japan running news

photo by @tsutsugo55225

For the second time in the last three weeks, a Japan-based Kenyan ran the fastest time in the world this year for 10000 m at Yokohama's Nittai University Time Trials series. On October 20th it was 2015 World U18 Championships 3000 m gold medalist Richard Kimunyan (Hitachi Butsuryu), 20, with a 27:14.70  that surpassed Ugandan Joshua Cheptegei's world-leading mark by almost five seconds. This time it was 2018 World U20 Championships 5000 m silver medalist Stanley Waithaka (Yakult), 18, taking almost two minutes off his PB to break Kimunyan's mark with a 27:13.01 win.

Both winners received support from 2014 Commonwealth Games steeplechase gold medalist Jonathan Ndiku (Hitachi Butsuryu), who ran season bests for 2nd place each time, 27:50.38 three weeks ago and 27:28.27 on Saturday. 2013 World U18 Championships 3000 m bronze medalist Alexander Mutiso (ND Software) was also under 28 minutes, running just off his PB at 27:42.16 for 3rd. Kazuma Taira (Kan…

Fujitsu and Asahi Kasei led the first round of qualifiers for the New Year Ekiden corporate men's national championships, winning Saturday's East Japan and Kyushu regional corporate ekidens.

Starting in 7th, Fujitsu took the lead in the East Japan race thanks to a stage-winning run from second man Hiroki Matsueda and never looked back, its final margin of victory over the 7-stage, 76.9 km course standing at 46 seconds over runner-up Kanebo. Racing for the first time since his 4th-place 2:08:16 finish at September's Berlin Marathon, Fujitsu's Shogo Nakamura had a strong run on the 9.5 km Fourth Stage, finishing 2nd on time in 27:59 behind fellow Komazawa Unviersity graduate Tsuyoshi Ugachi (Konica Minolta).

6th at the final exchange, last year's East Japan winner Honda moved up to 4th thanks to a stage-winning run from anchor and half marathon national record holder Yuta Shitara. Shitara was the only runner to break 38 minutes for the 12.9 km Seventh Stage, covering…

by Brett Larner

The organizers of the 28th Izumo Ekiden have released the starting order for Monday's six stage, 45.1 km race.  Below are the top runners on each stage from the field of twenty university teams and their best times for distances close to what they will be racing.  Click here for JRN's detailed preview.  Complete starting lists are available here in Japanese.  Follow @JRNLive for live coverage throughout the race beginning at 1:00 p.m. Japan time.

Last year's course record-setting winnerAoyama Gakuin University is back as the favorite, but it's due for a serious challenge from last year's runner-up Yamanashi Gakuin University and the ascendant Tokai University.  Going by PB YGU runners lead AGU's on all but the Fifth Stage.  Both schools' anchors return, but last year YGU's Dominic Nyairo was a minute faster than AGU's Tadashi Isshiki over the 10.2 km Sixth Stage.  YGU may build up a lead over the first four stages and lose some groun…

by Brett Larner
click here for starting lists and additional preview



University men's ekiden season kicks off Monday, October 10 with the first of the Big Three University Ekidens, the 28th running of the Izumo Ekiden.  A week out from the race organizers released the entry lists for the 21-team field, 10 universities from the Tokyo-centric Kanto Region, 6 from other parts of Japan, 4 regional select teams and, for the 19th year, the Ivy League Select Team from the U.S.A., the last vestige of the international ekiden in Japan.

The top 12-ranked teams at this year's Izumo Ekiden.  Click to enlarge.

Last year Aoyama Gakuin University did the incredible, breaking the 6-stage, 45.1 km Izumo course record despite a 600 m addition to the Third Stage.  With the graduation of four key seniors including Third Stage winner Kazuma Kubota AGU is down slightly on strength this year, but only slightly.  With 13 men on his roster having 5000 m bests under 14 minutes, half having also gone und…

by Brett Larner

The third installment in Japan's midsummer Hokuren Distance Challenge time trials series took place July 11 in Abashiri, Hokkaido, the last day for athletes to turn in qualifying times for next month's Rio de Janeiro Olympics.  With the long distance squads already mostly set the only events with people seriously contending for Rio were the women's 3000 m steeplechase and men's 800 m, where National Championships runners-up Chikako Mori (Team Sekisui Kagaku) and Masato Yokota (Team Fujitsu) tried a final time to get under the 9:45.00 and 1:46.00 standards.  Both came up well short, Mori running 10:00.23 to win the steeple and Yokota just 1:49.28 for 4th in the 800 m.

