japan running news

20th Nagano Marathon Elite Field Highlights
Nagano, 4/15/18
times listed are best within last three years except where noted
click here for complete field listing

Men
Abdela Godana (Ethiopia) - 2:09:45 (Seoul 2017)
Julius Keter (Kenya) - 2:09:55 (Santiago 2017)
Shoya Osaki (Japan/Chudenko) - 2:11:03 (Gold Coast 2017)
Kazuya Ishida (Japan/Nishitetsu) - 2:12:25 (Beppu-Oita 2016)
Shinichi Yamashita (Japan/Takigahara SDF Base) - 2:12:32 (Hofu 2017)
Jackson Kiprop (Uganda) - 2:12:45 (Amsterdam 2017)
Kohei Futaoka (Japan/Chudenko) - 2:13:28 (Beppu-Oita 2018)
Yuki Munakata (Japan/Kanebo) - 2:13:53 (Beppu-Oita 2016)
Kazuya Deguchi (Japan/Asahi Kasei) - 2:14:24 (Nobeoka 2018)
Hiroshi Ichida (Japan/Asahi Kasei) - 2:15:15 (Biwako 2017)

Women
Tigist Girma (Ethiopia) - 2:29:05 (Beirut 2017)
Beatrice Jepkemboi (Kenya) - 2:30:35 (Buenos Aires 2015)
Asami Furuse (Japan/Kyocera) - 2:30:44 (Osaka Int'l 2017)
Pauline Wangui (Kenya) - 2:30:49 (Sevilla 2017)
Yukiko Okuno (Japan/Shiseido) - 2:31:17 (Tokyo 2…

by Brett Larner

Sunday's Chicago Marathon saw the men go out unusually slowly.  Three Japanese men, Takuya Fukatsu (Team Asahi Kasei), Koji Gokaya (Team JR Higashi Nihon) and Ryoichi Matsuo (Team Asahi Kasei) were in the top ten until late in the race, Fukatsu and Gokaya leading at halfway and Fukatsu, a graduate of Komazawa University, still in the top spot at 30 km.  When the move came they were left behind as two-time world champion Abel Kirui (Kenya) took the win in 2:11:23, Fukatsu ultimately finishing 7th in 2:13:53 and Gokaya 9th in 2:14:34.  Fukatsu's placing was the best so far by a Japanese man in the Abbott World Marathon Majors Series X, although his time was nearly 3 minutes slower than that of Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) two weeks ago in Berlin.

The women's race was more what you would expect, the pace hot on high 2:20 / low 2:21 track throughout the race.  Florence Kiplagat (Kenya) held steady at that rate to win by almost 2 minutes in 2:21:32 ov…

by Brett Larner
photo by Dr. Helmut Winter

Four Japanese men are scheduled to run tomorrow's Chicago Marathon, the site of the 2:06:16 Japanese national record set back in 2002 by Toshinari Takaoka.  Koji Gokaya (Team JR Higashi Nihon) is running Chicago for the second time, having run 2:12:15 for 7th in his second career marathon back in 2011.  Since then he has run 2:11:43 in Frankfurt 2014 and 2:09:21 in Tokyo 2015.  His 2:10:58 at last year's Berlin Marathon was the fastest time outside Japan by a Japanese man the entire year.  Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) leads 2016 with a 2:09:01 at July's Gold Coast Airport Marathon; Gokaya ran that race as a pacemaker and at that point told JRN that he was aiming for 2:08 in Chicago.  Only nine Japanese man have ever run that fast on foreign soil, and only Takaoka and Toshihiko Seko have ever done it in Chicago.

Part of a dominant quartet while at Komazawa University, Takuya Fukatsu (Team Asahi Kasei) debuted in 2:11:48 i…

Japanese distance runners didn't exactly impress in Rio, but the next month or two will see quite a few racing on the roads overseas in search of  keiken, that ever-elusive experience that is somehow going to someday transform them into Olympic marathon medalists.  A few of the road races with Japanese athletes on their entry lists:

Sept. 11: Muenster Marathon, Germany
men: Shingo Igarashi (Josai University Coaching Staff)
women: Yoshiko Sakamoto (Y.W.C.)

Sept. 11: Great North Run, U.K.
men: Kazuhiro Maeda (Kyudenko)

Sept. 18: Sydney Marathon, Australia
men: Sota Hoshi (Fujitsu)

Sept. 18: Porto Half Marathon, Portugal
men: Hiroshi Ichida (Asahi Kasei), Shun Inoura (Yachiyo Kogyo), Yusei Nakao (Smiley Angel AC)
women: Nao Isaka (Hitachi), Ayumi Kubo (Kagoshima Ginko)

Sept. 25: Berlin Marathon, Germany
men: Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't)
women: Reia Iwade (Noritz)

Sept. 25: Warsaw Marathon, Poland
men: Akiyuki Iwanaga (Kyudenko)

Oct. 9: Chicago Marathon, U.S.A.
men: Takuya Fukatsu (Asahi K…

by Brett Larner

With its long history of hosting Russians now interrupted by the IAAF's doping scandal suspension of all Russian athletes, Japan's Nagano Marathon proudly welcomes two other athletes with recent drug suspensions to lead the women's field at next weekend's 18th edition.  Gladys Tejeda (Peru) tops the list with the loss of her gold medal in last summer's Pan-Am Games marathon after testing positive for the masking agent furosemide.  Close behind is Kaori Yoshida (Runners Pulse), who holds the honor of being the only Japanese athlete to have been publicly suspended for EPO after testing positive at the 2012 Honolulu Marathon.

