Skip to main content

Time Trials Japanese Style: The 199th Nittai University Kirokukai

by Brett Larner



Several universities around Tokyo hold monthly open time trials. Anyone from beginner joggers to Olympians is free to run distances from 1500 m to 10000 m in heats seeded by personal best time. The Nihon Taiku University* Kirokukai series of time trials is perhaps the most popular. The November 22nd edition, the 199th in Nittai's series, focused on the 5000 m, with 26 heats of 5000 m and 4 heats of women's 3000 m stretched out over 12 hours from 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. 30 to 45 runners ran in each heat, some of which included designated pacemakers. Heats early in the day were slower and featured mostly amateurs, while the later heats were filled with high school, university and jitsugyodan professionals tuning up for their championship ekidens.



Among the noteworthy runners on hand was Arata Fujiwara (Team JR Higashi Nihon), a 2:08:40 marathoner who was the alternate for the Beijing Olympics men's marathon team. Fujiwara is competing in the Fukuoka International Marathon on Dec. 7 in an attempt to make the Japanese men's marathon team for the 2009 Berlin World Championships. He ran the Nittai Kirokukai as a tuneup for Fukuoka, running 14:34.73 in Heat 27 at 7:30 p.m., then returning 5 minutes later to run 14:28.75 in Heat 28 at 7:50 p.m. Fujiwara looked loose and relaxed, practicing a long push finish in both heats. His lack of a last kick suggested he has been running high mileage in the leadup to Fukuoka.



Other interesting heats included number 24, a women's 5000 m heat which saw Team Uniqlo's Kenyan Danielle Filomena Cheyech battle Team Hitachi's new 18 year old Kenyan Doricah Obare. Obare won in a PB of 15:21.08 despite fading in the final kilometers. Cheyech, who has been in poor form during the fall after a superb spring season, dropped to 5th, clipped at the line by Ritsumeikan University's outstanding first year Michi Numata.



Sendai Ikuei, Japan's top running high school and alma mater of Kenyan greats Samuel Wanjiru and Daniel Njenga, dominated Heat 29, with Wataru Ueno and Kenyan Steven Karuno frontrunning a field made up almost entirely of professionals. Surprisingly Karuno faded, while Ueno held off several challenges in the last lap to with with an impressive sprint finish in 14:13.34.



Sendai Ikuei rival Aomori Yamada High School fielded its Kenyan Michael Getange against the fastest field of the day in Heat 30. Getange ran 14:04.36 to easily win over the likes Tomohiko Sumi (Team Toyota Boshoku), a recent jitsugyodan recruit after a career as a top member of Nittai University's Hakone Ekiden team.

The 200th Nittai Kirokukai takes place in December.

*Abbreviated to 'Nittai.'

(c) 2008 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Weekend Racing Roundup

  China saw a new men's national record of 2:06:57 from  Jie He  at the Wuxi Marathon Sunday, but in Japan it was a relatively quiet weekend with mostly cold and rainy amateur-level marathons across the country. At the Tokushima Marathon , club runner Yuhi Yamashita  won the men's race by almost 4 1/2 minutes in 2:17:02, the fastest Japanese men's time of the weekend, but oddly took 22 seconds to get across the starting line. The women's race saw a close finish between the top two, with Shiho Iwane  winning in 2:49:33 over Ayaka Furukawa , 2nd in 2:49:46.  At the 41st edition of the Sakura Marathon in Chiba, Yukie Matsumura  (Comodi Iida) ran the fastest Japanese women's time of the weekend, 2:42:45, to take the win. Club runner Yuki Kuroda  won the men's race in 2:20:08.  Chika Yokota  won the Saga Sakura Marathon women's race in 2:49:33.  Yuki Yamada  won the men's race in 2:21:47 after taking the lead in the final 2 km.  Naoki Inoue  won the 16th r

Japan's Olympic Marathon Team Meets the Press

With renewed confidence, Japan's Olympic marathon team will face the total 438 m elevation difference hills of Paris this summer. The members of the women's and men's marathon teams for August's Paris Olympics appeared at a press conference in Tokyo on Mar. 25 in conjunction with the Japan Marathon Championship Series III (JMC) awards gala. Women's Olympic trials winner Yuka Suzuki (Daiichi Seimei) said she was riding a wave of motivation in the wake of the new women's national record. When she watched Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) set the record at January's Osaka International Women's Marathon on TV, Suzuki said she was, "absolutely stunned." Her coach Sachiko Yamashita told her afterward, "When someone breaks the NR, things change," and Suzuki found herself saying, "I want to take my shot." After training for a great run in Paris, she said, "I definitely want to break the NR in one of my marathons after that." Mao

Takeuchi Wins Niigata Half in Boston Tune-Up

Running in cold, windy and rainy conditions, Ryoma Takeuchi (ND Software) warmed up for April's Boston Marathon with a win at Wednesday's Niigata Half Marathon . Takeuchi sat behind Nittai University duo Susumu Yamazaki and Ryuga Ishikawa in the early stages, then made a series of pushes to pick up the pace. Each time he tucked in behind whoever went to the front, while behind them others dropped off. Before 15 km only Yamazaki and Riki Koike of Soka University were left, and when Takeuchi went to the front the last time after 15 km only Koike followed. By 16 he was gone too, leaving Takeuchi to solo it in to the win in 1:03:13 with a 17-second negative split. "This was my last fitness check before the Boston Marathon next month, and my time was right on-target," he said post-race. "Everything went as planned. I'm looking forward to racing some of the world's best in Boston, and my goal there is to place in the single digits." Just back from tr