japan running news

As Japan celebrates 100 years of the ekiden, its greatest racing series, the Big Three University Men's Ekidens, kicks off with the Oct. 9 Izumo Ekiden . The university men's ekiden circuit entered its modern era of mass popularity and incredible depth of quality with Toyo University 's 2012 Hakone Ekiden win, when innovative young coach Toshiyuki Sakai led Toyo to become the first team in history to average under 3:00 / km for the entire ten-stage, 217 km-plus Hakone course including two stages with nearly 900 m elevation difference each. The Toyo team, led by uphill specialist Ryuji Kashiwabara and wonder twins Keita and Yuta Shitara , became superstars, Kashiwabara a national icon and Yuta the future half marathon national record holder. In the midst of Toyo's reign, underdogs Aoyama Gakuin University arose from nothing to replace them at the top. Susumu Hara , another innovative and businesslike young coach, brought AGU up systematically from an absence of ...

Having improved his PB to 2:09:03 while finishing 6th at the Sept. 24 Berln Marathon , Rio 10000 m Olympian Yuta Shitara (25, Honda) returned to Narita Airport on Sept. 26 from his trip to Europe. Shortly before Berlin, Shitara set a new national record 1:00:17 at a half marathon in the Czech Republic on Sept. 16 . Despite this challenging schedule which was only decided in August, Shitara told reporters, "I didn't feel particularly tired [in Berlin] . There wasn't much lingering damage and I was able to meet the marathon's demands and hang on better in the second half." The difference in his splits between his debut in Tokyo in February and his second marathon in Berlin, a minute slower over the first half in Berlin and a minute and a half faster over the second half, was evidence of his growth since Tokyo. Shitara is already planning his third marathon and could run it before the end of the year. "I'm the kind of guy who likes to race a lot. I g...

The 2017 Asahikawa Half Marathon took place Sept. 24 on a course starting and finishing at Asahikawa's Hanasaki Sports Park Field. This year marked the event's ninth running. 4176 runners from Hokkaido and elsewhere took part in its half marathon, 10 km, 5 km and 3 km divisions, cheered on to the finish line by local residents under the clear blue skies of early autumn. The half marathon course ran both through the city and through the grounds of the local SDF base. Civil servant runner Yuki Kawauchi (30, Saitama Pref. Gov't) took one minute 27 seconds off the course record to win in 1:05:06. "It was a really fun course," he said afterward. source article:   https://www.hokkaido-np.co.jp/article/134313 translated by Brett Larner

There's no real end to track season in Japan, and at Osaka's Yanmar Stadium Nagai this weekend the corporate leagues plowed ahead with their 65th National Corporate Track and Field Championships . Having broken the men's discus throw national record this summer, Yuji Tsutsumi (Alsok) did it again with a new record of 60.74 m on his second attempt. Kaede Miyasaka (Nippatsu) jumped 13.40 m (+0.9 m/s) to break the women's triple jump meet record. London World Championships men's 10000 m bronze medalist Paul Tanui (Kyudenko) prevailed in a tough 10000 m, running 27:35.38 to lead ten men under 28 minutes, his eighth-straight national corporate 10000 m title and extending his career sub-28 world record to 35 times. Tanui was effusive in his thanks post-race . 昨日のポールタヌイ選手のラストスパート🏃 全日本実業団選手権10000m優勝 27分35秒38 9850m付近(ラスト150m) #10000m #全日本実業団陸上 pic.twitter.com/FGriXaxzui — Kota Shinjo (@7vodka26) September 24, 2017 But the biggest newsmaker was the men'...

Fresh off a 1:00:17 half marathon national record last weekend and a 28:55 road 10 km the one before, Yuta Shitara (Honda) lived up to expectations at today's Berlin Marathon, trying to go with the lead group and running the first part of the race alone between the first and second groups. Whatever his plan, Shitara was swallowed up by the second pack, a good turn of events as it was travelling ahead of Japanese national record pace on track for just sub-2:06. Shitara hung with that group through 25 km before his projected time started to creep away, drifting to high-2:06 pace by 30 km, high-2:07 by 35 km, and high-2:08 by 40 km. In the end he was well short of Toshinari Takaoka 's 2:06:16 national record, but with a 2:09:03 for 6th Shitara took 24 seconds off his best with the fastest Japanese men's performance in Berlin since Takayuki Inubushi 's then-NR 2:06:57 in 1999. And just 8 days after the greatest half marathon performance in Japanese history. 『ベルリンマラ...

