Course Records at Kasumigaura and Tokushima Marathons (updated)

by Brett Larner

Two of the three quality Japanese marathons this weekend saw their course records fall, with the third featuring an Eastern European sweep.  At the Nagano Marathon, cross-country great Serhiy Lebid (Ukraine) staged a head-to-head battle with Japan-based Mongolian national record holder Ser-od Bat-Ochir (Team NTN), only pulling away in the final two km to get the win in 2:13:56 to Bat-Ochir's 2:14:04. 2:11 man Taiga Ito (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) was 3rd in 2:15:20.  In the women's race Japanese hopeful Rika Shintaku (Team Shimamura) tried to match Russian Alina Prokopeva but fell short.  Prokopeva pushed on steadily at 2:30 pace with only Shintaku for company before pulling away early in the second half for the win in 2:30:56.  Shintaku faded badly to 2:36:02, nearly run down by Shoko Shimizu (Team Aichi Denki) who took 3rd in 2:37:21 off a far more conservative first half.

Kawauchi's silent one-man show at the Tokushima Marathon.  Race starts around 35 minutes.  Watch with music.

At the Tokushima Marathon the iconoclastic Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) came up just shy of Ito's time but still took nearly 7 minutes off the course record to win in 2:15:25.  Running completely solo he set off at a planned 2:12 pace but was forced to take a 3-minute toilet break near 27 km.  Frustrated at the lost time, he recorded one of the fastest closing splits of his career, 6:39 from 40 km to the finish, to win by 8 minutes.  Of his four marathons so far this year this was his third course record, a final tuneup for the May 4 Hamburg Marathon where he hopes to get his fastest time of the season, one well below the 2:10:14 course record he set at February's Kumamoto-jo Marathon.  Tokushima women's winner Chika Tawara (Fukuoka T&F Assoc.) also improved the course record by a wide margin, taking nearly 8 minutes off the old record with a new mark of 2:45:50.


The rest of the show post-pit stop.

At the Boston Marathon, Koichi Sakai (Team Fujitsu) was just seconds off his PB, finishing 14th in 2:14:56.  Hopeful of a solid performance, 2011 Tokyo Marathon women's winner Noriko Higuchi (Team Wacoal), a teammate of Moscow World Championships marathon bronze medalist Kayoko Fukushi, struggled on the tough Boston course and finished 21st in 2:33:39.

The fastest time of the weekend by a Japanese man came unexpectedly at the Kasumigaura Marathon in Ibaraki prefecture northeast of Tokyo, where Atsushi Hasegawa (Team Subaru) ran a PB 2:14:20 to take over 3 minutes off the race's 12-year-old record, front-running the race from the start to get there.  Women's winner Yumi Sato (Tsuruoka T&F Assoc.) ran a more conservative 2:53:29 for the win, well off Kasumigaura's 2:42:17 women's course record.  In the accompanying ten-miler, sub-2:10 marathoner Masashi Hayashi (Team Yakult) had a narrow win over Hakone Ekiden runner Toshinori Watanabe (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) 48:47 to 48:52, in one of the deepest editions in the race's history.  Ruka Nakamura (Tokyo Nogyo Univ.) took the women's division in 56:53.

16th Nagano Marathon
Nagano, 4/20/14
click here for complete results

Men
1. Serhiy Lebid (Ukraine) - 2:13:56
2. Ser-Od Bat-Ochir (Mongolia/Team NTN) - 2:14:04
3. Taiga Ito (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 2:15:20
4. Ryoichi Matsuo (Team Asahi Kasei) - 2:15:50
5. Sho Matsumoto (Nikkei Business) - 2:16:36

Women
1. Alina Prokopeva (Russia) - 2:30:56
2. Rika Shintaku (Team Shimamura) - 2:36:02
3. Shoko Shimizu (Team Aichi Denki) - 2:37:21
4. Risa Takemura (Team Kyudenko) - 2:37:43
5. Yumiko Kinoshita (Second Wind AC) - 2:39:38 - PB

24th Kasumigaura Marathon
Tsuchiura, Ibaraki, 4/20/14
complete results coming shortly

