japan running news

by Brett Larner photo (c) 2011 Dr. Helmut Winter Just three weeks after running a PB of 2:28:49 at the Berlin Marathon, Eri Okubo  (Second Wind AC) continued her outstanding year by lopping 3 minutes off her half marathon best with a 1:11:22 course record win at the 30th Ichinoseki International Half Marathon in Ichinoseki, Iwate.  Rain until shortly before the start of the race had little impact on the otherwise good conditions as Okubo clocked the fourth-fastest half of the year by a Japanese woman, admittedly in a year which saw the cancellation of the spring half marathon season following the March disasters.  Okubo's rapid progress this year ranks her as the top member of the Second Wind club following the departure of ace Yuri Kano . In the men's race, Komazawa University's Takahiro Gunji  had a narrow win in 1:06:01 over Koku Gakuin University's Nozomu Hashisaka  and pro Kazuyoshi Tokumoto  (Team Nissin Shokuhin) who went 1:06:04, and Hashi...

http://www.iwanichi.co.jp/ichinoseki/item_25911.html translated and edited by Brett Larner Its course record wins at all three major university men's ekidens in the 2010-2011 season making it the best university team ever assembled, Waseda University 's ekiden squad has arrived in Ichinoseki, Iwate to begin training for the first key battle in this year's campaign, October's Izumo Ekiden.  On Sept. 19th the team held a public reception at its training facilities in the city's Hanaizumi district to greet and offer support to local residents affected by March's disasters.  With the entry list for this year's Izumo Ekiden announced the same day, the reception also served to mark the beginning of serious training for the team's core group of athletes. Waseda's ekiden team originally began using Hanaizumi as a training base in 1990 and has continued with only one interruption.  Team alumnus Yasuyuki Watanabe  (38), now Waseda's head coach, exper...

http://mytown.asahi.com/iwate/news.php?k_id=03000001008260003 translated by Brett Larner One of the greats of Japanese distance running, 1996 Atlanta Olympian Masako Chiba (34), gave a talk before 74 5th graders at Hagiso Elementary School in Ichinoseki, Iwate on Aug. 25. Chiba appeared at the school as part of the "Classroom of Dreams Project" sponsored by the Japan Soccer Federation. As part of the opening session with students in the school's gymnasium, Chiba talked about the techniques behind running faster, the right way to train, speedwork, making use of her experience to set an example for the children. She showed students how changing your arm carriage affects your stride, a demonstration that had many students calling out, "Wow!" Changing venues to a classroom, Chiba talked about her 15 year-long career as one of the world's top distance runners. She told students about finishing 5th in the Atlanta Olympics 10000 m and showed them her two World...