Overcoming humid conditions and competition over two minutes faster than his best, 2016 Incheon Songdo International Half Marathon winner Paul Kipkorir (Kenya) negative splitted his way to his second-straight Incheon title, winning in 1:02:32. Conditions just before the start were good, cool and breezy with light clouds. Even so, the early pace was unexpectedly slow given a field that included sub-60 men Edwin Rotich (Kenya) and Adunga Bikila (Ethiopia), Kipkorir, 2015 winner Isaac Kiplagat (Kenya) and five men with 62-minute bests including 19-year-old Japanese runner Tomoki Ota (Waseda Univ.). Running 3:01-02 per km kilometer for 5 km, a push from Kipkorir at the turnaround near 9 km was enough to shake off Ota and a few others but still took the lead pack through 10 km dead on 30:00. Over the second half the humidity rose rapidly as the cloud cover shifted to mist, and one by one the contenders in the lead pack dropped off. In the final kilometers it came to a race bet...

Newly-crowned half marathon national record holder Yuta Shitara (Honda) is one of three elite Japanese men entered in Sunday's Berlin Marathon. How will he do? Yuta Shitara ran 60:17 JPN 1/2 mar NR last wknd. Debuted this spring in 2:09:27 off 61:55 1st half. How fast will he run in #berlinmarathon ? — Japan Running News (@JRNHeadlines) September 21, 2017

Having left the Konica Minolta men's corporate team at the end of March this year, Keita Shitara , 25, announced on Sept. 19 that he will join the Hitachi Butsuryu team. The official announcement is scheduled for Sept. 20. As a member of Toyo University Shitara was part of two Hakone Ekiden-winning teams before joining Konica Minolta following his graduation in 2014. His first year at Konica Minolta Shitara ran New Year Ekiden national championships' toughest stage, but since his second year he has experienced a slump. Saying, "I need to change my environment in order to get my head straight and back on track," Shitara chose to leave the team at the end of March, returning to Toyo as his training base. The Hitachi Butsuryu team came into being in April, 2012 as the successor to the Hitachi Cable Marathon Team. It is based in Matsudo, Chiba. Under the leadership of head coach Manabu Kitaguchi, 45, it has grown steadily, placing 10th at this year's New Yea...

Fresh off a third-place finish in the women's 2000 m at France's Decanation last week just days after her 18th birthday, Nozomi Tanaka (Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S.) took her month-old 3000 m PB and position in Japan's all-time rankings even further. Having hovered close to 9-flat for the last year Tanaka, the daughter of 2:29:30 amateur marathoner  Chihiro Tanaka ,  finally broke through with an 8:59.83 to take the top Japanese spot in the 3000 m at August's National High School Track and Field Championships. Oo Monday she took over a second off that time to win the Shizuoka Long Distance Time Trials women's 3000 m A-heat in 8:58.81 over rivals including 5000 m all-time high school #2 Shuri Ogasawara (Yaanashi Gakuin Prep H.S) and 3000 m all-time junior #4 Tomomi Musembi Takamatsu (Osaka Kunei Joshi Gakuin H.S.). Tanaka's new PB moved her up to all-time #4 among Japanese juniors and #3 among high school students for 3000 m, still 6 1/2 seconds off the records h...

2017 London World Championships 5000 m and 10000 m runner Ayuko Suzuki (25, Japan Post) left from Narita Airport on Sept. 18 for altitude training in Boulder, Colorado. Two days earlier at a half marathon in Czech Republic, Yuta Shitara (25, Honda), like Suzuki born in 1991, broke the 10-year-old Japanese men's half marathon national record in a time of 1:00:17. "It's a big motivation to see an athlete the same age as me doing something like that," she said. Showing her determination to be one of her generation's leaders, she added, "I'll be 28 [at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics] , right in my prime mentally and physically. I want to run big too." In the leadup to the Tokyo Olympics Suzuki has the marathon in sight along with the track. "I need to run a half marathon and marathon somewhere once to check [how well they suit me] ," she said. "Coach and I will be talking about it." If everything goes according to plan, December...