Men's Marathon
1. Atsushi Hasegawa (Team Subaru) - 2:14:20 - CR, PB

Women's Marathon
1. Yumi Sato (Tsuruoka T&F Assoc.) - 2:53:29

Men's 10 Miles
1. Masashi Hayashi (Team Yakult) - 48:47
2. Toshinori Watanabe (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 48:52
3. Yuji Serunarudo (Soka Univ.) - 49:04
4. Takuya Nishizawa (Juntendo Univ.) - 49:12
5. Harutomo Kawano (Tokyo Police Dep't) - 49:15

Women's 10 Miles
1. Ruka Nakamura (Tokyo Nogyo Univ.) - 56:53

118th Boston Marathon
Boston, MA, 4/21/14
click here for complete results

Men
1. Meb Keflezighi (U.S.A.) - 2:08:37 - PB
2. Wilson Chebet (Kenya) - 2:08:48
3. Franklin Chepkwony (Kenya) - 2:08:50
4. Vitaliy Shafar (Ukraine) - 2:09:37 - PB
5. Markos Geneti (Ethiopia) - 2:09:50
-----
14. Koichi Sakai (Team Fujitsu) - 2:14:56

Women
1. Rita Jeptoo (Kenya) - 2:18:57 - CR, PB
2. Buzunesh Deba (Ethiopia) - 2:19:59 - (CR) - PB
3. Mare Dibaba (Ethiopia) - 2:20:35 (CR)
4. Jemima Jelagat Sumgong (Kenya) - 2:20:41 (CR) - PB
5. Meselech Melkamu (Ethiopia) - 2:21:28
-----
21. Noriko Higuchi (Team Wacoal) - 2:33:39

6th Tokushima Marathon 
Tokushima, 4/20/14
complete results coming shortly

Men
1. Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) - 2:15:25 - CR

(c) 2014 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Chepyego and Malel Set 10000 m World Leads at Hyogo Relay Carnival

by Brett Larner
videoes by Ekiden News



2014 World Half Marathon Championships bronze medalist Sally Chepyego Kaptich (Kenya/Team Kyudenko) returned to competition this weekend, dominating the women's Grand Prix 10000 m with a world-leading 31:28.07 just a few seconds off her best at the 62nd edition of the Hyogo Relay Carnival in Kobe. Ayumi Hagiwara (Team Uniqlo), one of the big hopes for the next generation of Japanese women, was next across the line in 31:50.85 just ahead of collegiate road 10 km national record holder Kasumi Nishihara (Team Yamada Denki) who cleared 32 for the first time in 31:53.69.  2014 Marugame Half Marathon winner Eri Makikawa (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) just missed making it four under the 32 minute mark, running a sizable PB of 32:00.25 for 4th.  19-year-old half marathon junior national record holder Reia Iwade (Team Noritz) cleared her goal of a sub-32:30 debut, running 32:24.38 for 8th.



Newcomer William Malel Sitonek (Kenya/Team Honda) continued to blossom under Japanese coaching in the men's Grand Prix 10000 m, running a world-leading PB of 27:25.56 to outrun top Japan-based Kenyans Edward Waweru (Team NTN) and Bedan Karoki (DeNA RC).  2013 National University Ekiden champion Komazawa University star Kenta Murayama, who ran an all-time Japanese #3 1:00:50 in Marugame in February at age 20, became the first Komazawa runner to break 28 minutes as he took 4th in 27:49.94, the best time ever by a Japanese university runner on Japanese soil.  His Copenhagen World Half Marathon Championships teammates Hiroto Inoue (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) and Masato Kikuchi likewise set PBs, Inoue 8th in a school record 28:25.07 and Kikuchi running 28:32.05 for 6th in the Asics Challenge 10000 m heat.



62nd Hyogo Relay Carnival
Kobe, Hyogo, 4/19-20/14
click here for complete results

Men's Grand Prix 10000 m
1. William Malel (Kenya/Team Honda) - 27:25.56 - PB
2. Edward Waweru (Kenya/Team NTN) - 27:26.92
3. Bedan Karoki (Kenya/DeNA RC) - 27:32.83
4. Kenta Murayama (Komazawa Univ.) - 27:49.94 - PB
5. Yuichiro Ueno (DeNA RC) - 28:01.71 - PB
6. Patrick Muendo Mwaka (Kenya/Team Aisan Kogyo) - 28:15.61
7. Minato Oishi (Team Toyota) - 28:22.74
8. Hiroto Inoue (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) - 28:23.34 - PB
9. Atsushi Yamazaki (Team Subaru) - 28:25.07 - PB
10. Tsubasa Hayakawa (Team Toyota) - 28:27.45

