japan running news

One of Japan's main spring meets, the Golden Games in Nobeoka saw some strong performances in its 30th edition. Evans Keitany (Toyota Boshoku) ran the performance of the day, breaking the 5000 m meet record with a 13:12.65 to win the almost all-African D-Heat. 2019 national cross-country champion Yuta Bando (Fujitsu) came in at all-time Japanese #24 in the same heat with a 13:26.70 for 12th, the first runner to crack the Japanese top 25 in four years. By comparison, all-time #2 Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Asahi Kasei) won the 5000 m A-heat in 13:36.77.

Half marathon national record holder Yuta Shitara (Honda) continued his forward momentum this season after a long slump following his 2:06:11 at last year's Tokyo Marathon, winning the 10000 m in 27:53.67 to become the first Japanese man under 28 this year. Shitara surprised everyone by announcing post-race that he plans to run July's Gold Coast Marathon before doing the Sept. 15 MGC Race Olympic marathon trials. His fellow trials q…

Back in 2010 JRN spotted 17-year-old high school student Minami Yamanouchi at a local 14 km road race in northern Ibaraki, where she beat the high school boys' course record by more than four minutes. At the time we wrote, "If Yamanouchi keeps running post-high school and lands at the right team, university or pro, we may have been lucky to see the first appearance of a future great." Now 25 and coached by former half marathon national record holder Atsushi Sato at the Kyocera corporate team, in the last few weeks Yamanouchi has really come into her own.

Minami Yamanouchi (Kyocera) took the top Japanese spot at 4th overall in the 5000 m at the April 28 Oda Memorial Meet in Hiroshima, one of the top-level track meets in Japan. A former amateur runner, she only joined the corporate leagues last August. Seeing her progress in less than a year of serious training, her coach Atsushi Sato, the 6th placer in the 2009 World Championships marathon, called her "exceptional.&qu…

Saturday’s main event was a time trial meet in remote Miyazaki, the Golden Games in Nobeoka. With a heavy emphasis on 5000 m, the biggest news of the day was split between the two men who ran 2:06 at Feburary’s Tokyo Marathon, national record holder Yuta Shitara (Honda) and Hiroto Inoue (MHPS).

Having taken time off after Tokyo, Shitara returned to action in the lone 10000 m in Nobeoka but was unable to stay in the action, ultimately dropping out of the race won in 28:00.49 by local boy Shuho Dairokuno (Asahi Kasei). Inoue, for his part, rocketed back into post-Tokyo action with a 13:38.44 PB in the 5000 m A-heat, outkicking 10000 m national record holder Kota Murayama (Asahi Kasei) for the win.

Shitara and Inoue's results capped an interesting weekend for the current main four contenders for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic marathon team. Like Shitara, 5000 m national record holder Suguru Osako (Nike Oregon Project) was a DNF over 10000 m, opting to run Stateside at Stanford. Boston Marat…

by Brett Larner

Stanford University’s Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational has long been a mainstay for Japanese distance runners, the site of 10000 m national record runs by both Yoko Shibui and Toshinari Takaoka. But with the steady rise of the Golden Games in Nobeoka meet in Japan’s version of Eugene, Oregon, more and more have been passing Stanford by to run on home ground.

With the two meets happening almost simultaneously this year only one Japanese man, Minato Oishi (Team Toyota) made the trip over to the States. With a 27:48.56 best from last November Oishi was only 25th of 27 finishers in 29:17.60. Most of the other main contenders for the London World Championships team in the 10000 m ran in Nobeoka, where Rio Olympics silver medalist Paul Tanui (Team Kyudenko) paced a field including proven sub-28 men Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Team Asahi Kasei), Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin), Yuta Shitara (Team Honda), Ken Yokote (Team Fujitsu), Takashi Ichida (Team Asahi Kasei), Kenta Murayama …

http://mainichi.jp/articles/20170202/dde/035/050/065000c

translated and edited by Brett Larner

Tormented by injuries and having been on the brink of retirement, Fumihiro Maruyama (26, Asahi Kasei) has chosen tomorrow's Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon for his second marathon.  With Asahi Kasei's long legacy behind him, including Koichi Morishita's 1992 Beppu-Oita win that took him to the Barcelona Olympics and a silver medal, Maruyama's desire to succeed and earn a place on the London World Championships team is strong.  "I want to take a big step up and win so that I can compete at the world level," he said.

