japan running news

The second of Japan's four big February-March elite men's marathons, the Nobeoka Nishi Nippon Marathon has released its entry list for this year's 56th running on Feb. 11. Traditionally a developmental event for first-timers and early-career marathoners, Nobeoka has been the place where some of Japan's best, most notably Kentaro Nakamoto (Yasukawa Denki) have gotten their start.

This year Ryoichi Matsuo of the locally-based national champion Asahi Kasei team will try to become only the second man in Nobeoka history to win it three years in a row. His main challenge will probably come from Masahiro Kawaguchi (Yakult), at 2:13:27 the only man in the field with a faster recent time than Matsuo's winning time of 2:13:36 from Noboeka last year.

But given Nobeoka's nature any of the relatively inexperienced marathoners in the field, particularly Shota Miyagami (Kyudenko), could get it right this time and break through to Matsuo's level or beyond. Among the debut…

https://twitter.com/miyatoshi5/status/820025369075949568

translated and edited by Brett Larner

On Jan. 13 the organizers of the Feb. 19 Kumamoto-jo Marathon announced the 19-strong elite field for the 61st running of the Kumanichi 30 km Road Race, the world's premier 30 km held alongside the marathon.  Heading the men's field are last year's 5th-placer Shun Sakuraoka (Toyo Univ.) who finished 4th on the Hakone Ekiden's Fourth Stage on Jan. 2, and New Year Ekiden Third Stage runner-up Yuichiro Ueno (DeNA).

Representing the corporate leagues alongside Ueno are his DeNA teammate Toshio Takaki who ran the competitive Fourth Stage at the New Year Ekiden, Ryu Takaku (Yakult), Shoya Okuno (Toyota Kyushu), Shuhei Yamaguchi (Asahi Kasei) and more.  Kumamoto natives include Kyushu Gakuin H.S. and Aoyama Gakuin University graduate Shun Yamamura and Keisuke Tanaka (Fujitsu).  Along with Sakuraoka, university runners include Tomofumi Uda (Takushoku Univ.) who finished one place beh…

by Brett Larner


The Great North Run celebrated three-part history Sunday, with the great Mary Keitany breaking marathon world record holder Paula Radcliffe's course record and Mo Farah bringing home the first British men's win in 29 years to set the stage for the millionth finisher in GNR history, the first race in the world to hit that mark.


In beautiful conditions with a comfortable tailwind heavy favorite Keitany soloed the race the entire way on track for Radcliffe's 1:05:40 record, only appearing to falter near the end.  Bearing down in the home straight she looked to hit the line dead on, but when official results were posted it was announced that she had made it by a second with a new record of 1:05:39.  Nearly a kilometer back, the U.K.'s Gemma Steel was shockingly strong, going head-to-head with London Olympics gold medalist Tiki Gelana, Commonwealth Games silver medalist Caroline Kilel and two-time World Championships gold medalist Edna Kiplagat before droppi…

2014 Copenhagen World Half Marathon team members Masato Kikuchi (Team Konica Minolta) and Risa Takenaka (Team Shiseido) lead the best-ever Japanese contingent at Sunday's Great North Run half marathon, appearing with support from JRN.

2014 Great North Run
Newcastle, U.K., 9/7/14
click here for complete entry list

Men
Mike Kigen (Kenya) - 59:58
Mo Farah (Great Britain) - 1:00:10a / 1:00:59
Mark Kiptoo (Keya) - 1:00:29
Ezrah Sang (Kenya) - 1:01:03
Stephen Kiprotich (Uganda) - 1:01:15
Masato Kikuchi (Japan/Team Konica Minolta) - 1:01:17
Paulo Roberto de Almeida Paula (Brazil) - 1:02:30
Thomas Ayeko (Uganda) - 1:02:32
Keisuke Tanaka (Japan/Team Fujitsu) - 1:02:38
Hiroaki Sano (Japan/Team Honda) - 1:02:40
Sho Matsueda (Japan/Team Mitsubishi Juko Nagasaki) - 1:02:41
Ian Hudspith (Great Britain) - 1:02:53
Tariku Bekele (Ethiopia) - 1:02:59
Jonathan Mellor (Great Britain) - 1:02:59
Takamitsu Hashimoto (Japan/Team Komori Corp.) - 1:03:13
Luis Feiteira (Portugal) - 1:03:43
Tadele Geremew…

by Brett Larner
photos by rikujolove

2014 Copenhagen World Half Marathon Japanese national team members Masato Kikuchi (Team Konica Minolta) and Risa Takenaka (Team Shiseido) will join London Olympics and Moscow World Championships 5000 m and 10000 m double gold medalist Mo Farah (GBR), London and Moscow marathon gold medalist Stephen Kiprotich (Uganda), Daegu and Moscow World Championships marathon gold medalist Edna Kiplagat (Kenya), Birmingham World Half Marathon gold medalist Mary Keitany (Kenya) and others at the Sept. 7 Great North Run half marathon in Newcastle, U.K.

