japan running news

by Brett Larner A developmental race in its 61st running, the Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon lucked out with almost windless conditions conducive to fast times.  The large lead pack ran consistently at just sub-2:09 pace through much of the race, whittling down to a final pack of eight at its ultimate stage.  First-timers Yakob Jarso  (Ethiopia), the former Ethiopian 3000 mSC national record holder, and Takehiro Arakawa  (Team Asahi Kasei), famous for DNF'ing on the anchor stage of the Hakone Ekiden a few years ago with 2 km to go after breaking his foot in a rail crossing more than 10 km earlier, made the first serious move just past 30 km, very early for the inexperienced.  2011 Hokkaido Marathon winner Harun Njoroge  (Kenya/Team Komori Corp.) was quick to respond but took his time catching up, drawing the rest of the pack with him.  Two-time Hofu Yomiuri Marathon champion Serod Batochir  (Mongolia) and top-ranked Japanese man Yuki Moriwaki ...

by Brett Larner The 61st running of the Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon , one of Japan's oldest, takes place this Sunday, Feb. 5.  Outside the circuit of Olympic-qualifying races this year, Beppu-Oita's domestic field is largely developmental, but it features a good international field of athletes looking to run Olympic-qualifying marks for their own countries including one prominent debut.  Overseas viewers should be able to watch TBS' race broadcast via Keyhole TV  beginning at 11:50 a.m. Japan time on the 5th.  JRN will once again cover the race via Twitter @JRNLive . The Japanese field includes five men who ran second-tier PBs at other domestic marathons last year.   Yuki Moriwaki  (Team JFE Steel) leads the way with a 2:12:34 from last year's Beppu-Oita.  Moriwaki is closely followed by the Koichi Morishita -coached  Kenji Takeuchi  (Team Toyota Kyushu) with a 2:12:44 at last year's Nobeoka Nishi Nihon Marathon.  One noteworthy nam...

http://sp.mainichi.jp/m/news.html?cid=20120118k0000m050038000c translated by Brett Larner On Jan. 17 the organizers of the Feb. 5 Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon announced the elite field for this year's 61st running.  The six Japan-based invited athletes include last year's runner-up Daniel Njenga  (Kenya/Team Yakult) and 6th-place finisher Yuki Moriwaki  (Team JFE Steel), last summer's Asian Championships bronze medalist Kenji Takeuchi  (Team Toyota Kyushu) and 2011 Hokkaido Marathon winner Harun Njoroge  (Kenya/Team Komori Corp.). Among the seven  overseas elites are 2010's 3rd-placer Jeff Hunt  (Australia), 2007 Biwako Mainichi Marathon winner Samson Ramadhani  (Tanzania) and two-time Hofu Yomiuri Marathon winner Serod Batochir  (Mongolia). The general division includes 2011 Grand Tour Kyushu ekiden MVP Takehiro Arakawa  (Team Asahi Kasei) and Takaaki Tanaka  of 2012 Hakone Ekiden course record setters Toyo University , b...

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:...

by Brett Larner After a long push starting at 25 km Moroccan Ahmed Baday ran a PB 2:10:14 to win the 60th anniversary Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon on Feb. 6. In a race targeted to be in the mid-2:08's Baday ran in a pack with longtime Japan resident Daniel Njenga (Kenya/Team Yakult) and a dozen Japanese competitors including pre-race domestic favorites Atsushi Fujita (Team Fujitsu), the 2007 Beppu-Oita winner and former national record holder, and Kazuhiro Maeda (Team Kyudenko), who had a promising marathon debut with a 2nd-place finish at the 2009 Tokyo Marathon only to miss most of last year following ankle surgery. Early pacemaking irregularities by course record holder Gert Thys (South Africa) and two other pacers resulted in an opening 5 km split of 14:55 followed by 15:32 versus the targeted pace of 15:15 / km. The fast opening left the top two seeds, 2003 Beppu-Oita winner Samson Ramadhani (Tanzania) and Abiyote Guta (Ethiopia) playing catchup, and neither ever factor...

by Brett Larner This weekend marks the 60th anniversary of one of Japan's oldest and most respected marathons, the Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon , usually abbreviated to Betsudai in Japanese. Betsudai has been the site of many historic performances, including Toru Terasawa 's 2:15:16 world record in 1963, Shigeru Soh 's 2:09:06 world record near-miss in 1978, Kodo drummer Kiyoko Obata 's 2:48:52 in 1979 to become the first recorded Japanese woman to complete a marathon in Japan, American Dick Beardsley 's 1981 battle against the Soh twins , future Barcelona Olympic silver medalist and Samuel Wanjiru coach Koichi Morishita 's 2:08:53 debut marathon national record in 1991, Yoshihisa Hosaka 's pair of 60+ world records in 2009 and 2010, and more. Last year on a new, purportedly faster, course, Australian debutant Jeff Hunt turned what would have been a garden-variety 2:10-2:11 pack race into something unforgettable with a thrilling charge up from the second p...

