japan running news

Tsutomu Akiyama is a key figure in the history of both Japanese running and Olympic marathoning. A senior advisor to Yamanashi Gakuin University's ekiden and track and field programs and one half of the partnership responsible for beginning to bring Kenyans to Japan in the wake of Olympic medalist Douglas Wakiihuri 's arrival, Akiyama discovered and has been a mentor to the likes of marathon great Daniel Njenga , World Half Marathon silver medalist Philes Ongori , World Championships marathon medalist Tsuyoshi Ogata , Hakone Ekiden course record breaker  Mekubo Mogusu , corporate league star,  Gideon Ngatuny , multiple world-level medalist  Paul Tanui and Beijing Olympics marathon champion and winner of the legendary 2010 Chicago Marathon, Samuel Wanjiru In 2010 Akiyama gave JRN a one-on-one interview in which he talked about everything, from the human side of his athletes to problems with foreign agents, from picking a teenaged Wanjiru up at the airport during his ...

http://news24.jp/nnn/news8872149.html translated by Brett Larner Click here for video of Ondiba meeting with Nanyo Mayor Shiota. Getting off the JR Yamagata shinkansen at Akayu Station in Yamagata is 22-year-old Kenyan runner Cosmas Ondiba .  Having come to Japan after graduating from junior high school, Ondiba made his first appearance at the Hakone Ekiden as a second-year at Yamanashi Gakuin University.  Running the Third Stage three years in a row, this year as a senior he passed seven people on the way to setting a new course record to cap an outstanding 2011.  Hired by Nanyo City Hall, which features a track and field club, Ondiba will begin work this spring. Meeting with Ondiba, Mayor Shiota told him, "We hope that you will give strength to our track and field club and show our children what it means to do their best."  Ondiba hopes to work with the other club members to earn Nanyo its coveted first-ever New Year Ekiden berth.  Watch for Ondiba to...

http://www.47news.jp/CN/201202/CN2012020401002077.html translated by Brett Larner Having broken the Third Stage record at last month's Hakone Ekiden, Yamanashi Gakuin University Kenyan senior Cosmas Ondiba  is set to take a job at Nanyo City Hall in Yamagata prefecture following his graduation this spring.  According to Yamanashi Gakuin University head coach Masahito Ueda , Ondiba will be a part-time worker, training with the City Hall's track and field team and running ekidens and other races.  Saitama prefectural government runner Yuki Kawauchi  is a big topic these days, but, said Ueda, "Ondiba will be the first Kenyan public servant runner in Japan." Translator's note: Ondiba had an outstanding fall season as a senior, winning the Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai 20 km qualifier, the Ageo City Half Marathon, and the Hakone Ekiden Third Stage, but had difficulty securing a contract from a corporate team because his PB marks are not significantly better than thos...

by Brett Larner all photos by Ekiden Mania click here for 2012 Hakone Ekiden Day One report and results click here for 2012 Hakone Ekiden Day Two report and results click here for a comparison over 5000 m of the top five teams at the 2012 Hakone Ekiden and the 2011 NCAA Division I XC Championships Average 5000 m, 10000 m and half-marathon PBs of the ten starters from each of the 1st through 5th-place teams overall: As with last year , average half-marathon PB had the strongest correlation with success in the Hakone Ekiden , where the average stage length is 21.79 km.  The injury-ridden Waseda University team seriously underperformed, while the Aoyama Gakuin University team had an outstanding day, beating a number of better-credentialed teams to take 5th. Overall Course Record - 217.9 km, 10 stages, average length 21.79 km Toyo University - 10:51.36 - 8:15 under old CR set by Waseda Univ. in 2011 average pace: 2:59.4/km equivalent ten-man average half-marathon: 1:03:0...