Kikuchi, formerly captain of Meiji University's Hakone Ekiden team, has broken 62 minutes for the half marathon three times so far this year including a 1:01:17 PB for 2nd at February's National Corporate Half Marathon Championships and a 1:01:23 at March's Copenhagen World Half Marathon, where he was the only athlete born outside Africa to make the top 25.  Takenaka, a former captain of National Universi…

by Brett Larner
videos by aoshin0507

Two-time Olympic medalist, three-time World Championships medalist and national record holder Koji Murofushi (Mizuno), 39, added an historic twentieth-straight men's hammer throw national title to his list of accomplishments, easily winning the 2014 Japanese National Track and Field Championships in Fukushima with a throw of 73.93 m.  Murofushi could have stopped after his opening throw and still won, runner-up Hiroki Ako (Tottori T&F Assoc.) throwing 67.60 m, but with the Federation's A- and B-standards for this fall's Asian Games beckoning he continued on, building slightly on his distance over his next few throws before peaking at 73.93. Twenty-straight national titles, taking Murofushi all the way back to 1995, a time when this was the biggest hit in the land.  A true one-of-a-kind.



Murofushi wasn't the only national record holder to come out on top on the second day of the National Championships.  Battling on-and-off heavy …

Fukushima, 6/6-8/14
click here for complete entry lists in Japanese
marks given are best within qualification period / PB

Men's 100 m
Yoshihide Kiryu (Toyo Univ.) 10.01 / 10.01
Ryota Yamagata (Keio Univ.) - 10.11 / 10.07
Takumi Kuki (Waseda Univ.) - 10.19 / 10.19
Asuka Cambridge (Nihon Univ.) - 10.21 / 10.21
Shota Iizuka (Mizuno) - 10.22 / 10.22
Masashi Eriguchi (Team Osaka Gas) - 10.24 / 10.07
Naoki Tsukahara (Team Fujitsu) - 10.31 / 10.09

Men's 200 m
Shota Iizuka (Mizuno) - 20.21 / 20.21
Kei Takase (Team Fujitsu) - 20.34 / 20.34
Akiyuki Hashimoto (Waseda Univ.) - 20.35 / 20.35
Shota Hara (Jobu Univ.) - 20.41 / 20.41
Ryota Yamagata (Keio Univ.) - 20.41 / 20.41
Kenji Fujimitsu (Team Zeirin) - 20.48 / 20.38
Shinji Takahira (Team Fujitsu) - 20.50 / 20.22

Men's 400 m
Yuzo Kanemaru (Team Otsuka Seiyaku) - 45.46 / 45.16
Hiroyuki Nakano (Aichi T&F Assoc.) - 45.62 / 45.62
Nobuya Kato (Waseda Univ.) - 45.69 / 45.69
Kazuya Watanabe (Mizuno) - 45.71 / 45.71
Yusuke Ishitsuka (Mizuno) …

by Brett Larner

Toyo University's Ryuji Kashiwabara, who caught the national eye with an epic new stage record on the 5th leg of January's Hakone Ekiden, begins his second year of university competition this Sunday at the 5th Kanto Private School Five University Track and Field Meet at Daito Bunka University. Kashiwabara will be one of four students in the final event of the day, the 3000 m Premium Race, where he will face professional runners from four teams along with three of his university rivals. The strongest contenders for the win on paper are Josai University's Yuta Takahashi and Team Chugoku Denryoku's Yasuhiro Tago, but Takahashi was a DNS at the recent World Cross Country Championships and his fitness may be in question. The Premium Race will also feature as pacemakers two of the best African runners in Japan, Team Komori Corp.'s Josephat Ndambiri and Team Nissin Shokuhin's Gideon Ngatuny. JRN will be on hand to cover the meet.

The Premium Race 3000 m …