japan running news

2020 Olympic marathon trials winner Honami Maeda (Tenmaya) took down two massive marks at Sunday's Ome 30 km Road Race  in Tokyo's mountainous western suburbs, breaking Mizuki Noguchi 's 30 km national record and pre-Athens Olympic gold medal Ome course record in 1:38:35 in wet conditions. Beating her closest female competition by almost eight minutes, Maeda was strong and about as steady as possible over the tough Ome course, clocking 5 km splits of 16:18 - 16:18 - 16:48 - 16:22 - 16:37 - 16:12. Maeda's stated goal pre-race was Noguchi's 1:39:06 course record, set in February, 2004 as a key tune-up for Noguchi's gold medal-winning run in the Athens Olympics marathon. That fell by a wide margin, but few expected Maeda to also beat Noguchi's national record of 1:38:49 set en route during her 2:19:12 marathon national record run at the 2005 Berlin Marathon. It took Maeda's fastest split of the race, a 16:12 from 25 km to the finish, for that to happen...

Japanese marathoners who haven't qualified for the Sept. 15 MGC Race 2020 Olympic marathon trials have until Apr. 30 to try to squeeze out one more fast time to make the grade, sub-2:08:30 or two races inside the window averaging under 2:11:00, and sub-2:24:00 or a sub-2:28:00 average for women. Most of the people trying one last time will be headed overseas, but for a few the Nagano Marathon is their last chance to make it. Asuka Tanaka (Hiramatsu Byoin) is the fastest man in the field with a 2:10:13 in Tokyo last year as an amateur runner. A stress fracture later in the year left him struggling in his few races since then, but after a tentative step back at Tokyo this year he is shooting for the 2:11:47 he needs in Nagano to make the cut. Shoya Osaki (Chudenko) ran a strong 2:10:48 in Beppu-Oita this favorite and will be trying to double back with a 2:11:12 in Nagano. They're the only two people male or female who might realistically make it, the rest of the field fo...

by Brett Larner photos by @rikujolove click here for Day Two and overall results and report   Last year's course record-setting Hakone Ekiden winner Aoyama Gakuin University went halfway to its first-ever title defense today, leading the five-stage 107.5 km Day One start to finish to win in 5:25:55. Hakone Ekiden lead pack at Shinagawa Station pic.twitter.com/QjHm9HqJyN — Japan Running News (@JRNHeadlines) January 1, 2016 With conditions superb the entire field went out hard, all 21 teams going through the 5 km mark on the 21.3 km First Stage in 14:13, 59:59 half marathon pace.  10 km came in 28:38 with 14 teams still up front before the first notable victim, 2015 Ageo City Half Marathon winner Kenya Sonota of last year's runner-up Komazawa University , lost touch, and 13 were still in play as the pack hit 15 km in 43:23.  With wins on his stages at the season's other two major ekidens Aoyama Gakuin 4th-year Kazuma Kubota made the first real move, breaking...

http://www.sponichi.co.jp/sports/news/2015/12/17/kiji/K20151217011699940.html translated and edited by Brett Larner Nihon University senior Daniel Muiva Kitonyi is ready to be crowned the King.  Set to run the Hakone Ekiden's uphill Fifth Stage for the third-straight year, the reliably superb Kitonyi is a Christian.  He prays to God every morning and before races and listens to Gospel music to relax.  Last year he ran a sensational 1:18:45 on the Fifth Stage but was beaten by 2 1/2 minutes by Daichi Kamino (Aoyama Gakuin Univ.).  When he heard Kamino being called the "God of the Mountain" in the news afterward Kitonyi did not understand.  "Why do they call him God?" he asked in puzzlement.  If he succeeds in beating Kamino this year to win the stage best title, he says, "Call me the Mountain King," hoping to bring the moniker given to Hakone's biggest star back from the realm of the divine to that of mere mortals.

by Brett Larner videos by naoki620 Another week, another world record-setting Japanese collegiate race. Virtually every major Japanese university men's distance race since Tokyo won the 2020 Olympic bid has seen incredible new course records and world records set for depth at quality.  Today's Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai , the 20 km road race qualifier for the season-capping January 2-3 Hakone Ekiden, was no exception. 49 schools from around the Kanto Region lined up in Tokyo's Showa Kinen Park to try to be one of the lucky 10 programs to join those who had already reserved their place at the 2016 Hakone Ekiden by finishing in the top 10 in Hakone this year.  Each of the schools at the Yosenkai qualifier fielded 10 to 12 runners with the team scored on the aggregate time of its first 10 finishers.  The 10 fastest schools go on to Hakone, clean and simple. After heavy rain with 5 minutes to go 2015 Kanto Region DI Half Marathon champion Daniel Muiva Kitonyi (Nihon...