The 36th Ichinoseki International Half Marathon took place Sept. 17 in Ichinoseki, Iwate. 25-year-old Joseph Onsarigo (Nasu Kensetsu) won the men's race in 1:04:34, with Kanae Shimoyama (Noritz) winning the women's race in 1:16:10, both of them taking the top position for the first time. A total of 2824 people started in the half marathon, 10 km and 5 km divisions, with 2652 finishing. The men's race developed into a battle between two natives of Kenya, with Onsarigo having what it took to prevail as the overall winner. Invited athlete Cyrus Njui (Cebu Sports) took the early lead. Surging at the 6 km turnaround point at Hiraizumi, he turned the race into a one-on-one duel. Around 12 km near Ruinohashi Onsarigo thought to himself, "Let's break away all at once," and surged, but Njui was able to answer and stayed in contact. The pair continued to test each other, looking for an opportunity. The key to the win came on the uphills late in the race. Last ...

http://www.flotrack.org/article/61851-galen-rupp-runs-1-02-18-to-win-rock-n-roll-philadelphia-hasay-third#.WcCMTq09y8U Rock 'n' Roll Philadelphia Half Marathon Japanese results: Men 4. Yuki Sato (Nissin Shokuhin) - 1:04:34 - PB 8. Muryo Takase (Nissin Shokuhin) - 1:06:34 Women 5. Reia Iwade (Dome) - 1:14:01 7. Miyuki Uehara (Daiichi Seimei) - 1:15:30 - debut A small group of Japanese corporate leaguers also ran at Portugal's Porto Half Marathon the same day: Men 11. Naoya Takahashi (Yasukawa Denki) - 1:04:21 13. Keita Baba (Honda) - 1:06:22 Women 5. Ayano Ikemitsu (Kagoshima Ginko) - 1:13:18 12. Rui Aoyama (Universal Entertainment) - 1:17:24 In the Netherlands, Risa Takenaka (Shiseido) returned to the Dam tot Damloop 10-Miler for the first time in two years. Women 3. Risa Takenaka (Shiseido) - 53:15

Following within 24 hours of Yuki Kawauchi 's win at the BMW Oslo Marathon and Yuta Shitara 's national record at the Usti nad Labem Half Marathon , Shota Hattori (Honda) made it an overseas hat trick for men from Japan's Saitama prefecture when he won the Sydney Marathon in 2:15:16. Having debuted at February's Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon with a 2:14:19 for 2nd, Hattori outlasted Ethiopian Werkuneh Seyoum Aboye , Kenyan Sammy Kigen Korir (Kenya) and compatriot Ryoma Takeuchi (Hitachi Butsuryu) to become the third-straight Japanese men's Sydney champ, winning by a margin of 20 seconds over Aboye. Congratulations to Shota Hattori, male winner of the Blackmores Marathon – with a time of 02:15:16. #SydneyRunningFestival pic.twitter.com/R47w8TCG2X — SydneyRunFestival (@officialbsrf) September 17, 2017 No Japanese women made the podium in the marathon, but in the accompanying half marathon both the men's and women's races saw Japanese runners-up. I...

A week after his 28:55 at the Birell Prague Grand Prix 10 km and just eight days out from the Berlin Marathon, Yuta Shitara (Honda) made the great leap forward, taking 8 seconds off Atsushi Sato 's 2007 half marathon Japanese national record, finishing 8th at the Czech Republic's Usti nad Labem Half Marathon . Shitara is probably most well-known outside Japan for going through halfway under 62 minutes during his marathon debut at this year's Tokyo Marathon and still ending up with a 2:09:27, but he's been turning heads in Japan since his second year at Toyo University when he broke a stage record at the 2012 Hakone Ekiden and outkicked the U.S.A.'s Dathan Ritzenhein to finish in 1:01:48 at the NYC Half two months later, until this year the fastest time ever by a Japanese man on U.S soil. Three weeks before Tokyo this year he ran a 1:01:19 PB at the Marugame Half. Many people would call that a solid tuneup three weeks out from a serious marathon, but eight d...

Running his first race of any distance since finishing 9th at last month's London World Championships, Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) won Saturday's BMW Oslo Marathon in the fastest time in Oslo since before he was born. Pre-race Kawauchi's goal was to take a shot at the 2:12:58 Norwegian all-comers record, the fastest time ever run on Norwegian soil. With a new two-loop course featuring a pair of tough hills interspersed by a flat seaside section on each loop his game plan was to try to run 3:10/km until midway through the second lap, then try to push it on the climb and descent of the last hill to make up whatever seconds he needed. 15 km into the first lap he was 10 seconds ahead of schedule in 47:20 and 90 seconds clear of 2nd place, but the steep hill starting a kilometer later took its toll and by 20 km he was 24 seconds behind.  Over the second lap the strong sunlight and warmer than usual temperatures and the two weeks he took off after London also ...

