japan running news

Entry lists are out for Japan's biggest and best road race, the Jan. 2-3 Hakone Ekiden. 21 university teams from around the Tokyo area will field ten runners from the sixteen on their entry list, each runner taking on roughly a half marathon length over the ten-stage race.

2017 Izumo Ekiden winner Tokai University is the class of the field, one of only five teams to enter all ten of its best athletes and the only one with ten-runner averages under 14 minutes for 5000 m, under 29 for 10000 m and 1:03 for the half marathon. At all three distances its averages are slightly better than Aoyama Gakuin University's were last year when AGU won its third-straight Hakone title, and no other school even comes closer over the most relevant distance, the half marathon. It has never won Hakone, but this year it's Tokai's race to lose.

AGU has been hit by injury troubles this year, losing in both Izumo and the National University Ekiden and missing several key members from its Hakon…

The world's #1 20 km road race, the Yosenkai 20 km Road Race qualifier for the 2018 Hakone Ekiden, is set to go off tomorrow in Tokyo's Showa Kinen Park. 49 universities from around the Tokyo area will field teams of 10 to 12 men, with the combined times of each school's 10 fastest finishers determining which 10 teams will join the top tier of 10 already seeded for Japan's biggest sporting event, the Jan. 2-3 Hakone Ekiden.

Click rosters to enlarge.
Last year's Yosenkai team winner Daito Bunka University returns ranked 3rd in the field on average half marathon time. With that kind of position DBU is a lock to return to Hakone. Just ahead of them is Josai University, alma mater of Kota Murayama, the last Japanese man to win the Yosenkai and the current 10000 m national record holder. Josai finished 12th at the Yosenkai last year and missed Hakone, but with a strong roster this year with the most men in the field sub-64 for the half marathon it'll be a surprise i…

http://www.yonden.co.jp/press/re1301/1180944_1968.html

translated by Brett Larner

The Shikoku Denryoku company regrets to announce that due to the difficulties currently facing the power industry our executive board has been forced to adopt strict efficiency measures throughout the company, and that as a part of these measures the Shikoku Denryoku men's and women's running team will be disbanded at the end of the current fiscal year in March.

The running team was founded in April, 1992 as part of our company's 40th anniversary with the aims of:
Contributing to the development of sports within the Shikoku region and fostering an atmosphere of interaction and exchange with local residents.Building morale, unity and camaraderie within the company by uniting employees in supporting the team's activities. Over the last 20+ years through its record of achievement in the National Corporate Ekiden Championships and at major marathons, in the number of team members who have run a…

by Brett Larner

Click here for JRN's sprints, hurdles and field events preview.

This weekend's 96th Japanese National Track & Field Championships in Osaka double as Japan's Olympic Trials for the 2012 London Olympics.  Any athlete holding an A-standard Olympic qualifying mark who wins his or her event will be guaranteed a place in London, with the remaining spots decided through federation consideration within the constraints of a maximum of three A-standard entrants or one B-standard entrant in any one event.  The complete Olympic team lineup for individual events will be announced on Monday following the Trials, meaning that the only time chasing that will be allowed after the Trials is by people already on the team in one event looking to double.  For most, there will be no other chance.

It's no secret that Japanese middle distance is far below the level of both its long distance and sprinting systems.  The extent to which that's due to athletes being pushed t…

by Brett Larner

Video courtesy of Julie Setagaya. Ugachi's domestic record run begins at 1:23:25 with the bell lap at 1:50:10.

1. Tsuyoshi Ugachi (Team Konica Minolta) - 387 pts.

5000 m: 13:30.20 - 7th, Nobeoka, 5/28/11 - #5 Japanese, 2011
10000 m: 27:40.69 - 2nd, Hachioji, 11/26/11 - #1 Japanese, 2011; #4 Japanese all-time
half-marathon: 1:00:58 - 2nd, Marugame, 2/6/11 - #1 Japanese, 2011; #3 Japanese all-time

Other major performances:
New Year Ekiden Fourth Stage, 22.0 km (Maebashi, 1/1/11): 1:04:19 - 4th
National Men's Ekiden Seventh Stage, 13.0 km (Hiroshima, 1/23/11): 37:39 - 5th
Kanaguri Memorial 5000 m (Kumamoto, 4/9/11): 13:43.10 - 8th
Oregon Relays 5000 m (Oregon, 4/22/11): 13:47.29 - 6th
Payton Jordan Cardinal Invitational 10000 m (Stanford, 5/1/11): 27:41.97 - 14th
National Track & Field Championships 10000 m (Kumagaya, 6/10/11): 28:20.40 - 3rd
Asian Athletics Championships 10000 m (Kobe, 7/7/11): 28:48.53 - 4th
Savo Games 3000 m (Lapinlahti, 7/24/11): 7:58.95 - 4th
Joensuu …

by Brett Larner

This is part one of JRN's year in review.  Check back for our profiles of the top ten Japanese men and women of the year and for our readers' picks and editors' picks for performances of the year.  Click here for JRN's 2011 top ten rankings for men's and women's 5000 m, 10000 m, half-marathon and marathon.  For our review of the top ten overall men of 2011, click here.  For the top ten women, click here.

Despite the setback March's disasters represented for Japan, by many standards 2011 ended up being the best year since before the Beijing Olympics for its distance runners.

In the marathon, although the Japanese women's streak of World Championships medals ended and the fastest women's time of the year, Yoshimi Ozaki's 2:23:56 CR at February's Yokohama International Women's Marathon, for the first time would not have made the top ten among either Kenyan or Ethiopian women, overall depth was at its best since 2005 with the…

http://www.nikkei.com/sports/news/article/g=96958A9C81818A9996E2E0EBE18DE0E1E3E3E0E2E3E3E2E2E2E2E2E2;da=96958A88889DE2E0E3EAEAE5E6E2E0E3E3E0E0E2E2EBE2E2E2E2E2E2

translated by Brett Larner

Federation officials announced on Nov. 23 that they will be organizing a three-week altitude training camp in Kenya from January to February next year.  The camp is targeted toward five or six of the country's best track athletes, with corporate runners Kensuke Takezawa (Team S&B) and Chihiro Miyawaki (Team Toyota) on the list along with university men Akinobu Murasawa (Tokai Univ.) and Tetsuya Yoroizaka (Meiji Univ.).  The Japanese runners will train alongside Kenyan athletes at 3000 m elevation.  A federation spokesperson commented, "This is the way for us to regain our international competitiveness.  By travelling there we hope our athletes will observe and learn about the Kenyan style, including their day to day lives."

Translator's note: Shortly after this story appeared Miya…