japan running news

With the traditionally season-opening Oda Memorial Meet coming a week late this year the outdoor track season got started with two main time trial meets Saturday. Runners from the Toenec corporate team dominated Aichi's Chukyo University Saturday Time Trials, with Daichi Takeuchi following up his runner-up finish at last month's Inuyama 10 km with a win in 13:42.57 over Kenyan Nicholas Kiplimo (Aichi Seiko). His teammate Daiji Kawai returned from a 2:10:50 at Lake Biwa to take 3rd in 13:51.52. The B-heat was also decently quick, winner Ryusei Takahashi (Aichi Seiko) just dipping under 14 minutes in 13:59.00. Usually maxing out at 3000 m at this point in the season, this time around Tokyo's Setagaya Time Trials featured both women's and men's 5000 m and even a men's 10000 m. Kenyan Grace Kimanzi (Starts) won the women's 5000 m in 15:43.53, with Hakone Ekiden Fifth Stage winner Yuhei Urano (Koku Gakuin Univ.) taking the fastest men's heat in 13:...

Saturday’s main event was a time trial meet in remote Miyazaki, the Golden Games in Nobeoka. With a heavy emphasis on 5000 m, the biggest news of the day was split between the two men who ran 2:06 at Feburary’s Tokyo Marathon, national record holder Yuta Shitara (Honda) and Hiroto Inoue (MHPS). Having taken time off after Tokyo, Shitara returned to action in the lone 10000 m in Nobeoka but was unable to stay in the action, ultimately dropping out of the race won in 28:00.49 by local boy Shuho Dairokuno (Asahi Kasei). Inoue, for his part, rocketed back into post-Tokyo action with a 13:38.44 PB in the 5000 m A-heat, outkicking 10000 m national record holder Kota Murayama (Asahi Kasei) for the win. Shitara and Inoue's results capped an interesting weekend for the current main four contenders for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic marathon team. Like Shitara, 5000 m national record holder Suguru Osako (Nike Oregon Project) was a DNF over 10000 m, opting to run Stateside at Stanford . Bo...