The civil servant runner admits to being shocked. 2017 London World Championships marathoner and men's captain Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) left from Tokyo's Narita Airport for Norway the evening of Sept. 13 to run the Sept. 16 BMW Oslo Marathon. On Sept. 9 at the National University Track and Field Championships, Yoshihide Kiryu (Toyo Univ.) became the first Japanese man to break 10 seconds in the 100 m when he set a new national record of 9.98. The news has been the talk of the nation ever since. Kawauchi said, "It's pretty amazing. It took up the front page of every newspaper." What can he run for 100 m? "My PB is 13.1, but right now, 13.9," he admitted. Kawauchi ran that time, "in the morning the day before yesterday," he said. "I did two time trials. I even wore spikes. I ran them for real and only did 13.9. To be honest, it was pretty shocking." Although short sprints are well outside his area of expertise it ...

http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201709130026.html

Front-page news and the top story in just about every mainstream Japanese media outlet,  the 2017 National University Track and Field Championships in Fukui will always be remembered for the first-ever Japanese men's legal sub-10 clocking in the 100 m from Toyo University 4th-year  Yoshihide Kiryu . After his historic 9.98 (+1.8 m/s) national record, Kiryu wrapped his university career by anchoring Toyo's 4x100 m team to a 2nd-place finish and making a major contribution to Toyo's solid 3rd-place in final overall university scoring. His London World Championships 4x100 m teammate Shuhei Tada (Kwansei Gakuin University) was also in good form, breaking Kiryu's old meet record in the 100 m in 10.07 and anchoring Kwansei Gakuin to 3rd in the 4x100 m. But there was no shortage of other record-breaking performances at this year's Nationals. Biggest among those came in the women's 800 m where Nittai University 4th-year  Yume Kitamura set a meet and nationa...

Joyciline Jepkosgei 29:43 WR to win Birell Prague Grand Prix 10k pic.twitter.com/dlem1WFKvQ — Japan Running News (@JRNHeadlines) September 9, 2017 Japanese runners were busy overseas this weekend with top-level athletes racing in at least four countries. Four Japanese athletes ran in Saturday’s Birell Prague Grand Prix 10 km . In a race that saw the women’s road 5 and 10 km world records fall to half marathon world record holder Joyciline Jepkosgei (Kenya), Asian area record holder Kayoko Fukushi (Wacoal) was almost five minutes out of the action, finishing 10th in 34:43. Fukushi told JRN post-race that she had stomach problems midway, but with a halfway split just under 17 minutes she was never really in the action. Four women cleared 31 minutes, the most in history. Yoroizaka and Murayama 18th and 19th at Birell Prague Grand Prix, both in 29:09. pic.twitter.com/0nyGT8wdoy — Japan Running News (@JRNHeadlines) September 9, 2017 Benard Kimeli (Kenya) took the men’s course...

The day Japan has been waiting for has finally arrived. Riding a wave of success in Japanese men's sprinting that in the last year has seen 4x100 m medals at the Rio Olympics and London World Championships and six men clear 10.10, Yoshihide Kiryu (Toyo University) outran his London teammate Shuhei Tada (Kwansei Gakuin University) to become the first Japanese man ever to legally clear the 10-second barrier as he won the National University Championships 100 m final in 9.98 (+1.8 m/s) Saturday in Fukui. After struggling with a sluggish start at the Taipei World University Games late last month Tada was back to his usual form, quick out of the blocks to open an early lead over Kiryu and the rest of the field. But over the second half Kiryu continued to build, passing Tada and dipping across the line to stop the clock at 9.99. The crowd erupted, but with the memory of Koji Ito 's 10.00 national record, initially a 9.99 that was adjusted to 10.00 in the official results, th...

Saturday night's Birell Prague Grand Prix 10 km looks set to be the biggest race of the weekend. Returning to Prague after both going under Paula Radcliffe 's 10 km world record of 30:21 en route to more world records at April's Prague Half Marathon, Joyciline Jepkosgei (Kenya) and Violah Jepchumba (Bahrain) will face off again in a race that organizers hope will produce the first-ever women's sub-30 clocking on the roads. In April Jepkosgei clocked 30:04 and Jepchumba 30:05 at the Prague Half, and with decent temperatures around 20˚C and moderate winds forecast for the evening race the chances look good. Fancy Chemutai (Kenya), Netsanet Gudeta (Ethiopia) and Kayoko Fukushi (Japan/Wacoal) have all cleared 31 minutes on the track or roads and could factor into the second pack with solid performances, but whether any is up for being paced by three men to go under 30 minutes is a question mark. Fukushi in particular has taken it relatively easy since the Rio Oly...