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Showing posts with the label Kazue Kojima

Tanui, Nishihara Win National Corporate T&F Championships 10000 m

by Brett Larner

A busy long weekend of distance action kicked off Sept. 23 with the National Jitsugyodan Track & Field Championships 10000 m in Tokushima, Shikoku.  Having run last month's World Championships 10000 m as a last-minute replacement, Paul Tanui (Kenya/Team Kyudenko) had a narrow win in the men's race, 27:37.67 over runner-up Edward Waweru (Kenya/Team NTN) and 3rd-place John Thuo (Kenya/Team Toyota).

After a slow first km Tanui took the lead pack of seven Kenyans and four Japanese up to 2:46/km, where the race remained until final km.  Hisanori Kitajima (Team Yasukawa Denki) and Chihiro Miyawaki (Team Toyota) could not keep up with the sub-28 pace, leaving former Komazawa University teammate Tsuyoshi Ugachi (Team Konica Minolta) and Takuya Fukatsu (Team Asahi Kasei) as the only Japanese athletes in contention.  Both lost touch after 6000 m, Alex Mwangi (Kenya/Team YKK) following suit 2000 m later.  In the last km Fukatsu, who broke 28 minute for the first time…
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National Corporate Women's Ekiden Championships - Start Lists

by Brett Larner

Start lists for today's National Jitsugyodan Women's Ekiden Championships are now available. Click here for a link to the list of names in Japanese. Some notable names:

First Stage
Yoshiko Fujinaga (Team Shiseido)
Tomoka Inadomi (Team Wacoal)
Mizuho Nasukawa (Team Univ. Ent.)

Second Stage
Betelhem Moges (Ethiopia/Team Denso)
Ann Karindi (Kenya/Team Toyota Jidoshokki)
Felista Wanjugu (Kenya/Team Univ. Ent.)
Christine Muyanga (Kenya/Team Panasonic)
Grace Kimanzi (Kenya/Team Starts)
Doricah Obare (Kenya/Team Hitachi)

Third Stage
Yoko Shibui (Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo)
Yurika Nakamura (Team Tenmaya)
Misaki Katsumata (Team Daiichi Seimei)
Kayoko Fukushi (Team Wacoal)
Kayo Sugihara (Team Denso)
Ryoko Kizaki (Team Daihatsu)
Yukiko Akaba (Team Hokuren)
Kazue Kojima (Team Toyota Jidoshokki)
Hiroko Shoi (Team Nihon ChemiCon)
Yuko Shimizu (Team Sekisui Kagaku)
Mika Yoshikawa (Team Panasonic)
Mizuki Noguchi (Team Sysmex)
Mai Ito (Team Otsuka Seiyaku)

Fourth Stage
Yuka Kakimi (Team Daiichi Seimei)
Yum…
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Noguchi Takes the National Stage - Watch the National Corporate Women's Ekiden Live Online

by Brett Larner

Note: Start lists will be added when available.

The 30th anniversary National Jitsugyodan Women's Ekiden Championships take place this Sunday, Dec. 19. It's fitting that the anniversary edition, the last to be held on the historic Gifu course before the race's move north to Sendai next year, is slated to mark the return of the great Mizuki Noguchi (Team Sysmex) to the national stage. Noguchi, the marathon national record holder and 2004 Athens Olympics marathon gold medalist, has been out of competition since an injury in the summer of 2008 prevented her from defending her title in Beijing. Finally racing again earlier this fall in the regional qualifier ekidens, she helped Sysmex to qualify for Nationals for the first time. Start lists have not yet been confirmed but Noguchi's presence on the entry list has been used heavily to promote Sunday's race across the country.

10000 m national record holder and former marathon national record holder Yoko Shib…
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Ryoko Kizaki 31:38 to Win Abashiri 10000 m; Baek Sets Apparent Korean National Record (updated)

by Brett Larner

After being named to this year's World Half Marathon team on the strength of her runner-up finish at last month's National Track and Field Championships, Ryoko Kizaki (Team Daihatsu) closed off this year's Hokuren Distance Challenge with a bang. Kizaki won the HDC's Abashiri meet 10000 m in 31:38.71, a PB by over 45 seconds and a time which missed putting her in the top 10 worldwide so far this year by only 1 second. Second place finisher Kayo Sugihara (Team Denso) was nearly a minute behind in 32:33.37. Sugihara was the only runner in the top 5 not to run a PB.