by Brett Larner 【箱根駅伝予選会まで5日】 17日(土)9:25〜11:25地上波生中継！日テレ／テレビ信州／静岡第一テレビが内定…直前で変動するため地元の番組表をお確かめ下さい。 地上波がない地域は 17日(土)14:00〜16:00BS日テレ pic.twitter.com/ZlLUoicisJ — 箱根駅伝番組公式 (@hakone_ntv) October 11, 2015 Just five days after a record-breaking start to Japan's university men's ekiden season at the Izumo Ekiden the next big race is set to go off Saturday in Tokyo's Showa Kinen Park at the Hakone Ekiden Yosenkai qualifying race .  The January 2-3 Hakone Ekiden, where 20 universities from around the Tokyo-area Kanto Region send 10-man teams to race roughly a half marathon distance each, is Japan's biggest sports event.  The first 10 schools to cross the finish line on Hakone's second day score places at both the following season's Izumo Ekiden and Hakone Ekiden.  The rest line up with 40 other Kanto teams at the Yosenkai to try to make it back onto the Hakone start line. This year 49 teams will start the Yosenkai, a 20 km road race in and around Showa Kinen P...

by Brett Larner video by naoki620 全日本予選会 関東は中央学院大がトップ通過。 最終組では潰滝が28:31！ pic.twitter.com/mkfy7SpL1i — EKIDEN_MANIA (@ekiden_mania) June 20, 2015 Saturday saw the first event on the university men's ekiden circuit with regional qualifier action for November's National University Men's Ekiden .  Universities across the country that finished outside the seeded top six at last November's Nationals competed on the track in their regions, eight runners from each school split into four heats and their team score determined by the combined times of all eight. The biggest event, needless to say, was in the Tokyo-area Kanto Region , home of the Hakone Ekiden, where twenty schools competed for nine places at Nationals.  Led by senior Hironori Tsuetaki , the double 5000 m and 10000 m D2 champ at last month's Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships, Chiba's Chuo Gakuin University came out on top as the only school to clear 3:59, its eight runners tot...

by Brett Larner videos by naoki620 and JRN A day after becoming the first man in 78 years to win four-straight Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships 1500 m titles, Enock Omwamba (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) added another title to his collection, winning a third-straight 5000 m in 13:35.35.  Omwamba and 1500 m runner-up Patrick Wambui (Nihon Univ.) went out front from the start, initially with some company from Japanese athletes but soon on their own.  Wambui made it a good race, at one point going to the front and knocking Omwamba back to 5th, but in the last km he was no match as Omwamba kicked away to win by just over 2 seconds.  Hiroki Matsueda (Juntendo Univ.) was an unexpected 3rd in 13:52.08, just holding off 30 km national collegiate record holder Yuma Hattori (Toyo Univ.). After winning the D2 10000 m Thursday night with a solid 59-second final lap, Hironori Tsuetaki (Chuo Gakuin Univ.) did it again in the D2 5000 m with a 2:32 last 1000...

by Brett Larner Compressed from its usual two-weekend format to one this year, the Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships started May 14 at Yokohama's Nissan Stadium.  In the day's main event, Yamanashi Gakuin University debuted its new Kenyan first-year Dominic Nyairo in the D1 10000 m.  Nyairo and two-time National University 10000 m champion Daniel Muiva Kitonyi (Nihon Univ.) led throughout the race, pursued by a large Japanese chase pack that shook down to just one runner, 2014 National University Half Marathon champion Hideto Yamanaka (Nittai Univ.).  Yamanaka, who sat out his entire junior year last year with injury, was hesitant to lead, but when he did make a move he and Nyairo shook off Muiva, turning the race into a head-to-head duel over the last lap.  Nyairo pulled away with a brilliant last 200 m to win by two seconds, but shortly after the race it was announced that he had been disqualified for stepping over the outer/inner start div...