Women's Grand Prix 10000 m
1. Sally Chepyego (Kenya/Team Kyudenko) - 31:28.07
2. Ayumi Hagiwara (Team Uniqlo) - 31:50.85
3. Kasumi Nishihara (Team Yamada Denki) - 31:53.69 - PB
4. Eri Makikawa (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 32:00.25 - PB
5. Chieko Kido (Canon AC Kyushu) - 32:11.21 - PB
6. Mao Kiyota (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 32:12.27 - PB
7. Kaoru Nagao (Team Univ. Ent.) - 32:22.06
8. Reia Iwade (Team Noritz) - 32:24.38 - debut
9. Yuka Takashima (Team Denso) - 32:26.50
10. Shiho Takechi (Team Yamada Denki) - 32:26.53 - PB

Men's Asics Challenge 10000 m Heat 2
1. Charles Ndirangu (Kenya/Team JFE Steel) - 28:18.54
2. Kassa Mekashaw (Ethiopia/Team Yachiyo Kogyo) - 28:21.61
3. Macharia Ndirangu (Kenya/Team Aichi Seiko) - 28:26.20
4. Johana Maina (Kenya/Team Fujitsu) - 28:27.13
5. Daniel Gitau (Kenya/Team Fujitsu) - 28:28.54
6. Masato Kikuchi (Team Konica Minolta) - 28:32.05 - PB
7. Keigo Yano (Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 28:32.80 - PB
8. Yuki Yagi (Team Asahi Kasei) - 28:42.36 - PB
9. Shuho Dairokuno (Meiji Univ.) - 28:50.98
10. Daichi Kamino (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.) - 28:51.98

Women's Asics Challenge 5000 m
1. Yuika Mori (Team Yamada Denki) - 15:51.29
2. Minori Goto (Osaka Gakuin Univ.) - 15:59.94 - PB
3. Sakiho Tsutsui (Team Yamada Denki) - 16:05.27 - PB
4. Saori Noda (Osaka Gakuin Univ.) - 16:10.30
5. Ai Migita (Team Wacoal) - 16:10.61

Men's Asics Challenge 10000 m Heat 1
1. Keisuke Nakatani (Komazawa Univ.) - 28:51.10 - PB
2. Ryota Matoba (Team Komori Corp.) - 28:58.39
3. Masaru Aoki (Team Kanebo) - 29:05.71
4. Yuki Oshikawa (Team Toyota Kyushu) - 29:06.40
5. Genta Yodokawa (Toyo Univ.) - 29:06.67

(c) 2014 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

World-Class 19-Year-Old Reia Iwade Features at Hyogo Relay Carnival

http://www.kobe-np.co.jp/news/sports/201404/0006869505.shtml

translated by Brett Larner

19-Year-Old Big Hope Reia Iwade (Team Noritz) Riding the Wave to Hyogo Relay Carnival Grand Prix Women's 10000 m

Just 19, Iwade will be showing off her best stuff on home ground in Hyogo prefecture this weekend.  In her first year in the corporate leagues she went through tremendous growth that took her all the way to March's World Half Marathon Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark.  Ahead of her first serious 10000 m, Iwade is strongly motivated as she says, "I want to earn the right to wear the Rising Sun again as soon as possible."

Iwade was born in Mie prefecture.  She was the star runner at Aichi prefecture's Toyokawa H.S., and after graduating she joined Hyogo's Noritz corporate team where she began to make an impact on the ekiden circuit.  A few days after her 19th birthday, at December's Sanyo Women's Road Race half marathon she ran a Japanese junior national record 1:09:45.  Coming just eight days after she finished only 12th on the National Corporate Women's Ekiden Championships first stage, she says, "I was still tired but at the same time having had that result made me raise my game in Sanyo."  She ran with the lead pack until 10 km, and, giving herself passing marks for the second half, she says, "I was able to push myself."

Over the winter Iwade trained with Mari Ozaki and other teammates preparing for marathons, building up a mileage base of over a thousand kilometers a month.  In her international debut at the World Half she lost touch with the lead pack in the first half, finishing 19th as the third Japanese woman but still helping win the team bronze medal.  "I could tell how inexperienced and underdeveloped I still am," she says in a strict self-evaluation.  "I have to build up the mental toughness you need to run a PB overseas."