Kizaki is now ranked 3rd among Japanese women for 10000 m in 2010. Combined with her rankings of 6th for 5000 m, 7th for half marathon and 5th for marathon she is the frontrunner to be named Japanese women's distance runner of the year.

Kenyan ace Edward Waweru (Team NTN) took the men's 5000 m in a quick 13:18.54, while 5th-placer Seung-Ho Baek (S. Korea), a university student and this year…
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Hokuren Distance Challenge Kitami Meet Results

by Brett Larner

All but invisible to the eyes of the world, the penultimate meet in the 2010 Hokuren Distance Challenge, a six-meet series designed to provide racing and sharpening opporunities for the hundreds of corporate, university and high school student athletes who spend the summer training in Hokkaido to escape the heat of Japan's mainland, took place July 14 in Kitami, Hokkaido. At the Kitami meet a host of familiar faces took the top spots at distances from 800 m to 10000 m.

5000 m and 30 km national record holder Takayuki Matsumiya (Team Konica Minolta) took another step in his comeback from two years of setbacks with a 10000 m win in 28:08.16. 5000 m national champion Yuki Matsuoka (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) ran a slim PB to finish a safe 2nd ahead of Matsumiya's Kenyan teammate Samuel Kariuki (Team Konica Minolta). 2010 Tokyo Marathon winner Masakazu Fujiwara (Team Honda) continued his gradual post-Tokyo rebuild with a solid 28:40.06. Fujiwara plans to target a 2:06 at S…
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Hokuren Distance Challenge Shibetsu Meet Results

2010 Hokuren Distance Challenge Shibetsu Meet - Top Finishers
click here for complete results
Men's 10000 m
1. Nahom Mesfin (Ethiopia) - 28:07.80
2. Yoshinori Oda - 28:20.09
3. Daisuke Shimizu - 28:29.85

Women's 5000 m
1. Kazue Kojima - 15:47.55
2. Mai Ito - 15:48.35
3. Chieko Kido - 16:03.16

Men's 5000 m A-heat
1. Takayuki Matsumiya - 13:39.75
2. Tsuyoshi Ugachi - 13:42.50
3. Ryo Kiname - 13:54.54

Men's 5000 m B-heat
1. Yushi Nowaki - 14:04.18
2. Yuki Moriwaki - 14:06.88
3. Jeon Eun Hoi (KOR) - 14:07.62

Women's 3000 m
1. Ayaka Mori - 9:26.39
2. Misaki Onishi - 9:27.06
3. Misako Suguro - 9:30.95

(c) 2010 Brett Larner
all rights reserved
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Hokuren Distance Challenge Sapporo Meet - Results

by Brett Larner

The six-part Hokuren Distance Challenge series of summer meets got underway June 14 in Sapporo. Held in towns across Japan's northernmost main island of Hokkaido, the Hokuren Distance Challenge has become an important part of the calendar for the hundreds of university and corporate runners who relocate to Hokkaido for summer base training to escape the heat. Top results of this year's Sapporo Meet are reproduced below.

2010 Hokuren Distance Challenge Sapporo Meet - Top Finishers
click here for complete results
Men's 5000 m A-Heat
1. Edward Waweru (Kenya/Team NTN) - 13:25.18
2. Alex Mwangi (Kenya/Team YKK) - 13:42.50
3. Akihiko Tsumurai (Team Mazda) - 13:44.43
4. Satoshi Irifune (Team Kanebo) - 13:45.66
5. Norio Kamijo (Team Aichi Steel) - 13:55.00

Women's 5000 m
1. Felista Wanjugu (Kenya/Team Universal Ent.) - 15:15.27
2. Kazue Kojima (Team Toyota Jidoshoki) - 15:41.96
3. Risa Takenaka (Ritsumeikan Univ.) - 15:42.96
4. Maiko Kushima (Niigata Albirex AC) - 16:07.61
5.…
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2010 Brutus Hamilton Invitational Results

by Brett Larner

Quick results from the distance events at the 2010 Brutus Hamilton Invitational in Berkeley, CA.

