japan running news

by Brett Larner
photos by @rikujolove

Former world record holder Patrick Makau (Kenya) was back to take out tough competition and score a second-straight win at the 69th running of the Fukuoka International Marathon, with Kyushu local Satoru Sasaki (Team Asahi Kasei) emerging at the top of the home soil field to land as a candidate for the Rio Olympic team after favorite Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) ran into trouble early.

Confluence of A and B-group starts outside track. pic.twitter.com/lZlxwtMIAH — Japan Running News (@JRNLive) December 6, 2015
With Fukuoka featuring two pace groups, one targeting 2:06 and the other 2:08, the front group quickly shook down to Makau and fellow heavyweights Dennis Kimetto (Kenya), Getu Feleke (Ethiopia), Bernard Koech (Kenya), Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) and Samuel Tsegay (Eritrea), last year’s 3rd-placer Ser-Od Bat-Ochir (Mongolia/NTN), Sasaki and countrymen Kawauchi, Chiharu Takada (JR Higashi Nihon), Kazuki Tomaru (Toyota)…

by Brett Larner
photo by Dr. Helmut Winter



This Sunday Japan's three-part domestic selection race series to choose its men's marathon team for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics kicks off with the 69th running of the Fukuoka International Marathon.  Fukuoka's elite coordinator typically sets up his races featuring one marquee international athlete to draw media attention and show the public that Fukuoka still matters to the rest of the world, with a second tier of internationals within a stone's throw of the top Japanese names in the field to help goad them on to quality times.

This year has that covered by the spadeful, with world record holder Dennis Kimetto (Kenya) coming in fresh from dropping out of the summer's Beijing World Championships after jogging a few kilometers.  It could just be an easy end-of-season payday, but the presence on the start list of 2:04 countryman Bernard Koech and sub-2:06 Ethiopian Getu Feleke suggests that Fukuoka wants an update to it…

by Brett Larner

The Dec. 6 Fukuoka International Marathon, not to be confused with the mass-participation Fukuoka Marathon four weeks earlier despite its URL, has wheeled out the elite field for this year's race, the first Japanese trials race for the Rio de Janeiro Olympic team.  World record holder Dennis Kimetto (Kenya) will be in town for a late-season payday after dropping out of this summer's Beijing World Championships, facing sub-2:06 men Bernard Koech (Kenya) and Getu Feleke (Ethiopia) and Fukuoka's last three winners Patrick Makau (Kenya), Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) and Joseph Gitau (Kenya/Team JFE Steel).

Running five weeks after his third shot at the TCS New York City Marathon, Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) leads the Japanese field along with fellow 2:08 runner Koji Kobayashi (Team Subaru) and 2:09 former National Team member Satoru Sasaki (Team Asahi Kasei).  Sub-2:06:30 is the time the JAAF is dictating for auto selection to the Rio…

by Brett Larner

The biggest domestic road action of the weekend took place in Shizuoka at the Yaizu Minato Half Marathon where Yoshiki Koizumi of 2013 Hakone Ekiden winner Nittai University battled last year's winner Tomoyasu Matsui (Meiji Univ.) from start to finish, both breaking the course record as Koizumi claimed the win in 1:03:26. 2013 National University Men's Ekiden champion Komazawa University had the next two men across the line, both Kohei Futaoka and Shoya Kurokawa timed at 1:03:48.  Komazawa took the win in Yaizu's University Pair Marathon team scoring based on the combined times of its top two finishers, setting a new record of 2:07:36. Nittai was just a second behind, likewise clearing the old record in 2:07:37.  The top non-collegiate runner was Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't), 9th overall in 1:04:19 a week after his latest marathon course record win in Saga.  Almost simultaneously, his youngest brother Koki Kawauchi (Takasaki Keizai Univ.) won t…