by Brett Larner Despite cross-country playing only a minor part in the Japanese distance running calendar, Japan is sending a full squad of 24 to this Sunday's World Cross-Country Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland. The senior men's team is made up almost exclusively of university runners from the Kanto region, with only pro steeplechaser Hiroyoshi Umegae (Team NTN) breaking the mold. The top man on the team is Meiji University's Tetsuya Yoroizaka , winner of this year's Fukuoka International XC Meet and top Japanese finisher at the Chiba International XC Meet. A surprising absence is Saku Chosei H.S. graduate Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin), replaced in the lineup by Minato Oishi (Chuo Univ.). Running on his 19th birthday, Fukuoka XC senior men's runner-up and Saku Chosei H.S. alumnus Akinobu Murasawa (Tokai Univ.) is in the junior men's race. Fresh from training in New Zealand and with a 59:08 road 20 km to his name since last year's World XC, Murasa...
the world's window into elite japanese distance running, since 2007