2010 Brutus Hamilton Invitational - Top Finishers
click here for complete results or event header for individual events

Men's 10000 m

1. Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 28:27.93
2. Yuta Takahashi (Team S&B) - 28:36.86 - PB
3. Takeshi Makabe (Team Kanebo) - 28:40.23
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6. Yusuke Hasegawa (Jobu Univ.) - 28:58.63

Men's 5000 m

1. Galen Rupp (Unattached) - 13:32.53
2. Juan Carlos Romero (Nike German Silva) - 13:34.27
3. Kensuke Takezawa (Team S&B) - 13:47.30
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5. Ikuto Yufu (Komazawa Univ.) - 13:54.15
9. Yasunori Murakami (Team Fujitsu) - 14:07.59
11. Masato Kihara (Team Kanebo) - 14:15.99

Women's 3000 m

1. Amy Begley (Nike Oregon) - 8:53.73
2. Malindi Elmore (Unattached ) - 8:57.97
3. Yuriko Kobayashi (Team Toyota Jidoshoki) - 9:01.39
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9. Kazue Kojima (Team Toyota Jidoshoki) - 9:17.08

Men's 3000 mSC

1. Steve Strickland (Utah State) - 8:42.97
2. Gilbert Limo (Texas …
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Japanese Entrants for 2010 Brutus Hamilton Invitational

by Brett Larner

Stanford University's Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational has long been a staple on the Japanese spring track calendar, with both the current men's and women's 10000 m national records set on the Stanford track. Beginning last year, however, the focus has shifted to include Berkeley's Brutus Hamilton Invitational thanks in part to the involvement of the NYRR Distance Carnival. This year the cream of the crop is headed north to Berkeley.

The man to watch will be Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin) in the 10000 m. At last year's Brutus Hamilton Invitational Sato ran his PB of 27:38.25, the all-time third-fastest Japanese men's time and just three seconds off the national record, after running 13:48.71 at the Mt. SAC Relays. At last week's Mt. SAC Sato ran a comfortable 13:44.70, kicking the last lap with ease. Taken together, an attempt on the national record of 27:35.09 looks likely if Sato has the competition to push him. Four other Japanese men …
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Yuki Sato Setting Up for 10000 m NR? - Mt. SAC 2010

by Brett Larner

For the second year in a row, 13:23.57 man Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin) stepped down to the 5000 m B-heat at the Mt. SAC Relays in Walnut, CA. Last year Sato ran his pro debut at Mt. SAC, clocking an undistinguished 13:48.71 and finishing 3rd. Not until the following week, when he clocked an almost identical split for the first half of the Brutus Hamilton Invitational 10000 m on his way to a 27:38.25 PB three seconds off the Japanese national record, was it clear that Mt. SAC was only a pace run and not an indication that he was in poor shape. At this year's Mt. SAC Relays on Apr. 16 Sato won the B-heat 5000 m in 13:44.70, blowing out the rest of the field by over 3 seconds over the last 400 m after keeping himself comfortable in 2nd for the entire race. Sato is also on the entry list for next weekend's Brutus Hamilton Invitational 10000 m, raising the question of whether he is planning on going for the national record of 27:35.09. We'll know on the 23rd…
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2010 Track Season Starts With Kanaguri Memorial Meet

by Brett Larner

The 2010 Japanese track season starts tomorrow at Kumamoto's Kanaguri Memorial Track and Field Meet, named after Japan's first Olympic marathoner Shizo Kanaguri. Many of the country's top pro, university and high school runners will open their seasons in the meet's 5000 m and 1500 m events.

The men's 5000 m may be the most competitive of the meet, with top Japanese-based Kenyan Josephat Ndambiri (Team Komori Corp.) and three of the best young Japanese runners, Yu Mitsuya (Team Toyota Kyushu), Kensuke Takezawa (Team S&B) and Yuichiro Ueno (Team S&B). Along with Mitsuya, Kenyan Mekubo Mogusu (Team Aidem) will be looking for a good season-starter after a failed marathon debut. Kenyan high school student Titus Waruru (Chinzai H.S.) doesn't have a strong PB but has been tearing up the high school road circuit over the last year and could run something big.

The women's 5000 m is likely to be a battle between Ethiopian Betelhem Moges (Team Den…
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Murasawa, Yoroizaka, Kojima and Izawa Lead Japanese Team for World XC

by Brett Larner

Despite cross-country playing only a minor part in the Japanese distance running calendar, Japan is sending a full squad of 24 to this Sunday's World Cross-Country Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland.

