The 23rd edition of Fukuoka Cross Country races take place this Saturday 7 March at the venue used for the 2006 World Cross Country Championships in Fukuoka, Japan. 

The event is the last of the season’s IAAF Cross Country Permit meetings, and so the final global pointer to form ahead of the 37th IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Amman, Jordan on Saturday 28 March.

Of the eight races scheduled on Saturday, four races - junior men’s 8Km, junior women’s 6Km, men’s 10Km and women’s 6Km – are Japanese selection races for the upcoming World Cross Country Championships. 

MEN

In the men’s 10Km race two runners - Joseph Kiptoo Birech of Kenya and Jay Twist of Australia - are invited from abroad.  Birech, 2007 Kenyan national champion at 10,000m, was 13th in the All African Games in Alger. 

However, since Fukuoka is a qualifying race for the World Cross it is the Japanese we will concentrate on.  The top invited runners for the men’s 10Km are Atsushi Sato, Takayuki Matsumiya, Yu Mitsuya, Yuki Sato, Satoru Kitamura and Yoshitaka Iwamizu.  

Atsushi Sato, who ran the marathon in the Beijing Olympics, is the national half marathon record (1:00:25) holder. He has a marathon best of 2:07:13, recorded in the 2007 Fukuoka Marathon. 

Takayuki Matsumiya, who ran both 5000m and 10,000m in the Beijing Olympic Games, is the world record holder at road 30Km (1:28:00).  He also holds national 5000m record.  Yu Mitsuya ran 10,000m in the 2005 World Championships and 5000m in the 2007 World Championships. 

Yuki Sato and Satoru Kitamura, 22 and 23-years-old respectively, are future of distance running in Japan.  Sato has 10,000m best of 27:51.65 and 5000m best of 13:23.57, while Kitamura has 10,000m best of 28:00.22.  Both ran in the World Cross Country Championships three times, in 2004, 2005 and 2008. 

Finally, Iwamizu is national record holder at 3000m Steeplechase.  Other invited runners are Makoto Fukui, Yuta Takahashi,  Suehiro Ishikawa, Hiroyoshi Umegae, Naoki Okamoto and Hideaki Date, who have finished third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth, respectively in the Chiba Cross Country race,  and thus have good chance of making the World Cross team if they finish near the top again.

Among the men, Mitsuya and Matsumiya are in best shape recently.  Mitsuya won Karatsu 10 miler on February 8 with 47:04 and then won Kumanichi 30Km road race with 1:29:55 on February 22.  Mitsuya also set a stage best at the 8.5Km stage 3, while Matsumiya was second fastest in the 13Km stage 7, both at Inter-Prefectural Men’s Ekiden in January.

WOMEN

In the women’s 6Km, Kseniya Agafonova, the 2007 World University Games champion and has a 10,000m best of 31:47.14, is invited from Russia.

The best invited Japanese are Yurika Nakamura, Yoshika Tatsumi, and Kazue Kojima.

Nakamura, who was seventh at 2006 World Road Running Championships and fifteenth in the junior division of 2005 World Cross Country Championships, ran the marathon in the Beijing Olympics. 

Tatsumi, a former longer sprinter, is now concentrating on the steeple, having run the 3000m Steeplechase in the 2007 World Championships in Osaka. 

Kojima was 17th in the junior division of 2005 World Cross Country Championships. A year later she was 15th. 

Other invited runners are Yuko Shimizu, Machiko Iwakawa and Fumiko Hashimoto, who have finished first, fifth and sixth, respectively in the Chiba Cross Country race three weeks ago, and thus are in good position to make the World Cross team, provided they again finish well. 

Among the women, Nakamura, Kojima and Shimizu are in best shape.  In the Inter-Prefectural Women’s Ekiden in January, Nakamura recorded the stage best in the stage 1 (6Km), while Kojima and Shimizu were second and fourth fastest, respectively in stage 9 (10km).

JUNIORS

In the junior men’s race, Akinobu Murasawa, Tetsuya Yoroizaka, Kazuto Nishiike, Kazuhiro Kuga, Keita Shitara, and Keita Chiba, the top six finishers from Chiba Cross Country race are invited to Fukuoka Cross Country. 

Similarly for junior women’s race, top six finishers from Chiba Cross Country race – Chitose Shibata, Nanaka Izawa, Emi Kameyama, Akane Yabushita, Asami Kato and Erika Ikeda - are invited.  They will all try to solidify their position in the race to make the World Cross team.  Amongh the men, Murasawa is in best shape. Not only he was very impressive in winning Chiba Cross Country by 18 seconds margin, but he was also superb in Inter-Prefectural Men’s Ekiden, where he recorded the stage best by 43 seconds in stage 5 (8.5Km). 

Ken Nakamura for the IAAF

Invited Runners

Men's 10Km

Joseph Kiptoo Birech  (KEN)  
Jay Twist  (AUS)

Japanese
Atsushi Sato
Takayuki Matsumiya
Yu Mitsuya
Yuki Sato
Kenji Noguchi
Terukazu Omori
Satoru Kitamura
Yoshitaka Iwamizu
Hidekazu Sato
Yasuhiro Tago
Hiroyoshi Umegae
Aoi Matsumoto
Makoto Fukui
Yuta Takahashi
Suehiro Ishikawa
Naoki Okamoto
Hideaki Date

Women's 6Km

Kseniya Agafonova (RUS) 

Japanese
Yurika Nakamura
Yoshika Tatsumi
Kazue Kojima
Michi Numata
Yuko Shimizu
Machiko Iwakawa
Fumiko Hashimoto

Junior Men's 8Km

Yutaro Fukushi 
Akinobu Murasawa
Wataru Ueno
Hirotaka Tamura
Kenta Chiba
Tsubasa Fujii
Shota Yamazaki
Yuki Maeda
Yuya Konishi
Dai Nakahara
Suguru Osako
Tetsuya Yoroizaka
Kazuto Nishiike
Kazuhiro Kuga
Keita Shitara

Junior Women's 6Km

Ayaka Mori
Ikumi Natsuhara
Yukino Ninomiya
Aya Ito
Rei Ohara
Saki Nakamichi
Erika Ikeda
Ai Kuboki
Atsuko Matsumura
Chitose Shibata 
Nanaka Izawa
Emi Kameyama
Akane Yabushita
Asami Kato
Aki Otagiri