At last March's Lake Biwa Mainichi Marathon Maruyama made an aggressive marathon debut, surging away from the all-Japanese chase pack at 30 km. But at 39 km he was run down and finished as the fourth Japanese man, missing the Rio de Janeiro Olympic team.  His time of 2:09:39 meant he had achieved a rare sub-2:10 debut, but, he said with lingering regret,…

by Brett Larner

Japan's best spring distance meet, the Golden Games in Nobeoka came up short on Rio qualifying marks but still delivered some fast times with the winners of all the major races running PBs to get to the top.

Ethiopian newcomer Shuru Bulo (Team Toto) was the only woman to clear the 15:24.00 women's 5000 m Rio standard, winning the women's A-heat in a PB 15:18.54.  Top Japanese woman Sakie Arai (Osaka Gakuin Univ.) was far short of the mark in 15:42.29 for 4th.  After having helped Sera H.S. break the legendary Samuel Wanjiru-era National High School Boys Ekiden course record last December, Kenyan Paul Kamais (Team Chugoku Denryoku) continued to dominate in the 5th week of his pro career, leading four Japan-based Africans under the 13:25.00 men's Rio standard to win the 5000 m C-heat in a PB 13:17.50.  Hopes of another Japanese man getting the standard went unrequited, but top Japanese man Hazuma Hattori (Toyo Univ.) still delivered a solid 13:34.64, 4 se…

by Brett Larner

Held in Athlete Town Nobeoka, Japan's Eugene, Saturday's Golden Games in Nobeoka are one of the highlights of outdoor track season.  Fans line the outer lane of the track, banging on metallic sponsor boards to create a rhythmic roar that follows athletes all the way through the race and the great Soh twins working the field, calling to each athlete by name over loudspeakers to urge them on and welcoming them to the finish.  Every year it produces some of the fastest Japanese times of the year, and in an Olympic year that's going to be more true than ever.

Last year the men's 10000 m was little more than a time trial for Kenta Murayama (Team Asahi Kasei) and Yuta Shitara (Team Honda) with pacing from double World Championships bronze medalist Paul Tanui (Team Kyudenko), both breaking 27:45.  This year it's big, arguably the main race of the day as Olympic team hopefuls look to join the eleven Japanese men already under the 28:00.00 Rio standard in th…

by Brett Larner

The Golden Games in Nobeoka are the main spring Japanese meet for distance runners, held in Japan's Eugune, the Asahi Kasei team's home of Nobeoka.  Fans line the track, banging on the metal sponsor boards with sticks to produce a wall of sound that pushes runners to some of the best Japanese times of the year, every year.

This year a lot of the big names will be chasing Olympic qualifying times in the United States, but the 5000 m and 10000 m still have deep lists of upper-tier Japanese and Japan-based African talent.  Last year two-time World Championships medalist Paul Tanui (Team Kyudenko) paced Kenta Murayama (Team Asahi Kasei) and Yuta Shitara (Team Honda) to two of the fastest Japanese 10000 m times ever.  This year both Tanui and Shitara are back in the 10000 m along with Shitara's twin brother Keita Shitara (Team Konica Minolta), 61-minute half marathoner university teammates Keisuke Nakatani and Naoki Kudo (Komazawa Univ.) and former Hakone Ekiden…

by Brett Larner
videos by Ekiden News

Nobeoka is Japan's twin to the United States' Eugene, an isolated mecca of the sport with intense local support driven by the legends of local greats.  Track Town U.S.A. Eugene has 1972 Olympics 5000 m 4th-placer Steve Prefontaine, while Athlete Support Town Nobeoka has twins Takeshi Soh, 4th in the 1976 Olympics marathon, and Shigeru Soh, whose 2:09:06 in 1978 was that time's fastest ever behind Australian Derek Clayton's short-course world best.  Prefontaine died a rock star death to become a marketing icon for locally-originating global manufacturer Nike, while the Soh twins became the faces of locally-originating global manufacturer Asahi Kasei, first as athletes and then as coaches and staff members, their work in developing the Asahi Kasei corporate team, in creating and operating the Golden Games meet and in supporting children's programs and the local community helping make Asahi Kasei synonymous with distance running gr…

by Brett Larner
photo by a_yamako
videos by Ekiden News

Perfect conditions brought fast times at one of the best distance meets on the Japanese spring calendar, Saturday's Golden Games in Nobeoka.  With a focus on 5000 m, almost every heat saw four out of the top five run PBs.  Kenya Pauline Kamulu (Team Toto) soloed her way to a one-second best of 15:29.55 in the women's 5000 m A-heat, with runner-up Miho Shimizu (Team Hokuren) in 15:36.03 leading three Japanese women to PBs under 15:40.