The senior men's team is made up almost exclusively of university runners from the Kanto region, with only pro steeplechaser Hiroyoshi Umegae (Team NTN) breaking the mold. The top man on the team is Meiji University's Tetsuya Yoroizaka, winner of this year's Fukuoka International XC Meet and top Japanese finisher at the Chiba International XC Meet. A surprising absence is Saku Chosei H.S. graduate Yuki Sato (Team Nissin Shokuhin), replaced in the lineup by Minato Oishi (Chuo Univ.).

Running on his 19th birthday, Fukuoka XC senior men's runner-up and Saku Chosei H.S. alumnus Akinobu Murasawa (Tokai Univ.) is in the junior men's race. Fresh from training in New Zealand and with a 59:08 road 20 km to his name since last year's World XC, Murasawa could…
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University Runners Kojima and Yoroizaka Top Fukuoka XC

by Brett Larner

University runners outdid the pros in both senior races at the 2010 Fukuoka International Cross Country Meet on Feb. 27 as Ritsumeikan University fourth-year Kazue Kojima took the women's 6 km and Meiji University second-year Tetsuya Yoroizaka won a great battle against Tokai University first-year Akinobu Murasawa in the men's 10 km. All three athletes sealed their places on the Japanese team for this year's World Cross Country Championships.

Kojima was patient during the early surges of the senior women's 6 km, letting others including Yuko Shimizu (Team Sekisui Kagaku), Megumi Seike (Team Sysmex) and Mika Yoshikawa (Team Panasonic) take turns in the lead. Not until Freya Murray (GBR) opened a considerable gap on the final 2 km lap did Kojima really go into action, dropping Niiya and her own teammate Risa Takenaka as she chased down the British runner. Kojima pulled into the lead on the hills before the final corner, but even though Murray regained some …
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2010 National Interprefectural Women's Ekiden - Preview

by Brett Larner

The annual women's and men's National Interprefectural Ekidens are some of Japan's most interesting races. This year's women's race takes place tomorrow, Jan. 17, in Kyoto. Each of Japan's 47 prefectures fields a team of nine women ranging from junior high school students to top professional marathoners, running as one team representing their home ground. With nine legs totalling 42.195 km all but the 6 km First Stage and 10 km Ninth stage are under 5 km, making a faster-paced race than is often the case.

Part of what makes the Interprefectural Ekidens interesting is that rather than emphasizing the big names they are often the site of the national coming out of talented young athletes. Toyo University's Ryuji Kashiwabara was an unknown as a high school senior at the 2008 Men's Interprefectural Ekiden but grabbed attention for the first time by frontrunning against national high school champion Yuki Yagi (Waseda Univ.) on the First Stage a…
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2009 Japanese Women's Review - Holding Pattern

by Brett Larner

2009 had its ups and downs for Japanese women, but in sum it was a positive year. As Mizuki Noguchi (Team Sysmex) fades into memory no one has really stepped up to take her place at the top, but the trend was not limited to Japan alone. Worldwide it was a down year. The average of the top ten fastest times of the year, 2:24:09, was the slowest since 1997 and German Irina Mikitenko's 2:22:11 in London was the slowest world-leader since 1996. The average of the top ten Japanese performances, 2:26:02 this year, has not changed much in the last four years, meaning that relative to world standards 2009 was Japan's best since 1996. Top woman Yoko Shibui (Team Mitsui Sumitomo Kaijo) ran 2:23:42 to win January's Osaka International Women's Marathon and was ranked 3rd worldwide. Last year the top Japanese woman, Yoshimi Ozaki (Team Daiichi Seimei) ran 2:23:30 and was only ranked 9th.

Ozaki gets the best-of-the-year honors for her silver medal in the marathon at th…
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2009 As Seen By JRN Readers

JRN's most-read articles of 2009 by month:

January
Japanese runners to watch in 2009. - Jan. 8
Bringing back the classic: Fukushi in Osaka.- Jan. 23

February
Masters runner Yoshihisa Hosaka sets 60+ world record at Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon.- Feb. 2

March
Reiko Tosa's "homemade" training for Tokyo finale.- Mar. 18
The man in the wig speaks.- Mar. 25

April
Mimura leaves Asics to start own company.- Apr. 5
A report from Rikuren's New Zealand training camp.- Apr. 11

May
Weekend Japanese track action roundup.- May 18

June
Phuket Marathon helping to rebuild local economy. - June 16

July
From the editor: women's marathoning and the autumn sky.- July 2
Big Mouth scores the big ticket - Ueno in Berlin.- July 28
Life after 2:08 - an interview with Takayuki Nishida.- July 29