by Brett Larner videos by komazawaOB and 陸上競技動画集 click here for day two report It's an idiosyncrasy of the Japanese racing calendar that both the National University Track and Field Championships and National Corporate Track and Field Championships take place in the fall well over three months after the more competitive regional meets and just after heavy summer mileage training.  That didn't seem to matter on the first day of the National University meet. Continuing his return from the stress fracture that knocked both him and Yamanashi Gakuin University out of this year's Hakone Ekiden, 2014 Kanto Region double 1500 m and 5000 m champion Enock Omwamba and Kanto 10000 m champion Kota Murayama (Josai Univ.), the identical twin brother of #1-ranked Japanese collegiate Kenta Murayama (Komazawa Univ.), stole the show in the 1500 m with a brilliant head-to-head battle to the line far out in front of the rest of the field.  Coming off the last corner it looked like...

by Brett Larner Just shy of six months since a stress fracture knocked Enock Omwamba and Yamanashi Gakuin University out of the 2014 Hakone Ekiden , Omwamba sent a clear signal that he is back to full strength.  Omwamba made a tentative return at l ast month's Kanto Regional University Track and Field Championships with a double 1500 m and 5000 m win but sat out defending his title in the 10000 m.  In the first meet of this summer's Hokuren Distance Challenge series in Fukagawa, Hokkaido, Omwamba outran a half-dozen corporate-league Africans and top Japanese talent including sub-28 men Chihiro Miyawaki (Team Toyota), Keita Shitara (Team Konica Minolta) and Yuta Shitara (Team Honda) to cut more than 15 seconds off his best as he won the 10000 m A-heat in 28:00.33.  With Omwamba fully recovered, senior Hiroto Inoue having cleared 62 minutes for the half marathon this season, the entire core of Yamanashi Gakuin Prep High School 's 2013 National H.S Ekiden champion t...

by Brett Larner While the corporate leagues take a breather after their regional track and field championships last week , Kanto-area university runners are bracing for the second weekend of Japan's best track meet, the Kanto Regional University Track and Field Championships  at Yokohama's Nissan Stadium. The men's 800 m should be highlights of the meet,  Nihon University  senior Sho Kawamoto  having set a national record of 1:45.75 two weeks ago at the Golden Grand Prix Tokyo meet in Tokyo's National Stadium.  His second-year teammate Jun Mitake  is the next-best runner in the field with a 1:48.67 PB, so while another NR is probably too much to ask between the two of them they should have a good chance of taking the 1:48.06 meet record set in 2009 by Kenyan Daniel Gitau , another Nihon University runner. It says a lot about the quality of Kanto university men's distance running that four of the five Japanese men in this week's ARRS world top 200 ran...

by Brett Larner This weekend is one of the busiest on the Japanese calendar, with no less than five regional track and field championship meets. Leading the way is the first half of Japan’s toughest university meet, the Kanto Regional University Track and Field Championships . Bumped from its traditional place at Tokyo’s National Stadium by a two-night stand of Paul McCartney concerts , this weekend’s half of the Kanto Regionals meet takes place far out in the wilds of Saitama in Kumagaya. The big news of the meet is the return of 2013 triple 1500 m, 5000 m and 10000 m D1 champion Enock Omwamba (Kenya/Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.) from a stress fracture that forced him to drop out of the Second Stage of the Hakone Ekiden in January, eliminating YGU from Japan’s most prestigious race. It’s a sign that he is taking the comeback easy that Omwamba is skipping the 10000 m, racing only the 1500 m, where he set a meet record 3:39.16 last year, this weekend and the 5000 m next weekend in Ka...

by Brett Larner Complete video of Marugame in eight parts.  Follow links in video above for rest of race. Japan's highest-level winter half marathon, the Kagawa Marugame International Half Marathon took a little bit of a hit this year at the hands of the World Half Marathon Championships.  With the World Half moved to March, the National Corporate Half Marathon Championships, held the third weekend of March, were bumped back a month to Feb. 16, just two weeks after Marugame.  With both the men's and women's races at the Corporate Championships counting toward World Half selection but only the men's race in Marugame counting many corporate league runners gave Marugame a miss this year, especially on the women's side.  It's no surprise, then, that only one corporate runner finished in the top four in either the men's or women's races. Suzuki Hamamatsu AC , a former corporate team that quit the league a few years ago to let its runners focus on thin...