Oga Ekiden, Hakodate Half and Lake Saroma 100 km

Oga Ekiden, Hakodate Half and Lake Saroma 100 km - Weekend Road Race Roundup

The National Track and Field Championships in Niigata were the main event this weekend, but up north where it's cooler there were three important road races.

Chuo University won the 7-stage, 66.2 km university men's race at Saturday's 71st Oga Ekiden in Akita. Hakone Ekiden winner Aoyama Gakuin University led on the first two stages, but on the 7.5 km Third Stage Chuo's Rei Yamahira took over the top spot and never let go. Chuo won in 3:22:42, with Aoyama Gakuin ultimately a minute and a half back in 3:24:12. Tokyo Kokusai University was a close 3rd in 3:24:53.

Running the same distance, the Shingenden corporate team was the top placer in the open division in 3:31:06, well back from 4th-place university team Toyo University. Omuta H.S. won the 7-stage, 49.5 km high school boys' division in 2:30:10, with Sendai Ikuei H.S. taking the top 2 spots in the 5-stage, 21.3 km high school girls' race, its A-team winning in 1:08:56. Complete results here.

At the Hakodate Half Marathon and Marathon Sunday in Hokkaido, Hibiki Yoshida of Soka University set a course record 1:01:45 to win the men's half marathon, the only person to go under 63 minutes. 2:06 marathoner Hiroto Inoue was next in 1:03:00 just one second ahead of 2017 World University Games half marathon gold medalist Kei Katanishi, and in 4th came 2:05 marathoner Ichitaka Yamashita. Olympic team alternate Ai Hosoda won the women's race in 1:09:31, 2:23 marathoner Mao Kiyota was 2nd in 1:12:50 and, Shiori Yoshizono and Reia Iwade were 3-4 in 1:13:04 and 1:13:15, both finishing just ahead of Yuki Kawauchi who was 84th among men in 1:13:37.

Japan-resident Kenyan Benjamin Ngandu won the marathon division in Hakodate in 2:17:36, the only runner to clear 2:20. The women's race went to high-volume amateur Tomomi Sawahata, 1st by almost 15 minutes in 2:42:27. Complete results for both races here.

Also in Hokkaido Sunday, after setting a national record of 6:06:08 at the Lake Saroma 100 km Ultramarathon, Jumpei Yamaguchi was back to win again win 6:10:04. Last year Yamaguchi went through the marathon in 2:31:39 and slipped off sub-6 hour pace just before 60 km, which he hit in 3:37:09. This time he was even more aggressive, going through the marathon in 2:26:21, 50 km in 2:54:46 and 60 km in 3:32:15, well on track for sub-6. At 70 km he was on pace for 6:00:17, still over 5 minutes under world record pace, but a 41:55 split from 70 to 80 km cost him the record. Always strong in the final stages, Yamaguchi rallied with a 38:34 from 80 to 90 km and a 37:23 from there to the finish, but the record was out of reach for another year.

Tomoya Watanabe was with Yamaguchi through halfway before backing off to hold steady at around 4:00/km the rest of the way, taking 2nd in 6:14:57. World champion Haruki Okayama started slower, 2:27:54 at the marathon and 2:56:41 at 50 km, less steady than Watanabe over the second half but taking 3rd in 6:16:32.

In the women's race, last year's runner-up Mai Fujisawa took it out hard, 3:11 ahead of last year's winner Mikiko Ota at halfway in 3:41:20 and over 6 minutes up just 10 km later. But from there Ota started to close, and right before 80 km she passed Fujisawa for the lead, going on to win in 7:45:12. 24-hour world record breaker Miho Nakata, 4th at Lake Saroma last year, started a lot more conservatively, 4:11:45 at halfway, but held her pace better than either Ota or Fujisawa, clocking the fastest splits at every 10 km checkpoint from 60 km to the end. 8 minutes back from Fujisawa with 10 km to go, Nakata ran her down for 2nd in 7:54:39, Fujisawa staggering in 4 minutes later in 7:58:48 for 3rd.

Ryu Arai took the men's 50 km in 3:20:58 and Hina Shiozaki the women's 50 km in 4:09:59, but it was a sign of the difference in the level of the two distances at Lake Saroma that both were far behind the 50 km splits of the top people in the 100 km. Complete results here.

Japanese Olympic Trials Day One Preview

Japan's Olympic trials, doubling as the National Championships and National U20 Championships , start tomorrow at Niigata's massive Denka Big Swan Stadium. In a lot of events it's more of a question of whether anyone is going to make the Paris team than who is going to fill the three spots, but it's still a National Championships and there's a lot of good competition ahead. Live results will be here . Breaking down the senior events on Thursday's schedule with top people making the starting lists: Finals Men's Hammer Throw Final - 15:00 Defending national champ Shota Fukuda is the only one close to the Paris quota of 32, currently at 39th. A win close to his 73.91 m season best would put him just 2 or 3 points out of the quota. Ryota Kashimura and Tatsuto Nakagawa have both thrown over 72 m recently and could take the national title away if Fukuda is off his best. Shota Fukuda (Sumitomo Denko) - 73.91 m SB / PB Ryota Kashimura (Yamada Holdings) - 72.92 m

Aoki Almost a Lock for Paris - Japanese Olympic Trials Day One

Japan's National Track and Field Championships and U20 National Track and Field Championships, doubling as its trials for the Paris Olympics team, got rolling Thursday at Niigata's Denka Big Swan Stadium. Highlights below, complete results here . Finals Men's 3000 m SC Final One of the favorites, Seiya Sunada fell on the barrier coming into the home straight on the second lap and ultimately finished 2nd to last. Yutaro Niinae took over after a 2:52 first 1000 m and led the rest of the way, pushing the pace until by the bell it was just him, Chuo University 's 19-year-old Daichi Shibata and mile NR holder Ryoma Aoki . All three were still together in the last 100 m, but Aoki had the gear to win it in 8:24.21, his first time under 8:30 since last October. Shibata was next in 8:24.68, a PB by 18 seconds, and Niinae 3rd in 8:25.45, a 3-second PB. Already 27th of 36 in the Paris quota, Aoki is pretty much a lock to make the Paris Olympics along with NR holder Ryuji Miura

17-yr-old Ochiai 1:45.82 U20 NR - Japanese Olympic Trials Day Three

Following yesterday's five new Japanese National Track and Field Championships meet records, two more meet records fell on day three, both less than 0.1 off the national records and one an incredible new U20 NR. Complete results here . Finals Women's 5000 m Final Wakana Kabasawa and Rina Kusu both had a shot at making the Paris Olympics if they finished 2nd behind NR holder Nozomi Tanaka in the low 15:20s, but when the race set off at a jog their chances were pretty much gone after the first lap. Having tuned up in the 800 m heats, Tanaka eventually pulled away for the win in 15:23.72, ensuring that she'll double in Paris. Currently 36th of 42 in the Paris quota, Yuma Yamamoto made enough of a comeback from injury to take 2nd in 15:34.64 a few steps ahead of teammate Chikako Mori , pretty much guaranteeing Yamamoto will be in Paris too. But Kusu and Kabasawa were only 6th and 9th, neither clearing even 15:40. With Ririka Hironaka injured it looks likely Japan will o

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