japan running news

Nestled deep in the misty foothills of the western Tokyo mountains, Hosei University's late November Hachioji Long Distance meet has quietly turned into one of the world's premier track 10000 m, its A-heat never quite dipping under 27 minutes yet but still producing record-setting depth and the two fastest Japanese men's 10000 m in history.
This year's entry list is another monster, with 27:02.59 man Nicholas Kosimbei (Toyota) leading 17 men with recent times under 28 minutes, twelve of them Kenyan, three Japanese and two Ethiopian. Fresh off a 27:22.73 win at last weekend's Nittai University Time Trials, two-time steeplechase junior world champion Jonathan Ndiku (Hitachi Butsuryu) is slated to pace what is scheduled to be a sub-28 race, but with Kosimbei, sub-27:30 men John Maina (Fujitsu) and Rodgers Chumo Kwemoi (Aisan Kogyo) and five others under 27:45 including last year's winnerRonald Kwemoi (Komori Corp.) on the list the front end should go faster. 
Rig…

by Brett Larner

日本高校記録！
7分59秒18 pic.twitter.com/LxtOmTBsPa — 岡村新也 (@n2GVFoktHb5AuKw) October 16, 2016
Ekiden season is underway but there is plenty of track action along the way as teams get ready for the main road races.  A week after his third-straight National Sports Festival track title, 12th-grader Hyuga Endo (Gakuho Ishikawa H.S.) became the first Japanese high schooler to break 8 minutes for 3000 m when he won Hyogo's Sumitomo Denko Cup in 7:59.18 by a margin of more than 20 seconds.  Opening with a 2:36.82 first 1000 m, Endo slowed to 2:42.50 in the middle of the race, still on track to break 8 overall but behind pace over the next 600 m.  One of Endo's main strengths to date has been his kick over the last lap, and here a 59.92 second last lap was just enough to get him under.  Endo's time was a new high school national record and the second-fastest ever by a Japanese junior.  With a steady string of new PBs from 1500 m to 5000 m over the last two years the new re…

by Brett Larner
click here for Day One results and report 
click here for Day Two results and report

Seito Yamamoto (Team Toyota) broke one of the oldest standing meet records at the National Corporate Track and Field Championships on this year's final day of competition, clearing 5.70 m to break the 5.62 record set back in 1999 by Fumiaki Kobayashi (Miki House).  Kobayashi passed all the way to 5.30 m, clearing it and 5.50 m on his first try to seal the win.  Going straight to 5.70 m, it took him three attempts to clear it but the record was his.  The women's 4x400 m almost saw another meet record as the Junanaju Ginko team was just 0.03 off the 3:47.38 record it set in 2010 with a lineup including current third runner Mai Yamada.

In distance action, Hiram Ngatia (Team Toyota) ran the fastest time in the three evenly-stacked men's 5000 m, 13:23.65, for the Heat Three and overall win.  1500 m champ Ronald Kwemoi (Team Komori Corp.) had the slowest winning time, 13:38.75 in H…

by Brett Larner
videos by Ekiden News



Kenyan Hiram Ngatia (Team Toyota) came up with a major PB at Saturday's Kanaguri Memorial Meet, beating Moscow World Championships 10000 m bronze medalist Paul Tanui (Kenya/Team Kyudenko) to win the 5000 m A-heat in a world-leading 13:13.66.  Running on his birthday, Yamanashi Gakuin University star Enock Omwamba (Kenya) likewise PBd in 13:28.41, with Keita Shitara (Team Konica Minolta) edging his twin brother Yuta Shitara (Team Honda) for top Japanese honors at 6th in 13:41.04.

The Shitara twins' former Toyo University teammate Takanori Ichikawa (Team Hitachi Butsuryu) came up with a PB almost identical to theirs to win the B-heat in 13:41.84 just ahead of top collegiate Hironori Tsuetaki (Chuo Gakuin Univ.).  After running last month's United Airline NYC Half with support from JRN, Takashi Ichida (Team Asahi Kasei) and his former Kagoshima Jitsugyo H.S. teammate Koki Takada (Waseda Univ.) both PBd in the B-heat, Ichida 4th in 13:43.38…

by Brett Larner
photos by Kazuyuki Sugimatsu
videos by Ekiden News



The 232nd edition of 2013 Hakone Ekiden champion Nittai University's regular time trial meet series was the biggest on record.  After a Saturday dedicated to distances ranging from 800 m to 10000 m, Sunday dawned early for 45 heats of 5000 m, 42 for men and 3 for women, the first starting at 7:30 a.m. and the last at 9:20 p.m.  Mass-producing quality, the 5000 m heats averaged 42 runners each with the two largest having 48 finishers.  Late in the day the heats were beginning every 15 minutes like clockwork.  Performances were equally deep, with the women's 5000 m A-heat seeing the most women ever under 16:30, 38, and the men's 5000 m A-heat with 30 under 14:05 falling just short of the record of 33.

