japan running news

by Brett Larner
photos by Collin Winter and Dr. Helmut Winter

In the distance behind Kenyan winners Dennis Kimetto and Rita Jeptoo, Japanese runners Hiroaki Sano (Team Honda) and Yukiko Akaba (Team Hokuren) each took 7th at the 2013 Chicago Marathon, Sano running almost dead even half splits for a 2:10:29 PB and Akaba fading to 2:27:49 after starting out among the leaders.  Yoshinori Oda (Team Toyota) also sneaked into the men's top ten, dropping dropping American Matt Tegenkamp in the last 3 km to take 9th in 2:11:29.

Oda started out on 2:10-flat pace, with Sano and other 2:12~2:13 Japanese entrants Kenji Higashino (Team Asahi Kasei), Norihide Fujimori (Team Chugoku Denryoku), Hiroki Tanaka (Team Chugoku Denryoku) and Yoshiki Otsuka (Team Aichi Seiko) running in Tegenkamp's group with Alistair Cragg (Ireland) and Michael Shelley (Australia) at 2:11:30 pace.  As the pace gradually increased toward 2:10 first Oda was absorbed, then the group of Japanese men began to fall away.

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by Brett Larner
photos by Dr. Helmut Winter

Chicago comes at a tough time for Japan's corporate leagues, just before the start of the fall ekiden season's regional qualifiers.  Although just about every team has more than enough people to fill their lineups for these relatively minor events, head coaches will usually not let their better athletes do an October marathon, whether because of the limited recovery time in the event that they decide a big gun has to run in a qualifier, or because it would give them the hassle of explaining to the parent corporation why a star is off doing his or her own thing instead of being there for the team.  As a result you typically only see Japanese runners at Chicago when they are looking to drop something big, as with Yukiko Akaba (Team Hokuren) and Yoshinori Oda (Team Toyota) this year, or, like the block of  Japanese men at 2:12~2:13, as part of a corporate federation junket for promising third-tier men to get the experience of running in …

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…

2011 Gold Coast Airport Marathon - Top Results Brisbane, Australia, 7/3/11 click here for complete results Marathon - Men 1. Nicholas Manza Kamakya (Kenya) - 2:10:01 - CR 2. Albert Kiplagat Matebor (Kenya) - 2:10:13 3. Japhet Kipchichir Kipkorir (Kenya) - 2:10:50 4. Taiga Ito (Suzuki Hamamatsu AC) - 2:13:16 5. Noriaki Takahashi (Team S&B) - 2:14:13 ----- 13. Mok Ying Ren (Singapore) - 2:27:05 75. Yoshihisa Hosaka (Natural Foods) - 2:53:04
Marathon - Women 1. Goitotem Haftu Tesema (Ethiopia) - 2:30:08 2. Roxie Fraser (Australia) - 2:41:17 3. Chihiro Tanaka (AthleC AC) - 2:43:04 4. Michelle McAdam (Australia) - 2:44:44 5. Kirsten Molloy (Australia) - 2:46:32
Note: Tanaka's daughter Nozomi won the junior 4 km in 14:27.
Half Marathon - Men 1. Jeff Hunt (Australia) - 1:04:04 2. Hiroki Tanaka (Japan) - 1:04:48 3. Daisuke Koyama (Japan) - 1:04:57
Half Marathon - Women 1. Lara Tamsett (Australia) - 1:12:19 2. Jessica Trengrove (Australia) - 1:12:28 3. Abigail Bayley (Australia) - 1:13:40