Depending on how her summer training goes, Iwade is eyeing November's Yokohama International Women's Marathon.  "This is the time when she's growing most rapidly," says her coach Yoshihiko Morioka.  "I want her to become one of the best."  As a measure of her development their target for the Hyogo Relay Carnival is the National Championships A-standard of 32:30.00.  "I want to run an aggressive race, get the time, and leave people saying, 'Wow!'" Iwade says with enthusiasm.

The Japanese national record of 30:48.89 was set in 2002 by Yoko Shibui (Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo).  Of the all-time ten fastest 10000 m times run by Japanese women, places 2-10 are all occupied by Kayoko Fukushi (Team Wacoal) and Hitomi Niiya (Team Universal Entertainment).  These three are the only Japanese women to have ever broken 31 minutes.  At last year's Hyogo Relay Carnival Rei Ohara (Team Tenmaya) was 2nd overall in 32:32.15, the first time in 18 years that the top Japanese woman in that race did not break 32:30.  With Fukushi having shifted focus to the marathon and Niiya, 5th in the 10000 m at last summer's Moscow World Championships, having retired this year,  the pedestal is empty and waiting for the next big star.

Top Ten Japanese Women's 10000 m Performances of 2013

1. Hitomi Niiya (Team Univ. Ent.) - 30:56.70
2. Ayumi Hagiwara (Team Uniqlo) - 31:45.29
3. Kasumi Nishihara (Team Yamada Denki) - 32:05.88
4. Yuka Takashima (Team Denso) - 32:06.70
5. Sayuri Oka (Team Daihatsu) - 32:06.79
6. Mai Ito (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) - 32:07.41
7. Yuko Shimizu (Team Sekisui Kagaku) - 32:07.70
8. Rei Ohara (Team Tenmaya) - 32:08.73
9. Yuko Mizuguchi (Team Denso) - 32:10.15
10. Risa Takenaka (Team Shiseido) - 32:10.66

Kawauchi Headlines May 11 Sendai Half Marathon

http://www.kahoku.co.jp/tohokunews/201404/20140415_14014.html

translated by Brett Larner

On Apr. 14 the Sendai International Half Marathon released the names of the invited athletes for the event's 24th running on May 11.  Civil servant runner Yuki Kawauchi (27, Saitama Pref. Gov't) leads the field, with former Hakone Ekiden uphill star Ryuji Kashiwabara (24, Team Fujitsu), a native of Iwaki, Fukushima and graduate of Toyo University, representing the corporate leagues in his Sendai debut. Kawauchi is targeting a medal at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics and at the start of this month was selected as an inaugural member of the National Marathon Team.  In March, 2013 he ran his PB of 2:08:14 for 4th at the Seoul International Marathon. His achievements this year include a 2:10:14 course record win at the Kumamoto-jo Marathon in February.

Other invited athletes include London Olympian Arata Fujiwara (32, Miki House) and mama runner Mari Ozaki (38, Team Noritz).  Corporate league standouts include 2010 Nagoya International Women's Marathon winner Yuri Kano (35, Team Shiseido) and Miyagi prefecture-born runners Kosaku Hoshina (29, Team Nissin Shokuhin), the last Japanese man to win Sendai back in 2004, and Sumiko Suzuki (28, Team Hokuren).

The wheelchair field includes four athletes led by 2013 Boston Marathon men's winner Hiroyuki Yamamoto (47).  Former women's marathon world record holder and Sydney Olympics gold medalist Naoko Takahashi (41) will make a special appearance as guest of honor.  A record 15,108 people are entered for this year's Sendai International Half Marathon.  Last year 12,733 people ran.

24th Sendai International Half Marathon Elite Field Highlights
Sendai, Miyagi, 5/11/14
click here for complete entry list

