japan running news

by Brett Larner The 63rd running of the Kagawa Marugame International Half Marathon takes place this Sunday, Feb. 1. This year's race is its first in a new international format, with a small group of four invited overseas men and three women added to the usual strong domestic and Japan-residing African field. The man to beat is course record holder Mekubo Mogusu (Yamanashi Gakuin Univ.), who broke the hour mark for the first time in winning the 2007 Marugame. Mogusu comes to the race this year fresh from breaking his own stage record on the Hakone Ekiden's 2nd stage and will be all but impossible to beat. Only three men in the field have a conceivable chance. One is Mogusu's university rival Daniel Gitau (Nihon Univ.), who has approached Mogusu's level on the track and will be looking for his first legitimate world-class half marathon time. Another is Asian Record holder Atsushi Sato (Team Chugoku Denryoku), whose best time of 1:00:25 is only 37 seconds behind Mogusu...

http://www.eastandard.net/InsidePage.php?id=1144003175 An interesting article which explains some of Kenya and Japan's running connections through this man, Robert Kioni.

by Brett Larner Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo won its ninth consecutive victory at the East Japan Jitsugyodan Women's Ekiden in Saitama Prefecture after a commanding performance by team star Yoko Shibui on the third stage of a new six stage 42.195 km course. Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo, having lost longtime coach Hideo Suzuki, now heads to December's All-Japan Jitsugyodan Women's Ekiden where it has been national champion six of the last eight years, finishing 2nd the two years it failed to win. Shibui's arch-rival Kayoko Fukushi likewise led Team Wacoal to a win in the 18th Awajishima Women's Ekiden, like East Japan featuring a 42.195 km course comprised of six stages. Fukushi ran a new stage record on the ekiden's third leg and outdid competing teams from four regions of central Japan. Team Wacoal also goes on to the All-Japan Jitsugyodan Women's Ekiden where it will face Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo for the 2008 National title. In East Japan, runners from Team ...

by Brett Larner The 56th annual National Corporate Track and Field Championships took place Sept. 26-28 in Yamagata Prefecture, the last major meet before the fall ekiden season. The biggest result of the distance events was 35 year old women's steeplechase national record holder Minori Hayakari's solo run to a meet record 9:56.37. Hayakari's record-setting run capped a fantastic season which saw her win yet another national championship, set a new national record of 9:33.63, and run in her first Olympic Games. Another big moment in the championships came with the surprise appearance by Megumi Kinukawa in the women's 5000 m. Kinukawa, who ran the 10000 m at the 2007 World Championships as a high school senior, was expected to be multiple national record holder Kayoko Fukushi's successor as the dominant runner of her generation but has been out of competition since last winter after contracting a virus which caused a continuous series of injuries and secondary illne...