click here for 2012 Hakone Ekiden Day Two report and results click here for a breakdown of records set at the 2012 Hakone Ekiden 2012 Hakone Ekiden start. Photo by Ekiden Mania. Click for more photos. by Brett Larner 2009 and 2010 Hakone Ekiden champion Toyo University  came out swinging on Day One of the 88th running of Japan's oldest and greatest road relay, delivering a historic performance in which it broke the record it set last year for the five stage, 108.0 km course by an unimaginable 5 minutes and 5 seconds as it ran 5:24:45 an average pace of 3:00/km the entire way despite almost 900 m of climb on the uphill Fifth Stage.  Senior Ryuji Kashiwabara , who has defined Hakone for the last three years with his inspiring, record-setting performances on the Fifth Stage, delivered again by taking 29 seconds off his old record, but for the first time Toyo's success was evenly shared by all team members, with all four of Toyo's runners before Kashiwabara placing in...

by Brett Larner Near typhoon conditions throughout Japan on Friday and Saturday brought a nationwide heat wave and strong winds on Sunday, less than ideal for a handful of major races across the country. The biggest of them, the Olympic selection-edition Yokohama International Women's Marathon, turned into a race of attrition decided by a final kick to the new waterfront finish, Yokohama's third course in three runnings.  With all three female pacemakers running into trouble and dropping out suddenly at 8, 12 and 19 km rather than the planned 25 km, the race proceeded slower than the planned 2:22 pace, but favorites nevertheless dropped behind one by one.  After a conservative first half far behind the lead pack, 2008 Osaka International Women's Marathon winner Mara Yamauchi  (Great Britain) took the lead just before 25 km.  After a big move from Kaoru Nagao  (Team Univ. Ent.) at 31 km the race came down to three, defending champion Yoshimi Ozaki  (Team...

by Brett Larner photos by Daniel Seite One of three current teams coached by members of Waseda University's record-setting mid-90's team, Jobu University  pulled off a surprise win at this year's Hakone Ekiden Qualifier , a 20 km road race in and around Tokyo's Showa Kinen Park that determines the second tier of teams to join the ten already seeded for January's main event.  The youngest team in the field, under head coach Katsuhiko Hanada  Jobu has developed a heavy emphasis on overall quality and team running rather than relying on individual aces, a trait that served has served it well in the past and was again the key to its success this year.  Ranked only 5th coming into the race Jobu ran consistently, outside the top ten for the first half, 5th at 15 km, and on top by the end.  It was one of only two schools to put two runners into the top ten, one of them courtesy of a very nice run from first-year Shun Sato .  By contrast, top-ranked Josai Univ...

by Brett Larner The record-breaking 2009 Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai, the deepest 20 km road race in history . The Kanto Regional University Athletics Federation has released the entry lists for the Oct. 15 Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai , a 20 km university men's road race qualifier for the Jan. 1-2 Hakone Ekiden.  Outside the Olympics the two-day, twenty-team, ten-stage Hakone relay is road racing's biggest spectacle, an event with viewership in the tens of millions and the kind of popular enthusiasm the World Marathon Majors dream of.  Of all the things obscured behind the cultural insularity of the Japanese running system Hakone is the biggest loss to the sport as a whole, a gripping, high-level race that never lets up over the course of twelve hours and which, with superb production values, could give clues on how to popularize road racing among non-runners worldwide if it were accessible overseas. The top ten universities at each year's Hakone are seeded for the following y...

by Brett Larner Records set at this year's outstanding Hakone Ekiden along with associated stats and commentary: Average 5000 m, 10000 m and half marathon PBs of the ten starters from each of the 1st through 5th place teams overall: While the average 5000 m and 10000 m PBs have little relationship to the final finishing order, there is, unsurprisingly, a direct correlation with average half marathon PB. The average stage length in Hakone is 21.8 km. Overall Course Record - 217.9 km, 10 Stages (average stage length 21.8 km) Waseda Univ. - 10:59:50 - 3:27 under old CR av. pace: 3:01.7 / km; equiv. 10-man half marathon av.: 1:03:53 Toyo Univ. - 11:00:12 - also under previous CR av. pace: 3:01.8 / km; equiv. 10-man half marathon av.: 1:03:55 First time all ten men on one team have averaged under 1:04 for equivalent half marathon performance. Previous record of 11:03:17 set by Komazawa Univ. in 2000. Waseda became the first school to win and set course records at all three major univ...