 5000 m and 10000 m record holder Richard Etir (Tokyo Kokusai Univ.) won the men's 5000 m fast heat in 13:27.48, outrunning Brian Kiptoo (Reitaku Univ.) and Patrick Kamau (Kokushikan Univ.). Reishi Yoshida (Chuo Gakuin Univ.) was the fastest Japanese man in the meet at 13:45.54 for 6th. Kiptoo also soloed a 10000 m, literally, as in the only person in the race, in 29:05.52. Sharon Mwanthi (Yamanashi Gakuin H.S.) won the women's 3000 m fast heat in 9:23.96, Saki Arai (Takushoku Univ.) taking the 5000 m in 16:35.02.

But most people were up in Hokkaido for summer training, with the Hokuren Distance Challenge series getting underway in Kitami. In the all-African men's 5000 m C-heat, Samuel Kibathi (Toyota) outlined Raphael Dapash (JR Higashi Nihon) for the win 13:12.28 to 13:12.82. Kento Yamauchi (Kyudenko) won the all-Japanese A-heat on 13:32.48. Tatsuya Matsuoka (Kao) and Yudai Shimazu (GMO) both cleared 8 minutes in the men's 3000 m, Matsuoka winning in 7:58.01 and Shimazu 2nd in 7:58.34.

Deborah Chemutai (Univ. Ent.) took the Kitami women's 5000 m A-heat in 15:36.04 over Rion Furukawa (Nitori), 2nd in 15:38.18. Susan Kamotho (Yamada Holdings) and Janet Nyiva (Panasonic) were both way under 9 minutes in the women's in the closest race in a day of close races, Kamotho scoring the win in 8:46.68 and Nyiva 2nd in 8:46.70. Hellen Ekarare (Toyota Jidoshokki) won the women's 1500 easily in a PB 4:03.65, following up on her near-miss on her PB last week at the National Championships.

At the HDC Abashiri meet, Stephen Muthini (Soka Univ.) ran 27:44.92 to lead Yuya Yoshida (GMO), Yuto Imae (GMO), Itta Tameike (Chuo Univ.) and Osaka Marathon winner Kiyoto Hirabayashi (Koku Gakuin Univ.) under 28 minutes in the men's 10000 m A-heat. Tameike's time of 27:52.38 was a new school record that made him the first Chuo runner in history to break 28. Amos Kurgat (Chudenko) couldn't match Kibathi's run in Kitami, winning the 5000 m A-heat in 13:19.11. Komazawa University captain Kotaro Shinohara was the top Japanese man, just off his PB at 13:35.33 for 6th. Shimazu followed up his 3000 m in Kitami with a 13:37.35 win in the 5000 m B-heat in Abashiri.

Nyiva was back to win the women's 10000 m in 31:16.01, just outrunning Caroline Kariba (Japan Post) by 0.56 for the win. The top 7 all went under 32 minutes, including Sayaka Sato (Sekisui Kagaku), Erika Tanoura (Sekisui Kagaku) and Kazuna Kanetomo (Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo). Kamotho was also back, winning the women's 5000 m A-heat in a solid 15:09.68 almost 30 seconds up on top Japanese finisher Yuna Takahashi (Shimamura), 3rd in 15:36.46. Lucy Nduta (Aomori Yamada H.S.) won the 3000 m in Abashiri in 8:57.26, Ai Watanabe (Sonoda Gakuen Joshi H.S.) taking the 1500 m in 4:19.16.

The Hokuren Distance Challenge series continues Saturday in Shibetsu.

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...

Kipyegon Repeats, Toyo Wins Hakone Ekiden Qualifier in First Appearance in 21 Years

Back for the first time in 21 years after a disastrous 14th-place finish at the 102nd Hakone Ekiden this past January, Toyo University hit one out of western Tokyo's Showa Kinen Park with a solid win at the Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai, the half marathon that serves as the official qualifying race for the 103rd Hakone Ekiden. The top 10 teams in the Hakone auto-qualify for the following year, with the rest having to run the Yosenkai in October with a squad of 10 to 16 runners out of which the top 10 score on aggregate time, with the 10 fastest schools joining the Hakone field and top individuals from non-qualifying teams names to the Kanto Region Student Alliance select team to make up the complete Hakone field of 21. Driven in large part by an aggressive run from 3rd-year Yu Miyazaki , one of only 2 Japanese athletes to go with the big African contingent up front, Toyo won in 10:31:30, 1:03:09 or 2:59.6/km per athlete. As the first team to have broken the 3:00/km average pace barrie...

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...

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