With both having run 2:28 bests last year they are almost 4 minutes ahead of the fastest athlete in the field never to have served a drug suspension, Kenya's Hellen Mugo.  Neither is currently under suspension, an indication that Nagano and its elite coordinator share the familiar focus here on details at the expense of the bi…

by Brett Larner

Shut out of inclusion in the selection races for the Rio Olympics men's team the 65th running of the Beppu-Oita Mainichi Marathon was largely a developmental race, the small international field and large field of second-tier and debuting Japanese men setting out in hopes of sub-2:10 times.  #1 seed Evans Ruto (Kenya), the only athlete in the field to have broken 2:09, was an early casualty, dropping out just past 15 km as the pace accelerated from high 2:09 to low 2:08 territory.  Over a dozen were still in touch at halfway in 1:04:22, including #2 and #3-ranked Shume Hailu (Ethiopia) and Anthony Maritim (Kenya), Japanese men Naohiro Yamada (YKK), Kenichi Shiraishi (Asahi Kasei) and Shogo Kanezane (Chugoku Denryoku), 22-year-old Myeung Jun Son (South Korea) and debuting Melaku Abera (Ethiopia/Kurosaki Harima), Yuki Munakata (Kanebo) and Keisuke Kusaka (Hitachi Butsuryu).

Past the halfway point Kiflom Sium (Eritrea) was the next main casualty, and just after 25 km a…

by Brett Larner

The Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon organizers have announced the field for their 53rd running on Feb. 8.  Run on the home ground of the Takeshi Soh-led Asahi Kasei corporate team, Nobeoka is primarily a developmental race focusing on first-timers and young athletes trying to get the marathon right and typically sees winning times in the 2:12~2:13 range.  It's noteworthy outside Japan mainly in that every year the people who run around that level in Nobeoka make up a major part of the runners included on their coaches' annual junket to the Chicago Marathon, where some go on to take a step toward bigger things.

Recently things have been getting a little faster in Nobeoka, with 2:11 winning times in two of the last three years.  This year the organizers have taken a slightly different tack, invited three experienced men who should be able to work together to take down the 2:11:05 course record.  Yuki Kawauchi (Saitama Pref. Gov't) is the strongest by far with a…

by Brett Larner

After cutting its elite program in 2012, the Hokkaido Marathon returns to the top of Japan's summer circuit this year with a solid silver label-quality men's and women's fields sure to be wasted in the heat of its 27th running on August 25th.  Highlights of the men's and women's entry lists are below.

Men
Gezahegne Abera (Ethiopia) - 2:10:17 (Barcelona 2013)
Satoshi Yoshii (Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki) - 2:10:45 (Biwako 2011)
Ryosuke Fukuyama (Team Honda) - 2:10:59 (Biwako 2013)
Mekubo Mogusu (Kenya/Team Nissin Shokuhin) - 2:11:02 (Tokyo 2013)
Kazuya Ishida (Team Nishitetsu) - 2:11:57 (Nobeoka 2012)
Masaki Shimoju (Team Konica Minolta) - 2:12:18 (Nobeoka 2010)
Tatsunari Hirayama (Team Yasukawa Denki) - 2:12:38 (Nobeoka 2013)
Dickson Marwa (Tanzania) - 2:12:53 (Gold Coast 2003)
Masanori Ishida (Team Sagawa Express) - 2:13:07 (Beppu-Oita 2013)
Sho Matsumoto (Nikkei Business AC) - 2:13:38 (Nobeoka 2013)
Takehiro Arakawa (Team Asahi Kasei) - 2:13:39 (B…

by Brett Larner

Tokai University graduate Kazuya Ishida (Team Nishitetsu) won the 50th running of the Nobeoka Nishi Nihon Marathon in outstanding style, taking more than 30 minutes off his PB to set the second-fastest winning time in Nobeoka history, 2:11:57, over a close-knit pack of four that stayed together until late in the race.  The lead pack went out on track for a 2:10 CR, with the numbers up front remaining substantial until after 25 km.  By 30 km the lead pack was down to Ishida, 2:10 runner Kazuki Ikenaga (Team Konica Minolta), Kota Noguchi (Team Toyota) and first-timer Koji Kobayashi (Team Subaru).  The lead changed hands frequently, but by 40 km Ishida was on his own, keeping things on track well enough to dip under 2:12.

Ikenaga outlasted the less-experienced Noguchi and Kobayashi to take 2nd in 2:12:09, another excellent time for Nobeoka, with Noguchi reaching his goal of a sub-2:13 PB and Kobayashi also managing to stay sub-2:13 for a good debut.  Despite its position…

2010 Kyushu Isshu Ekiden Day Two
click here for complete results from Day Two
Stage Best Performances
First Stage (9.4 km) -Kyohei Nishi (Miyazaki Pref.) - 28:26
Second Stage (12.2 km) -Takahiro Mori (Miyazaki Pref.) - 37:29
Third Stage (15.3 km) -Kenji Takeuchi (Fukuoka Pref.) - 45:36
Fourth Stage (14.2 km) - Tomoya Adachi (Miyazaki Pref.) - 42:53
Fifth Stage (11.3 km) - Kazuya Ishida (Fukuoka Pref.) - 34:32
Sixth Stage (11.5 km) - Yoichi Watanabe (Nagasaki Pref.) - 35:21

Top Team Performances - 73.9 km
1. Miyazaki Pref. - 3:46:13
2. Fukuoka Pref. - 3:46:52
3. Nagasaki Pref. - 3:49:59
4. Kagoshima Pref. - 3:54:53
5. Oita Pref. - 3:56:27

Current Team Standings After Two Days - 169.1 km
1. Miyazaki Pref. - 8:34:27
2. Fukuoka Pref. - 8:40:41
3. Nagasaki Pref. - 8:43:44
4. Oita Pref. - 8:58:54
5. Kagoshima Pref. - 8:59:25

(c) 2010 Brett Larner
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