The Azencross-like rollers added challenge and intrigue to the 2014 Japan Cyclocross National Championships. photo: pigmon video
Sportsland SUGO in the town of Murata in the Miyagi Prefecture, Japan is no stranger to high-profile sporting events, having hosted Motocross World Championships and Superbike World Championships, along with annual Super GT and Super Formula car races. Two weeks ago the top cyclocrossers in Japan convened on the venue to battle for a human-powered title in the form of the 2014 Cyclocross National Championships. In years past, Japan and the US would often share the same weekend for their National Championships before USA Cycling moved its championships to January.
This year, with the championships held up north in the Miyagi Prefecture (where the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami struck in 2011), Mother Nature cooperated with some snow and mud on a very challenging track. The course used much of the motorcross track’s terrain, and with its giant run-up, a Azencross-like pump track, and sticky mud, delivered up a championship race and course worthy of world-class racing and rivaling European courses in difficulty. (Besides the giant run-ups, the course also looked like a ton of fun.)
Ayako Toyooka wins her 7th National Championship, but first since 2011. photo: pigmon video screenshot
At the end of the day, some familiar faces were back in National Championship jerseys, with Yu Takenouchi, fourth at both days of Nobeyama 2014, defending his 2013 title, and seven-time champion Ayako Toyooka, runner-up both days in Nobeyama, reclaiming her National Championship title she lost in 2012 to Sakiko Miyauchi (See Miyauchi’s unique carbon Author cyclocross bike profile here).
With her seventh title after a two-year hiatus, Toyooka was in tears of joy at the finish.
Perhaps the most impressive ride of the day? Ageless Masanori Kosaka, at 51, finishing third, five spots ahead of his 26-year-old son Hikaru.
In the Junior Men’s race, Ryo Takeuchi took the title, with the U23 race was won by Kota Yokoyama.
See the video and full UCI results below:
2014 Japan Cyclocross National Championship Video by Pigmon:
| Rank | Name | Nat. | Age* | Result | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Yu TAKENOUCHI | JPN | 26 | 59:15:00 | 100 |
| 2 | Motoshi KADOTA | JPN | 38 | 1:00:46 | 60 |
| 3 | Masanori KOSAKA | JPN | 51 | 1:01:18 | 40 |
| 4 | Yoshitaka HAMA | JPN | 30 | 1:03:31 | 30 |
| 5 | Kazuhiro YAMAMOTO | JPN | 32 | 1:03:53 | 25 |
| 6 | Seigo YAMAMOTO | JPN | 31 | 1:03:58 | 20 |
| 7 | Masayuki GODA | JPN | 40 | 1:04:26 | 15 |
| 8 | Hikaru KOSAKA | JPN | 26 | 10 | |
| 9 | Shintarou NAKAMA | JPN | 34 | 5 | |
| 10 | Syuntarou YAMAKAWA | JPN | 32 | 3 | |
| 11 | Toshio KUNII | JPN | 37 | ||
| 12 | Shinya IKEMOTO | JPN | 36 | ||
| 13 | Tomohiro SAITO | JPN | 37 | ||
| 14 | Toshihide SATO | JPN | 32 | ||
| 15 | Atsushi MARUYAMA | JPN | 36 | ||
| 16 | Kouji MUKOUYAMA | JPN | 36 | ||
| 17 | Kazushi MIKAMI | JPN | 42 | ||
| 18 | Daisuke YANO | JPN | 42 | ||
| 19 | Hiroaki KANEKO | JPN | 30 | ||
| 20 | Ryoji NEMOTO | JPN | 32 | ||
| 21 | Masato SAMATA | JPN | 38 | ||
| 22 | Katsuhisa BABA | JPN | 37 | ||
| 23 | Makoto KAWAMURA | JPN | 26 | ||
| 24 | Kenji YOGO | JPN | 46 | ||
| 25 | Kenichi IL | JPN | 47 | ||
| 26 | Takashi MAKINO | JPN | 41 | ||
| 27 | Tomova HACHISUKA | JPN | 38 | ||
| 28 | Yoshinori SUZUKI | JPN | 27 | ||
| 29 | Masanori KUNIYOSHI | JPN | 42 | ||
| 30 | Yukihiro DOI | JPN | 31 | ||
| 31 | Ryutaro NAKAMURA | JPN | 24 | ||
| 32 | Akio SOGA | JPN | 43 | ||
| 33 | Nobuhiko TANABE | JPN | 31 | ||
| 34 | Natsuki YAMADA | JPN | 46 | ||
| 35 | Maeda NAO | JPN | 34 | ||
| 36 | Satoru KUCHIKI | JPN | 38 | ||
| 37 | Shuhei YANAI | JPN | 27 | ||
| 38 | Isamu OKURA | JPN | 22 | ||
| 39 | Yuya MURAYAMA | JPN | 22 | ||
| 40 | Yuichi SAWADA | JPN | 45 | ||
| 41 | Manabu NEMOTO | JPN | 36 | ||
| 42 | Yuki OCHIAI | JPN | 31 | ||
| 43 | Hirohide KUBOTA | JPN | 33 | ||
| 44 | Yasumasa SAWADA | JPN | 49 | ||
| 45 | Wataru SHIBATA | JPN | 35 | ||
| 46 | Jin KANAI | JPN | 40 | ||
| 47 | Yoshiniro OGAWA | JPN | 41 | ||
| 48 | Shinji IWANAMI | JPN | 43 | ||
| 49 | Hirohiko ITO | JPN | 43 | ||
| 50 | Kenji MURATA | JPN | 31 | ||
| 51 | Katsunori TOYODA | JPN | 26 | ||
| 52 | Teisuke MORIMOTO | JPN | 40 | ||
| 53 | Satoshi INAGAKI | JPN | 29 |
| Rank | Name | Nat. | Age* | Result | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ayako TOYOOKA | JPN | 34 | 41:02:00 | 100 |
| 2 | Sakiko MIYAUCHI | JPN | 39 | 41:37:00 | 60 |
| 3 | Waka TAKEDA | JPN | 22 | 46:11:00 | 40 |
| 4 | Michiko KAWASAKI | JPN | 36 | 47:40:00 | 30 |
| 5 | Mikako SUZUKI | JPN | 40 | 52:06:00 | 25 |
| 6 | Mutsumi SUDOU | JPN | 45 | 20 | |
| 7 | Yukie HAYASHIGUCHI | JPN | 41 | 15 | |
| 8 | Mihoko MORI | JPN | 42 | 10 | |
| 9 | Michiho WATANUKI | JPN | 43 | 5 | |
| 10 | Chihiro ITO | JPN | 31 | 3 |
| Rank | Name | Nat. | Age* | Result | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ryo TAKEUCHI | JPN | 17 | 37:06:00 | 30 |
| 2 | Masaki YAMADA | JPN | 17 | 38:39:00 | 20 |
| 3 | Tatsuyoshi HINO | JPN | 16 | 39:51:00 | 15 |
| 4 | Hijiri ODA | JPN | 16 | 41:15:00 | 12 |
| 5 | Takumi FUJITA | JPN | 17 | 44:26:00 | 10 |
| 6 | Takuma SAITO | JPN | 17 | 45:06:00 | 8 |
| 7 | Takehiro ABE | JPN | 17 | 6 |