August
Osaka Mayor Hashimoto announces Osaka Marathon for 2011.- Aug. 6
Showing women a new way: Yukiko Akaba's challenge.- Aug. 12
Yukiko Akaba talks about her final training for World Championships marathon.- Au…
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Bukkyo Ends Ritsumeikan's National Reign

by Brett Larner

With the memory of their 3-second loss at last year's National University Women's Invitational Ekiden to spur them on, Bukkyo University followed up on their win over rivals Ritsumeikan University at October's Morinomiyako Ekiden by handing Ritsumeikan their first-ever loss at the national championship ekiden. With four of its runners taking stage best titles, two setting new stage records and one equalling the existing stage record, Bukkyo covered the six-stage, 30.67 km course in Tsukuba, Ibaraki prefecture in 1:37:35, breaking Ritsumeikan's course record from last year by 58 seconds. Ritsumeikan was only two seconds slower than its record-setting performance last year but a full minute behind Bukkyo.

Bukkyo's Yuika Mori got the race started on the right note, leading a four-way breakaway on the 5.0 km First Stage and outkicking Kenyan Ann Kingori (Nihon Univ.) and 2008 National University 10000 m champion Michi Numata (Ritsumeikan Univ.) to win the…
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Bukkyo vs. Ritsumeikan - Watch the National University Women's Invitational Ekiden Online

by Brett Larner

The last race of the year for university women is the National University Women’s Invitational Ekiden, a relatively young event in Tsukuba, Ibaraki prefecture with six stages covering 30.67 km. Titan Ritsumeikan University has won every year the National Ekiden has been held. This year is the final time the team’s star Kazue Kojima will wear the school’s uniform in an ekiden, one last race to complete an undefeated stage record for her university career.

Earlier in the season Ritsumeikan looked unbeatable, running better than ever at October’s Morinomiyako Ekiden, but they were easily beaten by rivals Bukkyo University, led by the talented Kasumi Nishihara. After placing 2nd by just 3 seconds at last year’s Nationals Bukkyo looks set to break Ritsumeikan’s stranglehold on the national title. Nishihara has been dealing with injuries throughout the fall and may not be in condition to challenge Kojima, but her team overall is strong, tough and ready.

There are of course more…
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Japanese Juggernaut Rolls Over International Chiba Ekiden

by Brett Larner

Japan's excessively stacked national team did the expected, taking the 2009 International Chiba Ekiden over teams from Kenya, the U.S.A, Russia and elsewhere. The team, made up of 1500 m and 5000 m national champion Yuichiro Ueno (Team S&B), women's 1500 m national record holder Yuriko Kobayashi (Team Toyota Jidoshoki), 5000 m and 10000 m national university record holder Kensuke Takezawa (Team S&B), women's 10000 m national champion Yukiko Akaba (Team Hokuren), half-marathon national record holder Atsushi Sato (Team Chugoku Denryoku) and women's 5000 m national champion Yurika Nakamura (Team Tenmaya), all of whom ran in the Berlin World Championships, the Beijing Olympics, or both, took the lead on the 5 km Second Stage and never looked back. Kobayashi, Takezawa, Akaba and Sato all took stage best titles, Akaba tying the 5 km Fourth Stage record of 15:34, but as a whole Japan fell 31 seconds short of breaking the mixed team-format course record …
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Loaded Dice - International Chiba Ekiden Preview

by Brett Larner

The 2009 International Chiba Ekiden takes place on Monday, Nov. 23. As economic times have continued to grow harder Japan's once-thriving international ekiden circuit has dwindled dramatically. When the Yokohama International Women's Ekiden took a bow in February this year it left Chiba as the lone representative of the format, and even it was scaled back in 2007 from separate men's and women's races to a single, six-stage 42.195 km race featuring mixed men's and women's teams. This wasn't necessarily a bad move, the mixed teams having proved to be popular and interesting.

Being the host country, Japan has tended to stack the deck in recent years. This year is no exception as the Japanese national team far outweighs any other in star power: men's half marathon national record holder Atsushi Sato (Team Chugoku Denryoku) and women's 1500 m national record holder Yuriko Kobayashi (Team Toyota Jidoshoki), 2009 men's 1500 m and 5000 m n…
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