Men
Mekubo Mogusu (Kenya/Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 59:48 (Marugame 2007)
Joseph Gitau (Kenya/Team JFE Steel) - 1:01:19 (Sapporo Int'l 2008)
Johana Maina (Kenya/Team Fujitsu) - 1:01:28 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2013)
Arata Fujiwara (Miki House AC) - 1:01:34 (Marugame 2012)
Ryotaro Nitta (Team Konica Minolta) - 1:01:45 (Marugame 2012)
Kazuhiro Maeda (Team Kyudenko) - 1:02:08 (Udine World Half 2007)
Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) - 1:02:18 (Marugame 2012)
Chiharu Takada (Team JR Higashi Nihon) - 1:02:22 (Marugame 2013)
Kiyokatsu Hasegawa (Team JR Higshi Nihon) - 1:02:26 (Sendai 2008)
Keita Akiba (Team Komori Corp.) - 1:02:35 (Kyoto 2005)
Yudai Yamakawa (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) - 1:02:36 (Nat'l Univ. Half 2012)
Kenta Chiba (Team Fujitsu) - 1:02:41 (Nat'l Univ. Half 2012)
Ryosuke Fukuyama (Team Honda) - 1:02:49 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2008)
Takuya Noguchi (Team Konica Minolta) - 1:02:50 (Marugame 2014)
Shota Inoue (Team Toyota) - 1:02:51 (Marugame 2014)
Makoto Harada (Team JR Higashi Nihon) - 1:02:57 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2008)
Kosaku Hoshina (Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 1:03:09 (Sendai 2004)
Ryuji Kashiwabara (Team Fujitsu) - 1:03:18 (Kyoto 2009)
Takehiro Deki (Team Chugoku Denryoku) - 1:04:16 (Kanagawa 2011)
Serod Batochir (Mongolia/Team NTN) - 1:06:36 (Redcar 2009)

Women
Yuri Kano (Team Shiseido) - 1:08:57 (Sapporo Int'l 2008)
Mari Ozaki (Team Noritz) - 1:09:33 (Marugame 2002)
Yukari Sahaku (Team Univ. Ent.) - 1:09:36 (Sapporo Int'l 2009)
Misato Horie (Team Noritz) - 1:10:33 (Marugame 2013)
Saki Tabata (Team Hokuren) - 1:13:01 (Osaka 2013)
Ayaka Hitomi (Team Shimamura) - 1:13:03 (Nat'l Corp. Half 2014)
Aiko Sakata (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 1:13:26 (Nat'l Univ. Half 2013)
Narumi Shirataki (Team Shiseido) - 1:13:31 (Shizuoka 2012)
Sumiko Suzuki (Team Hokuren) - 1:14:09 (Sendai Int'l 2009)
Kana Unno (Team Noritz) - 1:14:31 (Marugame 2014)

Weekend Track Update - Kiryu Makes University Debut, A Meet Record in Kyoto and More

by Brett Larner
videos by toyosina2008, komazawaOB and Ekiden News

Track season continued to build up momentum with the first Nittai University Time Trials meet in Yokohama and a handful of other meets around the country.



The biggest news of the weekend was the debut of teen sprint star Yoshihide Kiryu in the Toyo University uniform. Kiryu ran third for Toyo's 4x100 m relay team at the Iwakabe Cup Eight University meet in Tokyo.  Starting his leg mid-pack Kiryu easily blew past the competition to put Toyo out front, but on the anchor leg national university record holder Chuo University retook the lead and pulled away for the win. Nevertheless, in his first race Kiryu helped the Toyo team take the school record from 39.99 to 39.69, a sure sign of what's to come. Post-race the entire Chuo team gave him a round of applause.



Kiryu's long distance teammates stayed at home in Saitama for the Five University Meet hosted by Daito Bunka University.  Strong winds prevented fast times, but in his first race since setting the 30 km national university record of 1:28:52 at February's Kumanichi Road Race Toyo's #1 man Yuma Hattori got his junior year off to a good start with a comfortable 5000 m A-heat win in 14:05.21 by a margin of more than five seconds.



His younger brother Hazuma Hattori nearly got the win in the 3000 m A-heat, coming up just short of running down Kota Murayama (Josai Univ.), the identical twin of World Half Marathon Championships team leader Kenta Murayama (Komazawa Univ.). Kota Murayama started the race very slow with a considerable gap between him and the pack before gradually building up the pace and making a break for the win with more than two laps to go, obviously a reaction to his performance at last weekend's Kanaguri Memorial Meet where he went out at national record pace in the 5000 m A-heat and finished last.  Murayama took the win in 8:15.33 with Hattori just a couple of strides behind.

Bad weather also impacted the West Japan Time Trials in Fukuoka, where 2014 Toyo grad Kento Otsu made his debut with the Koichi Morishita-coached Toyota Kyushu team.  Ethiopian Melaku Abera (Team Kurosaki Harima) had no trouble leading the race to the win despite conditions of extreme rain, finishing in 14:20.03 almost eight seconds ahead.  Otsu was 5th in 14:31.64, the third Toyota Kyushu man across the line.

