japan running news

2010 Kyushu T&F Championships - Top Results
click event header for complete results
Women's 5000 m
1. Kazuka Wakatsuki (Team Toto) - 16:25.45
2. Yoko Nishimi (Team Juhachi Ginko) - 16:41.07
3. Misaki Kato (Team Kyudenko) - 17:02.54

Men's 5000 m
1. Takehiro Arakawa (Team Asahi Kasei) - 14:23.67
2. Taku Miyahara (Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki) - 14:26.85
3. Tomoaki Bungo (Team Asahi Kasei) - 14:29.25

Junior Women's 3000 m - Heat 3
1. Tomoka Kimura (1st yr., Chikushi Jogakuen H.S.) - 9:26.99
2. Maika Nishi (3rd yr., Kumamoto Shinai Joshi H.S.) - 9:47.66
3. Kaho Sasaki (2nd yr., Chikushi Jogakuen H.S.) - 9:49.11

(c) 2010 Brett Larner
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by Brett Larner

Click here for a gallery of photos from the 2009 World Cross Country Championships.

Once again, Japan's junior women's squad led the way at the 2009 World Cross Country Championships in Amman, Jordan, scoring the overall team bronze medal while the Japanese teams in the other three races came up empty-handed. Junior woman Nanaka Izawa had the strongest individual finish of the day, 17th, followed closely by scoring members Erika Ikeda, Asami Kato and Aki Otagiri, and by 5th runner Chitose Shibata.

The senior men's and women's squads had modest improvements over last year, the men finishing 11th despite missing ace Yuta Takahashi, and the women 8th, led by Yuko Shimizu's strong 18th place finish. Only the junior men showed a decline, the three members of 2008 National High School Ekiden champions Saku Chosei H.S. and aces Wataru Ueno, Kazuto Nishiike and Yutaro Fukushi coming in only 8th after last year's 4th place finish. Star runner Akinobu Murasa…

by Brett Larner

As expected, women`s 1500 m national record holder Yuriko Kobayashi (Team Toyota Jidoshokki) delivered the biggest result of the Hokuren Distance Challenge Sapporo meet, winning the 3000 m in a PB of 8:51.85. Kobayashi and Ann Karindi (Team Yutaka Giken) simply outclassed the rest of the field, quickly opening a large gap and running together until Kobayashi`s stronger kick left her Kenyan competitor behind. Karindi finished in 8:52.24, a PB of nearly 10 seconds; 3rd place finisher Mariko Nakao (Team OKI) was far behind in 9:19.95.Kobayashi`s time was the 3rd fastest in the world so far this year and not far off the Japanese national record of 8:44.40 held by Kayoko Fukushi (Team Wacoal). In April she ran a 5000 m PB of 15:07.37 to become the only Japanese woman thus far to meet the Beijing Olympics A-standard in the 5000 m. She has thus far failed to meet the Olympic B-standard in the 1500 m after setting the national record of 4:07.86 in Sept., 2006 but is expected to…

http://www.rikuren.or.jp/cgi-bin/column/view.cgi?act=stdview&id=250

translated by Brett Larner

Rikuren has announced the squad of 26 Japanese runners to be sent to the 36th World Cross Country Championships scheduled for Mar. 30 in Edinburgh, Scotland.

In the Senior Men's 12 km event, the team of 8 is led by Makoto Tobimatsu (Team Yasukawa Denki), the top Japanese finisher in both the Chiba International and Fukuoka International Cross Country meets, along with Satoru Kitamura (Nittai University), the 2nd Japanese in Chiba and 3rd Japanese in Fukuoka. Appearing for the 4th time and 3rd consecutive year is Yoshitaka Iwamizu (Team Toyota Jidosha).

The team of 6 for the Senior Women's 8 km race is jointly led by Chiba International Cross Country top Japanese finisher Kazuka Wakatsuki (Team Toto) and Fukuoka International Cross Country top Japanese finisher Aya Manome (Team Shimamura). Joining the team for the 3rd straight year is Aimi Horikoshi (Team Yamada Denki).

The Junior Me…

http://sankei.jp.msn.com/sports/other/080210/oth0802101755003-n1.htm

translated by Brett Larner

At the Chiba International Cross Country meet in Showa no Mori, Chiba on Feb. 10, 2nd year Saku Chosei High School student Akinobu Murasawa won the junior men's 8 km race in a time of 24:17.

In the men's 12 km event Makoto Tobimatsu (Team Yasukawa Denki) was the top Japanese finisher, 3rd overall in 36:12. Hakone Ekiden star Yuki Sato (Tokai University) was a disappointing 28th, while Takayuki Matsumiya (Team Konica Minolta) did not start.

Kazuka Wakatsuki (Team Toto) was the top Japanese finisher in the women's 6 km race, also 3rd overall in 20:20.

Along with the Fukuoka International Cross Country meet on Mar. 1, this race was one of the selection events for the World Cross Country Championships to be held on Mar. 30 in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Complete results from all the meet's races are available here.
The IAAF's report on the meet is here. Their preview, with some good athle…