japan running news

Jo Fukudaage: 28
sponsor: Nishitetsu
graduated from: Omuta H.S., Kokushikan University

best time inside MGC window:
2:09:52, 3rd, 2018 Gold Coast Marathon

PB: 2:09:52, 3rd, 2018 Gold Coast Marathon

other PBs:
5000 m: 14:09.18 (2017) 10000 m: 28:44.67 (2017) half marathon: 1:02:25 (2019)

marathons inside MGC window (Aug. 1 2017 – April 30 2019)
DNF, 2019 Tokyo Marathon
7th, 2018 Fukuoka International Marathon, 2:10:54
3rd, 2018 Gold Coast Marathon, 2:09:52 – PB
23rd, 2018 Lake Biwa Marathon, 2:18:16
3rd, 2017 Hokkaido Marathon, 2:15:11

other major results:
7th, 2019 Gold Coast Half Marathon, 1:03:49
26th, 2019 Marugame Half Marathon, 1:02:25 – PB
24th, 2019 National Men’s Ekiden Seventh Stage (13.0 km), 38:38
23rd, 2019 New Year Ekiden Fourth Stage (22.4 km), 1:06:42
3rd, 2018 Kyushu Corporate Ekiden Fifth Stage (13.0 km), 38:27
20th, 2017 Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon, 2:16:16
9th, 2016 Hokkaido Marathon, 2:16:29
35th, 2016 Lake Biwa Marathon, 2:19:06

With his last five marathons at that po…

Last year Yuta Shitara became the first Japanese man in 16 years to break the national record in the marathon. But just seven months later that record was rewritten. Now, vowing to run "my way," he faces September's Tokyo Olympics marathon trials, the MGC Race.
At last year's Tokyo Marathon when Shitara broke the national record he picked up a 100 million yen bonus and established himself as the leading contender for the Tokyo Olympic team. Nothing about Shitara fit the usual stereotypes. He didn't run longer than 30 km in training. He prioritized his own sense of his condition and refused to run any more than necessary.
But in October his record fell to one of the biggest rivals of his generation, Suguru Osako. Two months later at the Fukuoka International Marathon Shitara fell off pace after 32 km, the lingering effects of a stress fracture in his right leg. When his recovery didn't go as planned he began to lose motivation.
"I started losing sight of…

Former marathon national record holder Yuta Shitara (27, Honda) returned to Narita Airport on July 8 a day after scoring his first-ever marathon win at Australia's Gold Coast Marathon. Shitara won in an excellent course record time of 2:07:50, lending momentum to his buildup for the MGC Race 2020 Olympic marathon trials just over two months away.

During the race Shitara suffered a mishap, bleeding from both nipples early on. "It rained right before the start," he said, "and once I started running it started chafing. I was a little worried about it, but if you want to compete at the top of the game then there are no excuses." Shrugging it off, even as his uniform soaked up the blood Shitara kept up his fast pace. "My training paid off in this result," he said with obvious satisfaction. "Winning gives me confidence, and I want to make good use of that after this."

Up to now Shitara has followed his own training program, never running longer t…

If there's one thing you can count on at Australia's Gold Coast Marathon it's the weather. Always beautiful, always cooperative. Not so this year, with powerful winds blowing from the south every day for the four days leading into the race. The winds had mostly died down come Sunday morning, but waves of rain still struck the area regularly until well into the afternoon.


While the start and finish point of the half marathon remained ideal throughout the race, just a few km to the north runners were pounded by heavy rains that took a toll on the almost all-Japanese lead men's pack, heavily populated by aspiring Olympic marathoners tuning up for September's MGC Race 2020 Olympic marathon trials. In the end it came down to a trial between last year's winner Jack Rayner (Australia), last year's Fukuoka champ Yuma Hattori (Toyota) and former Hakone Ekiden star Yuki Sato (Nissin Shokuhin). Rayner bided his time before kicking away with ease in the last km to tak…

The second half of the worldwide marathon season kicks off Sunday at Australia's Gold Coast Marathon, and with what looks like may be the deepest-ever men's half marathon on Australian soil lined up to start an hour before the marathon it's going to be an exciting day.