Better weather earlier in the weekend meant decent times in Kyoto, where Bukkyo University senior Sayaka Kuwahara raced Kyoto Sangyo University's Yukiko Okuno to the 10000 m meet record, both breaking the old record with Kuwahara getting the win in 33:31.32.  2013 national champion Ritsumeikan University's top placer in the 10000 m was only 4th, but in the 5000 m its second years swept the podium in a near-photo finish, Natsuki Omori taking 1st in 15:53.20.  The men's 10000 m also saw a meet record as the elite Kyoto University's Kentaro Hirai won in 29:42.66.



For contrast and insight into the impact of January's Hakone Ekiden, exclusively for Tokyo-area Kanto Region schools, the first Nittai University Time Trials meet of the season saw eight university men break 29 minutes for 10000 m, almost all in PB times.  Meiji University's Ken Yokote started his junior year with a 20-second PB of 28:38.73, his teammate Kei Fumimoto just behind in 28:39.40, his best by eight seconds.



Times were also decent in the 5000 m A-heat, where another Ethiopian, Miliyon Zewdie (Team Yachiyo Kogyo) led the way in 13:28.81, the second-fastest outdoor time in the world so far this year.  2012-2013 10000 m national champion Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin) was the top Japanese man in the 5000 m, 5th overall in 13:43.61 in his first real race since an injury at the Jan. 1 New Year Ekiden scuttled his plans to run February's Tokyo Marathon.



The women's races at Nittai were very thin, the top result going to Kenyan Doricah Obare (Team Hitachi), 1st in the 3000 m A-heat in 9:12.23.

(c) 2014 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

videos (c) 2014 their respective owners
all rights reserved

Weekend Japanese Road Results

by Brett Larner

The biggest domestic road action of the weekend took place in Shizuoka at the Yaizu Minato Half Marathon where Yoshiki Koizumi of 2013 Hakone Ekiden winner Nittai University battled last year's winner Tomoyasu Matsui (Meiji Univ.) from start to finish, both breaking the course record as Koizumi claimed the win in 1:03:26. 2013 National University Men's Ekiden champion Komazawa University had the next two men across the line, both Kohei Futaoka and Shoya Kurokawa timed at 1:03:48.  Komazawa took the win in Yaizu's University Pair Marathon team scoring based on the combined times of its top two finishers, setting a new record of 2:07:36. Nittai was just a second behind, likewise clearing the old record in 2:07:37.  The top non-collegiate runner was Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't), 9th overall in 1:04:19 a week after his latest marathon course record win in Saga.  Almost simultaneously, his youngest brother Koki Kawauchi (Takasaki Keizai Univ.) won the Guam Marathon in 2:38:09.

Elsewhere internationally, London Olympics marathoner Ryo Yamamoto (Team SGH Group Sagawa) had a decent run in the Vienna City Marathon, 6th in 2:10:59 for the fastest time overseas so far this year by a Japanese man.  Ethiopian Getu Feleke set a quality course record of 2:05:41, bound to be the weekend's most overlooked performance.  World Championships marathoner Mai Ito (Team Otsuka Seiyaku), who ran 2:28:36 at February's Tokyo Marathon, ran a disappointing 2:35:15 for 7th in a race won in 2:28:59 by Germany's Anna Hahner.  Bunta Kuroki (Team Yasukawa Denki), a training partner of Yamamoto's Olympic teammate Kentaro Nakamoto, was 11th in the Warsawa Marathon in 2:14:27.  Across the channel at the London Marathon, track and ekiden star Yuko Shimizu (Team Sekisui Kagaku) made her marathon debut, outrunning Ito's Vienna time in 2:32:00 but finishing 11th.

Vienna City Marathon
Vienna, Austria, 4/13/14
click here for complete results

Men
1. Getu Feleke (Ethiopia) - 2:05:41 - CR
2. Alfred Kering (Kenya) - 2:08:28
3. Philip Sanga (Kenya) - 2:08:58
4. Duncan Koech (Kenya) - 2:09:17
5. Oleksadr Sitkovskyy (Ukraine) - 2:10:44
-----
6. Ryo Yamamoto (Japan/Team SGH Group Sagawa) - 2:10:59