by Brett Larner Updated Jan. 19 with complete elite field. In a special advance release, organizers of the 60th anniversary Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon scheduled for Feb. 6 briefly made the names of some of this year's elite field publicly available on Jan. 14. At the top of the foreign elite field are 2003 Beppu-Oita winner Samson Ramadhani (Tanzania) and the man who made last year's Beppu-Oita of international note with an exciting come-from-behind 3rd-place finish and Australian debut record of 2:11:00, Jeff Hunt . Ramadhani, the 2006 Commonwealth Games and 2007 Biwako Mainichi Marathon champion, returns to Beppu-Oita after defeating Hunt in hot and humid conditions at October's Commonwealth Games where he was 5th in 2:19:31 to Hunt's 2:25:03 13th place finish. The rematch should be one of the highlights of this year's race. Also in the international field are last year's runner-up Daniel Njenga (Kenya/Team Yakult), Ethiopian Abiyote Guta , last year...

JRN's most-read articles of 2010 by month: January Toyo University gets the star treatment. -  Jan. 4 Master shoe craftsman Mimura joins Adidas. - Jan. 13 February Yoshihisa Hosaka gets world record #3 at Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon. - Feb. 7 Coach Ken Green talks about Jeff Hunt's race-making Beppu-Oita debut.   - Feb. 9 "I'm hoping I can be that next chapter in the history books." - Newmade marathoner Jeff Hunt in his own words. - Feb. 10 A tale of two Fujiwaras - Tokyo Marathon 2010.  -  Feb. 28 March Arata Fujiwara evaluates the 2010 Tokyo Marathon.   - Mar. 2 The 2010 Rome Marathon in pictures. - Mar. 25 April Yurika Nakamura on the frontlines in Boston.   - Apr. 15 May "I came here to test myself." - Stephen Mayaka on the Kenyan student runner's life.   - May 5 Hakone's new star takes first 5000 m win - Taku Fujimoto. - May 24 Iizuka redux: the future king of Japanese sprinting? - May 25 Arata Fujiwara sets Ot...

http://www.goldcoastmarathon.com.au/default.asp?PageID=20457 Led by Kaori Yoshida 's 2:31:33 victory, Japanese women took four of the top five places in the marathon while Japanese men took seven of the top ten places in the half marathon. Australian Jeff Hunt , whose memorable marathon debut at February's Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon made that race newsworthy, won the half marathon in 1:03:18, three seconds ahead of countryman Martin Dent . For complete results click here .

by Brett Larner Jeff Hunt ran the Australian marathon debut national record last Sunday at the Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon , finishing 3rd in 2:11:00. With a race both patient and aggressive he won respect across Japan. Yesterday JRN featured Hunt's coach Ken Green talking about Hunt's performance and training from the coach's perspective . Today we bring you Jeff's own views and recollections. Next week JRN will introduce its new JRNPremium subscription series of interviews with athletes, coaches, agents and others in the Japanese running world. The series begins with 2:08:40 marathoner Arata Fujiwara ahead of his return to the Tokyo Marathon later this month. Part two will be a follow-up interview with Fujiwara the day after Tokyo. For more information, click here . JRN: How do you feel? JH: Surprisingly, I’m physically very good. Emotionally, I’m very, very happy and pleased with the result. What was your impression of the event? Beppu-Oita is notorious for its win...

by Brett Larner If Australian Jeff Hunt hadn't been in Sunday's Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon the results would not have been especially surprising or noteworthy. Kenyan Jonathan Kipkorir, the only man in the field to break 2:08 in 2009, outkicked Kenyan veteran Daniel Njenga , the only one with a 2:06 PB, for the win in 2:10:50, with relatively unknown Japanese first-timer Atsushi Ikawa running a gutsy race up front to finish close behind in 2:11:04. On the surface Hunt's 2:11:00 3rd place mark may not appear to add much to the equation, but what made him the defining element of this year's Beppu-Oita was the way he ran the race. Until 30 km Hunt sat far back in the second pack over a minute behind the leaders. By 40 km he was head to head with Kipkorir and Njenga for the win. It was a dramatic, gripping performance which showed that even in the 2:04-2:05 era a slower race can still be exciting . A day after Beppu-Oita Hunt's coach Ken Green talked to JRN via ema...

by Brett Larner click here for JRNLive's detailed race commentary Click photo for a gallery of images from the 2010 Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon. In a tactical race of few surprises, Jonathan Kipkorir (Kenya), the strongest man of '09 in the field, took the 2010 Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon on Feb. 7 in a sprint finish over the final 500 m against aging 2:06:16 runner Daniel Njenga (Kenya/Team Yakult), holder of the fastest PB in the field. Japanese debutant Atsushi Ikawa (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) had a good race, 4th overall in 2:11:04 after repeatedly attacking the lead pack of eight over the final 10 km. Track darling Yu Mitsuya (Team Toyota Kyushu) performed below expectations in his own marathon debut, 9th in 2:12:59. However, the biggest news of the race was Australian Jeffrey Hunt . Debuting at the marathon, Hunt spent the early parts of the race far back in the third pack while the leaders ran on track for 2:08. Despite a fast new course and good conditions, the pacema...