japan running news

Continuing the best year in Japanese men's marathoning history, one that has seen the last generation of Hakone Ekiden talent finally deliver on the brilliance they showed at Hakone in college, former Toyo University leader Yuma Hattori (Toyota) ran 2:07:27 to become the first Japanese man to win the Fukuoka International Marathon since 2004.

In warmer than usual conditions the lead pack ran steadily through 25 km on pace for between 2:07:15 and 2:07:20, perfect for getting as many men as could take it through the rapidly closing qualification window for the MGC Race 2020 Olympic trials. Early casualties included World Championships medalists Vincent Kipruto (Kenya) and Ghirmay Ghebreslassie (Eritrea) and Japan's best championships marathoner, Kentaro Nakamoto (Yasukawa Denki). Boston Marathon winner Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't), who rebounded from the low point of his career this fall with excellent times in races the last two weekends, was off the back of the pac…

The IAAF may have unilaterally declared the long distance track season over last week, but in Japan autumn track is in full swing as athletes at all levels prepare for championship ekiden season.

The biggest race of the weekend was the men's 10000 m A-heat at Yokohama's Nittai University Time Trials. Richard Kimunyan (Hitachi Butsuryu) led a small group including 2014 Commonwealth Games 5000 m gold medalist Jonathan Ndiku (Hitachi Butsuryu) out at a steady pace around 27:10. By halfway Kimunyan was alone but still rock steady with a 13:35 split.

From 7000 m on he slowed gradually toward the 27:19.62 world-leading time run by Joshua Cheptegei (Uganda) at this year's Commonwealth Games, but with a hard kick over the last lap Kimunyan crossed the line 5 seconds up on Cheptegei's mark in 27:14.70, a PB by 38 seconds. Ndiku also got under 28 minutes in 27:50.38. Half marathon national record holder Yuta Shitara (Honda) was the top Japanese man in 28:11.25, continuing to ro…

2nd in the women's race at last year's Riga Marathon, Kikuyo Tsuzaki (Noritz) returned to take 4th in 2:35:03 in this year's record-breaking edition, three and a half minutes slower than her solid run last year but still good enough to be the second-fastest time run outside Japan this year by a Japanese woman. More on the men's and women's races here.

At Sweden's Goteborgsvarvet Half Marathon, 2015 National University Half Marathon champion and 2015 World University Games half marathon silver medalist Tadashi Isshiki and his GMO teammate Hiroki Yamagishi were ineffectual, Isshiki five minutes off the win in 1:06:37 for 17th and Yamagishi 23rd in only 1:08:20.

© 2018 Brett Larner, all rights reserved

Running on his 29th birthday, Takuya Noguchi (Team Konica Minolta) became just the sixth Japanese man to ever win a marathon outside Japan in a sub-2:10 time as he shot down favorites and past champions Kenneth Mungara (Kenya) and Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) to win the Gold Coast Airport Marathon in a 2-minte-plus PB of 2:08:59. In the women's race #1-ranked Abebech Bekele (Ethiopia) became only the second Ethiopian woman to ever win Gold Coast as she took more than a minute off the year-old course record to win in 2:25:34.

Pre-race Noguchi's wife Risa Takenaka (Team Shiseido), the 2015 Gold Coast women's winner and running again this year, told JRN that he was in better shape than she was and had come in part to try to outgun Kawauchi. With a good season behind him including a 1:02:37 half marathon PB and 2:11:04 marathon PB in February and a 1:02:21 half marathon best in May Noguchi had the momentum to see that through. Two-time defending champ Mungara had c…

http://goldcoastmarathon.com.au/2017/06/14/asics-half-marathon-assembles-stellar-cast-of-elite-runners/

Japanese elites in the ASICS Half Marathon include Mizuki Tanimoto (Team Tenmaya), Koji Gokaya (Team JR Higashi Nihon), Keita Nagura (Team Mazda) and Hiroki Yamagishi (Team GMO Athletes).

The elite field for the Gold Coast Airport Marathon led by previous winners Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) and Risa Takenaka (Team Shiseido) is listed here.

by Brett Larner

One of the ten biggest marathons in the world, the Osaka Marathon celebrated its first-ever Japanese winner this year.

第六回大阪マラソン　女子の部優勝
坂本喜子選手

浪速区敷津
Canon EOS 1D X
Canon EF 70-200mm 1:2.8L IS Ⅱ USM#写真好きな人と繋がりたい#大阪マラソンpic.twitter.com/5Zmd3Mm6bU — KKMMM (@KkmmmGurkha) October 30, 2016
The Osaka women's race was a one-woman show the whole way.  Amateur runner Yoshiko Sakamoto (Y.W.C.) a 37-year-old mother of three and former high school star who took up marathons at age 32 after not running for more than 10 years, went it alone from the gun.  35 seconds ahead of #1-ranked Nurit Yimam (Ethiopia) at 5 km, Sakamoto fearlessly pushed her pace under 2:30 by 15 km and stretched her lead to almost four minutes as Yimam and top club runner Yumiko Kinoshita (SWAC) held steady to 2:35~36 pace.  With a best of 2:36:29 Sakamoto was bound to pay for it, and after halfway she began to slow.  "After 33 km it felt like my right hamstring was going to cramp up," she told JRN …

by Brett Larner

The Osaka Marathon is something of an oddity.  The progeny of the post-Tokyo Marathon mass participation running boom, in its fifth running last year Osaka had nearly 30,000 finishers to rank as the 7th-largest marathon worldwide in 2015.  But along with the United States' Marine Corps Marathon it was one of only two races in the top ten without an IAAF label, an indication that the JAAF has not positioned it as part of Japan's crowded elite race calendar.  And yet, Osaka typically has an invited elite field good enough for at least IAAF bronze medal status if it wanted it, good enough that it has yet to see a Japanese winner male or female.  There's something of an indication there of the tension between tradition and modernity in today's Japanese distance running world, neither purely elite nor purely mass participation.

Whatever the organizers' intentions, Sunday's race features good fields on both the men's and women's sides with six…

by Brett Larner

The Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon organizers have announced the field for their 53rd running on Feb. 8.  Run on the home ground of the Takeshi Soh-led Asahi Kasei corporate team, Nobeoka is primarily a developmental race focusing on first-timers and young athletes trying to get the marathon right and typically sees winning times in the 2:12~2:13 range.  It's noteworthy outside Japan mainly in that every year the people who run around that level in Nobeoka make up a major part of the runners included on their coaches' annual junket to the Chicago Marathon, where some go on to take a step toward bigger things.

Recently things have been getting a little faster in Nobeoka, with 2:11 winning times in two of the last three years.  This year the organizers have taken a slightly different tack, invited three experienced men who should be able to work together to take down the 2:11:05 course record.  Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) is the strongest by far with a…

by Brett Larner

Triple 2013 Kanto Region 1500 m, 5000 m and 10000 m champion Enock Omwamba led Yamanashi Gakuin University through the woods to take the top position at the National University Ekiden Championships Kanto Region Qualifier June 30 at Tokyo's National Stadium.  One of the most interesting meets on the Kanto circuit, the Kanto Region qualifier features twenty second-tier teams vying for seven spots at November's National University Ekiden Championships, every team with two men in each of four heats and the team's standing determined by the accumulated time of all eight men.  Team supporters line the track making noise and creating a high-energy environment.

Heading into the fourth and final heat, Yamanashi Gakuin had a lead of less than 7 seconds over rival Hosei University.  Omwamba led start to finish, dropping his trailers one by one to finish in 28:18.77, beating Hosei ace Kazuto Nishiike by almost 47 seconds and making hefty donation to the cause.  Yamanas…