Women
1. Anna Hahner (Germany) - 2:28:59
2. Caroline Chepkwony (Kenya) - 2:29:18
3. Marta Lema (Ethiopia) - 2:31:10
4. Alice Chelangat (Kenya) - 2:32:46
5. Olga Glok (Russia) - 2:33:23
-----
7. Mai Ito (Japan/Team Otsuka Seiyaku) - 2:35:15

London Marathon
London, U.K., 4/13/14
click here for complete results

Women
1. Edna Kiplagat (Kenya) - 2:20:21
2. Florence Kiplagat (Kenya) - 2:20:24
3. Tirunesh Dibaba (Ethiopia) - 2:20:35 - debut
4. Feyse Tadese (Ethiopia) - 2:21:42
5. Aberu Kebede (Ethiopia) - 2:23:21
-----
11. Yuko Shimizu (Japan/Team Sekisui Kagaku) - 2:32:00 - debut

Yaizu Minato Half Marathon
Yaizu, Shizuoka, 4/13/14
complete results coming shortly

Men
1. Yoshiki Koizumi (Nittai Univ.) - 1:03:26 - CR, PB
2. Tomoyasu Matsui (Meiji Univ.) - 1:03:34 - PB
3. Kohei Futaoka (Komazawa Univ.) - 1:03:48 - PB
4. Shoya Kurokawa (Komazawa Univ.) - 1:03:48 - PB
5. Hajime Sakamoto (Nittai Univ.) - 1:04:01
-----
9. Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) - 1:04:19

(c) 2014 Brett Larner
all rights reserved

Shimizu Hoping to Have Fun in Debut at Sunday's London Marathon

http://www.nikkansports.com/sports/athletics/news/f-sp-tp0-20140411-1283502.html

translated by Brett Larner

In an April 10 interview ahead of her marathon debut at Sunday's London Marathon as an invited elite, Yuko Shimizu (Team Sekisui Kagaku) was cautiously ambitious as she said, "However it turns out, I want to have fun running it.  I want to race at a good pace I can sustain."  Last year's East Asian Games 10000 m gold medalist, Shimizu will be up against the likes of giants like 2012 London Olympics marathon gold medalist Tiki Gelana (Ethiopia) and two-time World Championships gold medalist Edna Kiplagat (Kenya).  "How often do you get the chance to be on the starting line with the best in the world?" Shimizu said with enthusiasm.

Toyokawa Kogyo H.S. Head Coach Masaaki Watanabe and Eight Students Transfer to Nittai Ebara H.S.

http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20140401-00000062-mai-spo

translated by Brett Larner

Having led Aichi prefecture's Toyokawa Kogyo H.S. boys to the National High School Ekiden Championships for fourteen straight years through 2011, former head coach Masaaki Watanabe, 51, became the new head coach and a health and physical education teacher at Tokyo's Nittai Ebara H.S. as of the start of the academic year on April 1.  Along with Watanabe, eight students including five members of Toyokawa Kogyo's team at last December's National High School Ekiden transferred to Nittai Ebara.  Past instances of large numbers of top-class athletes transferring en masse include the 2012 transfer of ten students from Sendai Ikuei H.S. to Toyokawa H.S., but it is safe to say it is unusual.

Watanabe became head coach at Toyokawa Kogyo in 1993 and developed it into one of the country's most powerful high school ekiden teams.  In January last year his use of corporal punishment against students came to light, resulting in a disciplinary four-month suspension.  He left the school last spring after transferring to another high school, but, still maintaining his strong reputation for leadership, Watanabe continued to privately coach part of the Toyokawa Kogyo H.S. team including the eight athletes who went on to be part of the transfer to Nittai Ebara H.S.

The eight transferring students include seven boys, six third-years and two second-years [sic], and one girl.  The National High School Championships rules specify that "students are prohibited from competing within six months after transferring to another school," meaning that the likelihood that members of the group will be barred from competing in this summer's National High School Track and Field Championships is high.  Nittai Ebara H.S. officials commented, "[Hiring Watanabe] was an overall comprehensive decision.  The athletes who transferred wanted to remain with him."

Translator's note: This is the first article on the Toyokawa Kogyo H.S. corporal punishment scandal I've seen that specifically names Watanabe.  In 2009 he was reprimanded for beating team members with the handle of a deck brush to the point that they needed stitches.  In 2012 he hit another student in the head and damaged the student's eardrum, an injury that required weeks of medical treatment.  In last year's investigation twelve Toyokawa Kogyo students confirmed having been beaten by Watanabe, two quitting the school as a result.