Which is not to say that the day was slow overall.  With ideal conditions the distance events were fast across the board, and in both the women's 5000 m and men's 10000 m there were new year-leading Japanese marks.  Risa Yokoe (Team Toyota Jidoshokki) won the women's 5000 m in a…

by Brett Larner

Hosoda/Nittai wins in 16:12.23 to complete Kanto Regionals 5000/10000 double title. pic.twitter.com/GBan2hf1RQ — Japan Running News (@JRNHeadlines) May 22, 2016
D1 10000 m champs Ai Hosoda (Nittai Univ.) and Patrick Wambui (Nihon Univ.) came back on a hot and windy final day of the 95th Kanto Region University Track and Field Championships to score double titles with wins in the 5000 m.  In the women's 5000 m Hosoda ran steady in a lead group of four before holding off a strong charge from first-year Natsuki Sekiya (Daito Bunka Univ.) to win by half a second in 16:12.18.

Monster kick from Wambui/Nihon to complete Kanto Regionals 5/10 double in 13:47.18. pic.twitter.com/GF8xfpo8fg — Japan Running News (@JRNHeadlines) May 22, 2016
After a 2:42 opening 1000 m Wambui went to the front to shake things down to another group of four.  Like the women's race it came down to a duel over the last lap, fourth-year Kazuma Taira (Waseda Univ.) staying with Wambui until 150 m…

by Brett Larner


The road ahead awaits.  Back after a typhoon-induced cancellation last year, the Izumo Ekiden kicks off the 2015-16 university men's ekiden season on Oct. 12.  Short and sweet with six stages averaging 7.5 km, Izumo is an indication of things to come in the buildup to the biggest of them all, January's season-ending Hakone Ekiden.

2015 Hakone winner Aoyama Gakuin University and defending Izumo champion Komazawa University are the clear favorites, with preceding champs Toyo University and Waseda University and darkhorse Yamanashi Gakuin University conceivably in the game.  Back again this year, the Ivy League Select Team fields a lineup that could see it equal its best-ever 8th-place finish if all goes perfectly.

No typhoon is on the horizon, but the forecast does call for strong winds straight out of the west, meaning a tailwind on the first half of the course and a powerful headwind in the second half.  In the pre-race coaches' press conference almost all…

by Brett Larner
photos by Kazuyuki Sugimatsu

click here for Hakone Ekiden Day Two results and report



After losing to Nittai University in tough conditions last year, Hakone Ekiden course record holder Toyo University took a big step toward a return to the top, winning Day One of the 90th Hakone Ekiden in 5:27:13, the second-fastest time ever for the five stage, 108.0 km Day One Course behind only Toyo's own 5:24:45 course record.  Critical to the team's success were sub-28 / sub-62 identical twin seniors Keita and Yuta Shitara, each of who won his stage in its all-time 4th-fastest mark.  Rival Komazawa University, on a quest to become just the fourth school to complete the triple crown after winning this season's Izumo Ekiden and National University Ekiden Championships, was only 59 seconds behind in 5:28:12 to become the second-fastest team ever on the Day One course and leaving plenty of room for it to challenge Toyo for the overall win on the return trip tomorrow.  Pre-ra…

by Brett Larner

The 67th running of the Meigi Ekiden joined other races across the country in being blessed with good weather on Feb. 3, the kind of weather that produces course records. In the 6-stage, 52.6 km open men's division Team Toyota Boshoku unseated defending champion and course record holder Team Toyota for the win in 2:31:17, just 32 seconds off Toyota's 2012 record.  Toyota Boshoku started slow, its opening man Yoshiaki Shiota only 7th, but steadily advanced through the field until Kenyan ace Patrick Mutunga ran down Toyota's Chihiro Miyawaki to put Toyota Boshoku ahead by 10 seconds.  Both Toyota Boshoku and Toyota's fifth men Yuya Taguchi and Kenta Matsubara broke the stage record, Matsubara closing to within 1 second as he fought desperately to retake the lead, but on the anchor stage his teammate Minato Oishi was no match for Toyota Boshoku anchor Yoshihiro Yamamoto, who ran a stage best 34:14 for the 11.8 km leg to secure the overall win.  Absent 200…

by Brett Larner

updated 1/19/13 with start list

The partner event to last weekend's National Women's Ekiden, the final men's championship ekiden of the season takes place this Sunday with the 18th National Men's Ekiden in Hiroshima.  Like the women's event, the National Men's Ekiden features 47 teams from each of Japan's prefectures made up of top junior high school, high school, university and corporate-league runners.  Although there is less cross-division competition than in the National Women's Ekiden, the three high school stages and two junior high school stages in the National Men's Ekiden have often been the site of the first national appearance of future stars while the 8.5 km Third Stage and 13.0 km anchor stage always feature the rare sight of the top New Year Ekiden pros and Hakone Ekiden collegiate runners going head to head.  The National Men's Ekiden is broadcast live nationwide and commercial-free on NHK starting at 12:15 p.m. and…