Last year's winner Jack Rayner leads the way off a 1:01:01 PB in Cardiff last year, but just behind him are a slew of Japanese men, some on the Gold Coast thanks to good performances at February's National Corporate Half Marathon Championships and others as a tuneup for September's MGC Race 2020 Olympic marathon trials. On paper Rayner's strongest competition is MGC qualifier Taku Fujimoto (Toyota) with a 1:01:31 best, but Fujimoto told JRN that he is still recovering from a stress fracture he sustained early in the year and is only using the race as a training run ahead of the MGC Race. Likewise for 2018 Fukuoka International Marathon winner Yuma Hattori (Toyota), who underwent internal sur…

Half marathon national record holder and Olympic marathon entrant Yuta Shitara (Honda) leads the men's field for the July 7 Gold Coast Marathon in Australia, the only man in the field under 2:08:30 in the last three years with a then-national record 2:06:11 at last year's Tokyo Marathon. Shitara is also scheduled to run Japan's MGC Race 2020 Olympic marathon trials on Sept. 15, making his goals on the Gold Coast a question mark, but a minimum goal is sure to be the Olympic standard of 2:1:30 or a top five finish.  His competition includes Kenya's Douglas Chebii, 2:08:43 in Seville last year, and Kiwi Zane Robertson.

Last year's 3rd-placer Agnes Barsosio of Kenya is the strongest on paper with a 2:20:59 best from two years ago in Paris, but the freshest times comes from fellow Kenyans Rodah Jepkorir and Truphena Chepchirchir, both sub-2:28 earlier this year. Despite a good history of Japanese winners in the Gold Coast women's race no top-tier women are in the f…

Just over 2 months out from Japan's 2020 Tokyo Olympic marathon trials, the Sept. 15 MGC Race, 13 of the 34 men and 9 of the 15 women to have qualified for the trials will be tuning up the first weekend of July.

In Australia, 7 male qualifiers will run the Gold Coast Marathon and Asics Half Marathon. Half marathon national record holder and former marathon national record holder Yuta Shitara (Honda) leads the way in the marathon, a surprising step in what has so far been a solid recovery season from the injuries that held him back for most of last year following his 2:06:11 marathon national record. Yuma Hattori (Toyota), 2:07:27 for the win in Fukuoka last December, and Taku Fujimoto (Toyota), 2:07:57 two months earlier in Chicago, head the list in the half, where 3 of their Toyota teammates with sub-62 bests including Minato Oishi, the fastest Japanese man so far this year in the half marathon, are likewise entered.

3rd in the marathon last year on the Gold Coast, Jo Fukuda (Ni…

On May 7 an information session took place in Tokyo for athletes who have qualified for September's new "one-shot" selection race that will determine at least two members of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics men's and women's marathon teams. Two of the top men and women at the Sept. 15 MGC Race will be named to the three-member marathon team rosters for the Tokyo Olympics.

34 men and 15 women qualified for the more-or-less "one-shot" race, which will be a first in Japanese Olympic selection. 40 of the qualifiers and their coaches attended the May 7 briefing session in Tokyo. One notable absence was U.S.-based men's marathon national record holder Suguru Osako. JAAF marathon development project team leader Toshihiko Seko began by reiterating the significance of the new-format selection race.

Seko told them, "This race will be challenging and will place tremendous pressure upon you. The athletes who can deal with that will be the ones who become our true O…

For the third year in a row Ausralia's Gold Coast Marathon saw its women's course record fall, with this year's Barcelona Marathon winner Ruth Chebitok of Kenya taking down favorite Agnes Barsosio and local Jessica Trengove for the win in 2:24:49. Consistent and in control despite extremely high humidity, Chebitok kept the race moving just under 2:25 pace the entire way, at times talking to the male pacers to get them to stay on track. 1:12:15 at halfway in a trio with Barsosio and Trengove, Chebitok covered the back half in 1:12:37 for the win, the course record, and a new PB.

Trengove, aiming to go under 2:28 to share in a $40,000 bonus offered by organizers for fast times by Australian athletes, was the first to drop off, but maintaining her speed well she overtook Barsosio almost as soon as the Kenyan faded. Holding on for a 30-second PB, Trengove finished in 2:26:31 to take 2nd and pick up the time bonus. Barsosio was 3rd in 2:27:46, holding off Japan's newly ind…

This weekend Australia's Gold Coast Marathon celebrates 40 years with a race that should see new course records in both the women's and men's races. On the women's side, favorite Agnes Barsosio of Kenya was quietly confident at the pre-race press conference, saying that she thought a time under last year's 2:25::34 course record was a probability and that a 2:23 wouldn't be surprising if the weather conditions were good enough. The forecast looks to be in her favor, so the main question will be how much support she can get from her strongest competition, fellow Kenyan Ruth Chebitok, local Jessica Trengove and the 2:27 Japanese duo of Ayaka Fujimoto and Miharu Shimokado.

Chebitok's 2:25:49 best from earlier this year in Barcelona puts her in range if she can repeat the same quality of performance. Trengove has the motivation of a $40,000 bonus from organizers for a time under 2:28. Coached by former men's half marathon national record holder Atsushi Sat…