The performance of the weekend went to 20-year-old Meiji University junior Genki Yagisawa, a former high school star who has so far struggled to live up to expectations on the university ekiden circuit.  Running i…

by Brett Larner

Summer heat couldn't stop the fast times in the 5000 m final on the fourth day of the 2012 National High School Track & Field Championships Aug. 1 in Niigata.  After a Kenyan-dominated round of qualifying heats, #1 seed Charles Ndungu (Kenya/Sapporo Yamanote H.S.), #2 Jeremiah Karemi (Kenya/Toyokawa H.S.), #4-ranked Kazuma Taira (Toyokawa Kogyo H.S.) and four others took the final out hard, starting at 13:07 pace and gradually slowing.  As the rest of the field faded away, first-year Ndungu and the experienced Karemi battled for the lead as top-ranked Japanese Taira struggled to stay with them.  Over the last kilometer Taira fell behind, and in the final sprint down the home straight Karemi emerged a fraction of a second ahead of Ndungu to take the 2012 national title in a solid 13:46.30 to Ndungu's 13:46.56.  Taira held on to 3rd in 13:55.64, just outrunning #3 seed John Maina (Kenya/Aomori Yamada H.S.).  1500 m champion Hiram Ngatia (Kenya/Sendai Ikuei H.…

by Brett Larner 

 High school track continued along the road to next month's National Championships with a nationwide round of regional championships this weekend.  Thirty-three girls across the country broke the 9:30 mark over 3000 m, with the fastest time of the weekend going to Kenyan Mary Waithira (Sendai Ikuei H.S.), who set an impressive meet record of 9:00.85 at the Tohoku Regionals meet over Kenyan rival Rosemary Wanjiru (Aomori Yamada H.S.), who ran 9:07.44.  The fastest performance by a Japanese girl came at the South Kanto Regionals meet, where Maki Izumida (Hakuoh Joshi H.S.) won in 9:17.74.  All but three regions featured winning times under 9:30.

Boys' performances were less noteworthy, but in the Tokai Region 5000 m Kenyan Jeremiah Karemi (Toyokawa H.S.) set a meet record of 13:52.51.  Charles Ndungu (Sapporo Yamanote H.S.) also set a meet record in the Hokkaido Region 5000 m, running 13:57.81.  Both boys' and girls' results were somewhat diminished by t…

by Brett Larner


Sera H.S. wins the 2011 National High School Boys Ekiden Championships in 2:03:50. Click photo for video highlights via broadcaster NHK.

As in the girls' race, the 2009 National High School Boys Ekiden champion took back the top position Dec. 25 in Kyoto, with Hiroshima's Sera H.S. taking the win in an all-time top ten 2:03:50 for the hilly seven-stage, 42.195 km course.  Many of the favorites, including defending national champion Kagoshima Jitsugyo H.S., 2008 champ Saku Chosei H.S., Samuel Wanjiru's alma mater Sendai Ikuei H.S., and the powerful Nishiwaki Kogyo H.S., suffered pre-Championships setbacks with injuries to their star runners, paving the way for the unheralded Kurashiki H.S. to take the runner-up spot in 2:05:13, both its best placing and fastest time ever.

Kyushu Gakuin H.S. ace Kazuma Kubota got things off on the right foot, winning the 10.0 km First Stage in 29:38 in a beautiful performance that saw him run away from the pack after the halfw…

by Brett Larner

Earlier this season Samuel Wanjiru's disaster-hit alma mater Sendai Ikuei H.S. had a big run to win the Miyagi Prefecture High School Ekiden.  Sendai Ikuei followed up Nov. 10 with another big one, setting a 2:04:43 course record to win the seven-stage, 42.195 km Tohoku Region High School Ekiden over rival Aomori Yamada H.S.  Sendai Ikuei started slow, running 3rd behind early leader Tamura H.S. and Aomori Yamada after the first two stages before current Kenyan ace Hiram Ngatia got things into gear.  Ngatia outran Aomori Yamada's John Maina to set a 22:53 record on the 8.1075 km Third Stage, handing off to Fourth Stage runner Tadashi Isshiki in 2nd.  Isshiki, one of the best Japanese high schoolers this year, had little trouble making up the 5-second deficit to leader Aomori Yamada over the 8.0875 km stage, setting a 23:51 course record of his own to put Sendai Ikuei 18 seconds up.  Sendai Ikuei's next two runners kept up the lead before anchor Yuki Ajima p…

by Brett Larner

The local titans dominated three significant regional ekidens over the weekend.  In disaster-hit Miyagi, Sendai Ikuei H.S., alma mater of the late Samuel Wanjiru and 5000 m national champion Megumi Kinukawa (Team Mizuno), had superb runs in both the boys' and girls' races to sweep the National High School Ekiden Championships Miyagi Prefecture Qualifier.  Running on a modified course due to lasting tsunami damage, Sendai Ikuei runners won every stage in both the six-stage, 42.1 km boys' race and five-stage, 21 km girls' race.  Particularly dominant boys included the Hattori twins, Yuma and Hazuma, who won the 8.1 km Third Stage and 8 km Fourth Stage by margins of 2:18 and 1:38, Kenyan first-year Hiram Ngatia, who won the 5 km Sixth Stage by 1:11 in his ekiden debut, and anchor Tadashi Isshiki who clocked 13:55 for the 5 km road course to win by over one minute.  The boys' team totalled 2:02:17 versus second-place Rifu H.S.' 2:10:36, putting them…