japan running news

It's a week until the Boston Marathon. After decades of its best giving it a miss Boston is coming back into fashion among Japan's elite marathoners. With top three finishes in the men's race the last two years we just might see three in a row for the first time since the golden years back in 1965-1967. A brief introduction to who'll be on the starting line this year:

Nami Hashimoto
PB/SB: 2:33:22 (Nagoya 2019)
Hashimoto has been on a roll so far this year, winning her debut at the Jan. 27 Katsuta Marathon in 2:34:18, running a PB of 1:46:30 three weeks later for 2nd at the Ome 30 km, then bettering her Katsuta time another three weeks later with a 2:33:22 at the Nagoya Women's Marathon. Both Katsuta and Ome send top-placing finishers to Boston, making this Hashimoto's international debut.

Hiroto Inoue
PB/SB: 2:06:54 (Tokyo 2018)
Generally considered to have the best chance of making Japan's 2020 Olympic marathon team, Inoue had a stellar 2018 with a 2:06:54 i…

After giving it a miss last year to prepare for the London World Championships, Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) returned to Hokkaido's Kushiro Shitsugen 30 km to rack up his seventh win. This year Kawauchi faced some competition from members of the Raffine corporate men's team, but within the first few kilometers he was already on his own. At 10 km he was 23 seconds up on Raffine's Hiroki Kai with Kai's teammate Yoshiki Koizumi another 13 second behind.

Koizumi, who broke 2:14 for the first time at this year's Tokyo Marathon, sped up after 10 km to overtake Kai and cut 14 seconds off Kawauchi's lead, but over the hilly last 10 km he couldn't manage to close the gap. Kawauchi was first across the line in 1:34:34, splitting it right down the middle with the 4th-fastest of his 7 Kushiro wins to date and seemingly back on track after a string of lackluster runs since May's Nobeyama 71 km. Koizumi was next in 1:35:05, just missing his 30 km split ti…

by Brett Larner

大迫選手、ボストンマラソンで2:10:28で３位。ボストンで日本人歴代3記録。Osako 2:10:28 debut for 3rd at #BostonMarathonpic.twitter.com/eP9AKOlteI — Japan Running News (@JRNHeadlines) April 17, 2017
Asian junior half marathon record holder Suguru Osako (Nike Oregon Project) made a successful transition to the marathon at the Boston Marathon, finishing 3rd in 2:10:28 in his debut over the distance.  Always hanging near the rear of the lead pack, Osako appeared relaxed and never stressed when the pace changed, taking his time in catching back up whenever one of the frontline men threw in a surge.  Osako lost touch during the final battle between eventual winner Geoffrey Kirui (Kenya) and NOP teammate Galen Rupp but pushed on to keep 3rd, Kirui breaking the tape in 2:09:37 and Rupp 2nd in 2:09:58.

Osako's 2:10:28 was the third-fastest ever by a Japanese man on the Boston course and made him just the second to break 2:11 in Boston after fellow Waseda University graduate Toshihiko Seko's 2:09:37 win…

by Brett Larner

Through two long-standing race partnerships, a group of sub-elite Japanese runners will again be part of this year's Boston Marathon field.  In the women's race, two-time Katsuta Marathon winner Kana Kurosawa (Team Hitachi) returns to Boston after running a PB 2:43:03 to win this year's Katsuta.  Making her marathon debut alongside Kurosawa is Ome 30 km Road Race winner Ami Utsunomiya (Canon AC Kyushu), with a 1:13:39 half marathon best at Feburary's Marugame Half Marathon.

On the men's side, Katsuta winner Hiroki Kai (Team Raffine) and 3rd-placer Kaito Iwasa (Chuo Univ.) will be running, Kai in his third marathon of the year following his Katsuta title in January and 2:18:07 PB in Tokyo in February. Earning his spot in Boston with a 5th-place finish in Ome and coached by two-time Boston winner Toshihiko Seko, Hiroki Sugawa (DeNA RC), will also line up in his second career marathon after debuting in 2:24:14 at the 2014 Gold Coast Airport Marathon i…

by Brett Larner

The Osaka International Women's Marathon and Osaka Half Marathon were the weekend's main races, but across the country there was plenty of other action on the roads.  Highlights:

In Yamagata, Sakata Minami High School 10th-grader Masato Arao ran 29:27 for 2nd at the Yamagata Prefecture Winter Road Race 10 km, one second behind winner Shuhei Moriya.  Arao's time was 21 seconds faster than the best-ever track 10000 m time by a Japanese 10th-grade boy, Keigo Iijima's 29:48.25.Now in semi-retirement and working as an assistant coach for the Hitachi women's corporate team, former high school star Satoru Kitamura won the men's 10 km at Ibaraki's 65th Katsuta Marathon in 30:06.  Hitachi women defended their titles in both the 10 km and marathon, Ryo Koido winning the 10 km in 33:16 and Kana Kurosawa the marathon in 2:43:03 and both slightly faster than last year.  The men's marathon, by contrast, was very slow.  After a 2:13:15 course record by …