Meseret Defar of Ethiopia wins the 3000m in Birmingham (© Getty Images)
The 19th annual Fukuoka International Cross Country – IAAF permit – meeting will be held on Sunday 6 March on Umi-no-Nakamichi Cross Country Course in the city of Fukuoka, Japan, the future site of the 2006 World Cross Country Championships.
Fukuoka, along with the previously held Chiba Cross Country race, doubles as the national selection race for the upcoming 2005 World Cross Country Championships in France. The Japanese World Cross Country team will be determined from the combined results of Chiba and Fukuoka races. Basically, points of 9, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1 will be given to the top eight Japanese in each race. The runners with the highest total combined points from the two races will be selected for the Worlds team.
WOMEN – Defar defies cross country dislike
The reigning Olympic 5000m champion, Meseret Defar of Ethiopia, despite expressing her dislike of cross country races during the interview at the Chiba Ekiden last November, is scheduled to run the Fukuoka Cross Country race. Defar is in great shape, having recorded 8:30.05 and 8:33.05 for the indoor 3000m in the Boston and Birmingham respectively, and ast Sunday recorded a huge stage record (15:39 for 5.195Km) in the Yokohama International Women’s Ekiden.
Her main competition is from the reigning World Marathon champion Catherine Ndereba of Kenya. Ndereba, Olympic Marathon silver medallist, was second in the San Silvestro 10Km in Madrid on the New Year’s Eve and 13th in the Kenyan World Cross Country Trials. More recently she recorded the third fastest (33:15) 10Km stage in the Yokohama International Women’s Ekiden.
Japanese opponents
In addition, the top five runners from the Chiba Cross Country races – Miwako Yamanaka, Miki Ohira, Kayo Sugihara, Shiori Ishiyama, and Yoshiko Ichikawa - are back to run in Fukuoka, in a quest for World Cross team berths. Having won the Chiba Cross Country 6Km race, Yamanaka, who was fourth in the 2002 World Cross Country Championships, seems to be regaining her old form. Yamanaka also recorded the second fastest 6Km stage (19:15) at the 2005 Inter-Prefectural Ekiden. Ohira, who set personal best at both 10,000m (31:54.44) and Half Marathon (1:10:13), was seventh in the Fukuoka Cross Country last year.
In the women’s junior race, top eight finishers from the Chiba Cross Country are back to contest the Fukuoka Cross Country race. Hitomi Niiya, who won the Chiba race last two years, is a prohibitive favourite for this 4Km race. She is in superb shape as witnessed by her recent ekiden where she recorded 18:53 for the uphill 6Km. Yuri Suzuki second in Chiba Cross country and fifth at 3000m in the 2004 national inter-high school championships, is a latest rising star. Akane Wakita, fourth in Chiba, was also fourth at 5000m in the 2004 JPN national junior championships.
MEN – Yuda is principal foreign entrant
John Yuda of Tanzania, who was second in the 2002 World Cross has been invited to contest the men’s 10Km race. Yuda is also an accomplished road runner, having finished third in both the 2001 and 2002 World Half Marathon Championships.
Japanese opponents
In addition, the winner of the Chiba Cross Country race, Samuel Wanjiru of Kenya, along with the top five Japanese finishers in the Chiba race – Yuki Nakamura, Terukazu Omori, Yuki Matsuoka, Kensuke Takahashi and Masaru Takamizawa – are also back to race another cross country.
Omori (27:43.94, 10,000m in 2004), who won the Lake Biwa Cross Country race last December immediately after returning from the high altitude training in Kunming, CHN, more recently, recorded the stage record (23:26 for 8.5Km) in the 2005 Inter-Prefectural Men’s Ekiden championships in January. Yuki Nakamura, a team-mate of Toshinari Takaoka in Kanebo track team, is known for his blazing kick. Challenging the older runners in the senior race are the two best high school runners in Japan, Yuki Sato and Hidekazu Sato (no relation), who finished first and second in the junior race at the Chiba.
Three runners - Kenta Oshima, Yu Mitsuya and Toshihiro Iwasa - although they did not place in the Chiba race, are contenders in Fukuoka. Mitsuya, who was second in Fukuoka last year, is one of the most promising young runners in Japan. He is coached by Olympic Marathon silver medallist Koichi Morishita. Oshima (27:53.95 in 2004 and 27:54.88 in 2003 for 10,000m) is a former soccer player, and made his marathon debut in Beppu in February, and although dropping out at 37Km stayed with the leader until 31Km. Iwasa, the 2003 national 10000m champion, has a marathon best of 2:10:17. He was 14th in the Fukuoka Cross Country last year.
Although the top two finishers at the men’s junior race in Chiba, Yuki Sato and Hidekazu Sato, are running the senior race instead in Fukuoka, other top finishers, including third through to the sixth placers in Chiba are back to contest the Fukuoka race on Sunday. Harumoto Kawano, who was third in Chiba, was one place behind Hidekazu Sato in the 2004 national high school ekiden, while Hiroyuki Ono, who was fourth in Chiba, was one place behind Hidekazu Sato at the 2005 Inter-Prefectural ekiden.
Ken Nakamura for the IAAF
Invited Runners:
Men 10Km
John Yuda (TAN)
Samuel Wanjiru (KEN) 1st Chiba XC
Yuki Nakamura 3rd Chiba XC
Terukazu Omori 4th Chiba XC
Yuki Matsuoka 5th Chiba XC
Kensuke Takahashi 6th Chiba XC
Masaru Takamizawa 7th Chiba XC
Kazuharu Takai 3rd Chiba XC Short Course
Kenta Oshima
Yoji Yamaguchi
Yu Mitsuya
Yoshinori Oda
Toshihiro Iwasa
Yuki Sato 1st Chiba XC Junior
Hidekazu Sato 2nd Chiba XC Junior
Women 6Km
Meseret Defar (ETH)
Catherine Ndereba (KEN)
Melissa Moon (NZL)
Milisent Kariuki (KEN)
Miwako Yamanaka 1st Chiba XC
Miki Ohira 2nd Chiba XC
Kayo Sugihara 3rd Chiba XC
Shiori Ishiyama 4th Chiba XC
Yoshiko Ichikawa 5th Chiba XC
Natsumi Fujita 7th Chiba XC
Minori Hayakari 8th Chiba XC
Kazue Ogoshi
Yumi Sato
Junior Men’s 8Km
Harutomo Kawano 3rd Chiba XC
Hiroyuki Ono 4th Chiba XC
Takahiro Mori 5th Chiba XC
Satoru Kitamura 6th Chiba XC
Kazuyuki Ito 8th Chiba XC
Hirotaka Nagai 11th Chiba XC
Keiji Akutsu 18th Chiba XC
Tsuyoshi Ugachi 21st Chiba XC
Kazuya Takahashi
Takafumi Yanase
Junior Women’s 4Km
Hitomi Niiya 1st Chiba XC
Yuri Suzuki 2nd Chiba XC
Maya Iino 3rd Chiba XC
Akane Wakita 4th Chiba XC
Yuki Ohta 5th Chiba XC
Ayumi Takada 6th Chiba XC
Yukari Nakamura 7th Chiba XC
Kazue Kojima 8th Chiba XC
Yuko Nohara 11th Chiba XC
Yuriko Kobayashi 27th Chiba XC
Yae Nishiyama 17th Chiba XC
Chitose Osaki 22nd Chiba XC
Ayako Uchino
Mai Tanabe