Newcomers Bernard Kimani (Team Yakult) and James Mwangi (Team NTN) continued their climb up the ranks of the Japan-based Africans, beating World XC junior silver medalist Leonard Barsoton (Team Nissin Shokuhin) in PBs of 13:14.64 and 13:16.06 with Barsoton 3rd in 13:21.44 in the men's 5000 m C-heat.  The lone Japanese man in the heat, 2014 World Half Marathon team member Masato Kikuchi (Team Konica Minolta), ran 13:35.18 for 6th, yet another PB in what's turning out to be a fantastic se…

by Brett Larner

With track season well under way there's a shortage of domestic road action this month.  Formerly Japan's main May half marathon, the Sendai International Half Marathon's stock has fallen in recent years against the rise of the Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon a week later but still features a good men's field including marathoners Arata Fujiwara (Miki House), Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) and Kazuhiro Maeda (Team Kyudenko), Japan-based Kenyans Joseph Gitau (Team JFE Steel), Johana Maina (Team Fujitsu) and Mekubo Mogusu (Team Nissin Shokuhin), former Hakone Ekiden stars Kenta Chiba (Team Fujitsu), Takehiro Deki (Team Chugoku Denryoku) and Ryuji Kashiwabara (Team Fujitsu) and more.  The women's field is thinner, with veterans Yuri Kano (Team Shiseido), Mari Ozaki (Team Noritz) and Yukari Sahaku (Team Univ. Ent.) going up against young talents Ayaka Hitomi (Team Shimamura) and Misato Horie (Team Nortiz).  Click here for a complete field listing.

On…

by Brett Larner
photo by Kazuyuki Sugimatsu
video by Ekiden News

Hakone Ekiden course record holder Toyo University's identical twin stars Keita Shitara and Yuta Shitara delivered a piece of history Saturday in the men's 10000 m at Japan's best spring meet, the Golden Games in Nobeoka.  Running steadily, patiently and under control behind 2007 World Championships 10000 m bronze medalist Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) and grinding down all other competition, Keita, who earlier this season set the Japanese collegiate 30 km record of 1:29:55 in Kumamoto, kicked away from Mathathi with 200 m to go to win in a meet record 27:51.54, breaking the legendary Toshihiko Seko's age 21 best of 27:51.61. Mathathi also cleared the old record in 27:52.65.  Right with them until the last surge, Yuta, who last year set a stage record at the Hakone Ekiden, outkicked World Half Marathon bronze medalist Dathan Ritzenhein (U.S.A.) at the New York City Half Marathon for the fastest…

by Brett Larner


Ekiden News is scheduled to live stream the Golden Games in Nobeoka Meet, with the major events beginning at 7:00 p.m. Japan time on May 11. Watch live here.

This weekend marks the start of three straight weeks of regional championship track action in the lead-up to the June 7-9 National Championships.  The biggest meet of the weekend is Saturday's Golden Games in Nobeoka, where the focus will be on the men's 10000 m.  2007 Osaka World Championships bronze medalist Martin Mathathi (Kenya/ Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) leads a field of thirteen, many collegiate men, looking to get under 28 and hopefully closer to joining Suguru Osako (Waseda Univ.) and Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin) under the Moscow World Championships A-standard of 27:40.00.  From Hakone Ekiden course record holder Toyo University are Keita and Yuta Shitara, looking to become the first Japanese twins to both go sub-28, and from National University Ekiden course record holder are Komazawa half marathon…

