japan running news

Sayagatani Time Trials Sayagatani Field, Kitakyushu, 6/4/11 click here for complete results Men's 5000 m Heat 10 1. Desta Alemu (Ethiopia/Team Yasukawa Denki) - 13:54.05 2. Masayuki Obata (Team Yasukawa Denki) - 13:54.63 3. Takahiro Mori (Team Asahi Kasei) - 13:57.69 4. Shuji Yoshikawa (Team Kyudenko) - 14:00.11 5. Hiroki Kubota (Team Yasukawa Denki) - 14:03.57 6. Kentaro Nakamoto (Team Yasukawa Denki) - 14:04.31 7. Kenichi Kita (Team Kyudenko) - 14:05.10 8. Takanori Ide (Team Kyudenko) - 14:06.17 9. Bunta Kuroki (Team Yasukawa Denki) - 14:10.95 10. Hiroki Ishida (Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki) - 14:12.59

http://www.jiji.com/jc/c?g=spo_30&k=2011011000281 translated by Brett Larner In the 62nd and final edition of the seven-stage, 99.9 km Asahi Ekiden from Fukuoka to Kita-Kyushu, Team Kyudenko took its third win and first in five years, clocking 4:50:58. New Year Ekiden 4th placers Team Yasukawa Denki were 2nd, while Team Asahi Kasei finished 3rd. Defending champion Team Honda was only 4th. Kyudenko's Paul Tanui put the team ahead on the First Stage, and all the way to anchor Mao Fukuyama Kyudenko's runners finished in the top three on stage time, keeping the team in 1st by a margin of 50 seconds over Yasukawa Denki. Translator's note: The majority of Team Yasukawa Denki actually outperformed Team Kyudenko, with more Yasukawa Denki runners taking 1st or 2nd on their stage than Kyudenko runners. Yasukawa Denki was within four seconds of Kyudenko at the end of the Third Stage, but, reinforcing that you are only as strong as your weakest link, a poor performance on the F...

http://www.iaaf.org/WJC10/news/kind=100/newsid=57786.html Note: Men's steeplechase winner Jonathan Ndiku of Kenya and 5th place finisher Desta Alemu of Ethiopia are both based in Japan where they run on the jitsugyodan corporate circuit. 2010 World Junior Championships - Top Finishers click here for complete results Men's 3000 mSC Final 1. Jonathan Ndiku (KEN) - 8:23.48 2. Albert Yator (KEN) - 8:33.55 - PB 3. Jacob Araptany (UGA) - 8:37.02 ----- 5. Desta Alemu (ETH) - 8:44.07 12. Kosei Yamaguchi (JPN) - 9:00.87 Men's 110 mH Final 1. Pascal Martinot-Lagarde (FRA) - 13.52 2. Vladimir Vukicevic (NOR) - 13.59 3. Jack Meredith (GBR) - 13.59 ----- 7. Wataru Yazawa (JPN) - 13.88 Men's 4 x 400 m Relay Final 1. U.S.A. - 3:04.76 2. Nigeria - 3:06.36 - NJR 3. Great Britain - 3:06.49 ----- 5. Japan - 3:07.94

by Brett Larner click here for photos of Iizuka winning gold In May Japan Running News introduced the world to Chuo University freshman Shota Iizuka with a video of his stunning anchor run in the Kanto Regionals 4 x 100 m relay . Now he's holding Japan's first-ever World Junior Championships gold medal, taking the men's 200 m in 20.67 by a margin of 0.22 after winning both the heats and semi-finals. Iizuka also delivered another solid 4 x 100 m anchor leg earlier in the afternoon to move the Japanese team on to the final with a win in its heat. Whether he can single-handedly carry the relay team to another gold medal is questionable, but his 200 m gold secures his place as the man to watch in Japanese sprinting. Overall it was the best day of World Juniors so far for the Japanese team. Men's 400 m hurdler Takatoshi Abe brought his best, running a PB 49.46 for silver after leading the heats and semi-finals with season-best times. Abe missed gold by only 0.16 behind Trin...