Chiba Cross Country to determine Japanese World Cross teams – Preview

Besides two 3km races for junior high school runners, six other races – men’s 12km, men’s 4km, women’s 6km, junior men’s 8km, junior men’s 4km, and junior women’s 5km – will be held.  Four of them – men’s 12km, women’s 6km, junior men’s 8km and junior women’s 5km – will be selection races for the upcoming World Cross Country Championships.

Three runners from abroad – Ricardo Ribas of Portugal, Shin Hyun-Soo of Korea and Sam Crowther of Australia – are invited in the men’s 12km.  Ribas is arguably the best foreign runner with a 46th place finish at the 2009 European Cross Country Championships in Dublin last December.  He was 27th in Chiba Cross Country in 2007.

The best Japanese in the field is Yuki Sato, the fastest active 10,000m runner in Japan. Twenty-three years old Sato, who has the best of 27:38.25 at 10,000m, is considered to be the most promising young distance runner in Japan. He competed in the World Cross Country Championships three times and finished 4th at 10,000m at the 2005 World University Games. 

His rival since high school days, Hidekazu Sato (no relation) is also entered. However, the runner who will attract most attention is twenty years old Ryuji Kashiwabara, for he recorded the stage best at famed Hakone Ekiden (Collegiate Ekiden) for the last two years.

Because of his fantastic run in the Hakone Ekiden, Kashiwabara was featured in the front cover of the February issue of Track and Field Magazine of Japan as well as Monthly Track and Field. He is known for his tenacity, and very good uphill runner. Kashiwabara was 34th in the junior race at the 2008 World Cross Country Championships, 7th at 10,000m in the 2008 World Junior Championships, and 8th at 10,000m in 2009 World University Games.