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/e-japan/miyazaki/news/20130423-OYT8T01491.htm

translated by Brett Larner

With Nobeoka set to host the country's best middle and long-distance runners May 11 at the Golden Games in Nobeoka meet at the city's Nishishina Field, organizers placed 120 promotional flags around the downtown area on May 23.  The flags measure 80 cm by 45 cm with a black and yellow color scheme.  Below an illustration of a group of runners in action, the flags call on local citizens to come out and support the athletes at the competition.  Race organizers began placing the flags at 9:00 a.m.  The flags are attached to light poles in pairs every 10 m along the main streets of Nobeoka, catching the attention of passersby as they ripple in the wind.

by Brett Larner

After failing to qualify for the London Olympics in the marathon, 5000 m national record holder Kayoko Fukushi (Team Wacoal) successfully regrouped at the May 12 Golden Games in Nobeoka meet, clearing the Olympic A-standard as she narrowly finished 2nd behind Kenyan Sally Chepyego (Team Kyudenko) 15:18.01 to 15:18.46.  No other women were even close to the lead pair, with Ai Igarashi (Team Sysmex) 3rd in 15:33.80.

The bid for Olympic A qualifying times in the men's 10000 m was less successful.  Waseda University 3rd-year Suguru Osako, the Asian half-marathon junior record holder, 2011 World University Games 10000 m gold medalist and 1500 m national university 1500 m champion, emerged from a small pack chasing the time behind pacer and Osaka WC bronze medalist Martin Mathathi (Kenya/Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) to give it a good shot but faded over the last 2000 m.  He nevertheless succeeded in breaking 28 for the first time, 2nd in a photo-finish with Mathathi in 27:56.94 …

by Brett Larner
The men's 5000 m Heat E.

Pre-typhoon rain couldn't hold back the times at the 2011 Golden Games in Nobeoka meet, May 28 in Noboeka. With a focus on the 5000 m, the meet's top men's heat saw two Japanese men, former middle-distance specialist Kazuya Watanabe (Team Shikoku Denryoku) and Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin) break the World Championships B-standard. Watanabe ran a PB of 13:23.15 to win outright over a largely African field and become the all-time 8th-best Japanese man over the distance, while Sato was just off his PB with a 13:25.53 clocking, his best in five years. The Japanese man with the best 10,000 and half-marathon times of 2011, Tsuyoshi Ugachi (Team Konica Minolta) also ran a PB of 13:30.30. Just behind him Waseda University sophomore Suguru Osako, the Asian half-marathon jr. area record holder, likewise ran a large PB of 13:31.52 for 8th after a gutsy push to the front at 4000 m. Although none of the Africans in the top ten ran PBs,…

http://www.jiji.com/jc/c?g=spo_30&k=2010051900600
http://www.docomoasahi.gr.jp/ggn/2010/10ggn/caution/apology.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

On May 19 the organizers of the 21st Golden Games in Nobeoka track and field meet scheduled for May 22 in Nobeoka, Miyazaki prefecture, announced that the event would be cancelled due to an outbreak of foot and mouth disease in Miyazaki. On May 18 Miyazaki Prefectural Government officials asked organizers of upcoming events within the prefecture to postpone their events, but with the difficulties of rescheduling a major track meet in mind, Golden Games organizers opted to cancel this year's competition.

A notice posted on the Golden Games in Nobeoka website on May 19 explained that while foot and mouth disease only affects cattle, pigs and water buffalo, not humans, no cases had been detected within the Nobeoka area, and meet organizers had contingency plans in place to minimize the risk of spreading the disease through dirt conta…

by Brett Larner

Six days after completing a rare quadruple with an 800 m meet record at the Kanto Regional University Track and Field Championships, fourth year Daniel Gitau (Nihon Univ.) took down Japanese 1500 m national record holder Fumikazu Kobayashi (Team NTN) with a PB and meet record 3:37.96 in the men's 1500 m at the May 30 Golden Games in Nobeoka. Heavy rain throughout the meet dashed hopes for a new Japanese national record-level performance, but although he missed his own record mark of 3:37.40 Kobayashi's time of 3:38.80 was one of his best since setting the record in 2004.

Other noteworthy marks came in the ten heats of the men's 5000 m. The fastest times came in the E-heat, where Micah Njeru (Team Toyota Boshoku) ran 13:22.20, a PB by 0.07 over his time from last year's Golden Games, to take down John Thuo (Team Toyota) for the win by just over a second. Yuichiro Ueno (Team S&B) continued his return to form after a year of serious illness in 2008, runn…